racoma.netI love to write. I write to live. I live to love.

Just this morning, I got a visit from our friendly neighborhood religious people. I had to politely turn them away and tell them I was busy (which I really was). Now don’t get me wrong. I can say I’m a religious person. But it just turns out my morning callers subscribe to a different faith. And while some people might think it’s all the same banana, there are some differences–some subtle, some overt–that define and differentiate one belief from another.

On the part of my morning callers, I can see their difficulty, because in the faith they subscribe to, they are required to come knocking on neighborhood doors every so often, attempting to convince people into conversion. It might be thought of as missionary work. But to me, it comes off as proselytism, something that tends to shed negative light on any faith. Because of this, it seems that people tend to avoid them.

How hard is it to convince people, then? I think that that the best way to convince people is not by pressing them into doing or believing something that they might not necessarily want. But rather, it’s by setting a good example, and actually practicing what you preach.

In some circles, it’s called evangelism. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in the religious sense. For instance, not too long ago, the term tech evangelism was a buzzword in the technology-related industries. Rather than spend a lot of money on advertising and public relations, companies seek out social media superstars, and give them access to new products and services. In turn, these social media biggies write about their experiences, share their thoughts, and spread the word on how they are actually passionate about the technology. In some cases, it’s not even celebrities who were evangelists, but ordinary people like you and me. This is even better, because people trust what they think is real and genuine.

If something is really that good, then you would be thinking it, breathing it, drinking it, and living it. You would be a walking example of what you believe in. Sometimes, you don’t have to even have to say a word. Just be, and you would already be doing a good job at convincing people about the qualities of whatever it is that you believe in.

I think the trouble with a lot of people who share the same faith as myself is with practice. Some of us may only be believers by name. The moment we leave church premises, for instance, we might be reverting to our same old ways. Maybe this is one reason why we are vulnerable to proselytism. I know we’re all sinners. But it’s in the trying to be a good person that we can better focus on.

It’s no different from a marketing executive of a cigarette brand who doesn’t even smoke. Or a celebrity product endorser who doesn’t even use the product he or she advertises. Or perhaps a Yahooligan who uses Gmail? Do you practice what you preach?

How hard is it to convince? I think the easier part of convincing is making a verbal or written recommendation of something to a person, or maybe even knocking on doors everyday to try to spread the word. But the more difficult aspect of convincing is actually living what you believe in.

image credit: flickr/indigogoat