Random? McDonald's, spirituality, and hypertextuality

Namaste Readers,

Runner J, the MA student with a writer's block who finally found motivation to continue his dissertation revision after our talk, was so happy to have direction that he treated me to FOOD.  Even if it's McDonald's, who can turn away kindness ( diba?, such an offer only appears once in a blue moon ).

He told me that he visited the States ( Kentucky ) once, where he was delighted with the supersize portion of a McDonald's meal ( compared to the portions in the Philippines ).  When he found out that I grew up in the States, he asked if I had a religion ( during a Habitat for Humanity trip in another island in the archipelago, he met Americans who were agnostics ).

I told him I was raised Catholic, but started to veer away from anything fanatical or dogmatic.  I focused on action and practice.  After all, does one need a religion to be kind and compassionate to others? To help others? "Oh, so you're spiritual, then?" He stated.  "I guess so---"

Then he added, "Sometimes I'm like that. Some only talk, but they don't walk the walk.  I like to do the walking and listening... letting silence speak for itself."  The conversation meandered from critical thinking skills to prisms of perspectives to reading strategies.  "Sometimes I read 'backwards' or I'll skip around, for example when I'm reading the newspaper, sometimes I'll start with the 3rd paragraph and if I'm interested I'll read the paragraph before that one... is that strange?"

Before answering him I thought about the recursive writing process that goes back and forth; I thought about the typical format of a newspaper article using the inverted pyramid scheme, then I remembered an article mentioning hypertextuality.  "That's not so strange.  There's a theory called hypertextuality that's similar to that approach."  I used a wikipedia article to illustrate the point of how one doesn't necessarily read wiki articles in a linear fashion especially when one keeps clicking on the various links.

He finished his Big Mac, and I finished my Chicken McDo with Spaghetti.  Jesus Christ doesn't just appear in a McDonald's hash brown, interesting conversations can bubble up in the vicinity as well.