COMBATING BIGOTRY & HATE | SEPTEMBER 1, 2018

To Remini, Rinder, et al: Don’t Be a Leech

Why would anyone devote their life to tearing someone else down?

In the last 45 years I’ve seen such people pop up occasionally, gain attention, and then disappear. They’re never known for their own accomplishments.

Leeches in a glass jar — Leeches. (Photo by Vtmila/Shutterstock.com)

Like Vlad the Impaler, who believed he absorbed the life force of his victims by drinking their blood, such people gain fame by trying to suck some of the life out of Scientology for themselves. They fail, desiccate and disappear. It’s an old story. The first cave man to worship the sun probably had to be alert for some knuckle-dragger scuttling along behind him with a rock.

How colorless, how boring. Even Leah Remini was only one of the forgettable denizens of the primetime sitcom soup before she decided to leech Scientology.

There’s a million ways to make the world more interesting, and possibly even a better place than you found it. Why be a vandal?

But I’ve never understood it. I mean, there’s so much to do in life. My life has been consumed by a love for family; by listening to, learning, and playing jazz; by creative writing; by reading others’ creative writings; by exploring the American desert’s ghost towns and mines; by the study of history; by basketball, table tennis and bicycling; by both failing and succeeding in business; and of course by the revelations of Scientology. Where is there time to waste?

Think of how many hours it took to launch a new religion like Scientology. Billions of man-hours.

And how many hours does it take to throw a brick?

Yet some people make a lifetime out of brick-throwing. Why?

Grab a saxophone; play some Charlie Parker or Stan Getz. Hike the Sierra Nevadas. Jeep the Mojave. Dance. Paint. Read Rex Stout, William Manchester. Volunteer for your local soup kitchen. There’s a million ways to make the world more interesting, and possibly even a better place than you found it. Why be a vandal?

Remini. Rinder. Whoever else. Why waste your lives on such darkness? There’s real sunshine outside.

Don’t be a leech.

KEYWORDS

AUTHOR

Leland Thoburn

Leland has been a Scientologist for 45 years. His writings have been published in numerous magazines and literary journals, including Foliate Oak Review, Writers’ Journal, Feathertale Review, Calliope, Vocabula Review and others. Formerly an executive at EarthLink Inc., he works as a business consultant.

╳