All I want for Xmas - One Less Hypocritical Religious Zealot

I'm a little shaken up. I just got to work and saw something that just sickened me... I was riding on the Orange line from L'affont Plaza towards Vienna. After an already stressful ride on the PG to SE Express which was 15 minutes too long b/c of overcrowding and doors that wouldn't close I had to see a sad reminder that even as Christmas grows more commercial and secular (so "they" say) the zealots and fanatics are here to remind us that is it is a holiday filled with joy and peace - with goodwill towards men...

NOT! Apparently there should be just goodwill towards other men who are Christians... I was reading the latest trash and not looking up when I heard a loud "Good morning. Your attention please"

Before I could look up I heard loud singing "O lil townofBezelehem..." and saw a man in a green drab coat with a cross pinned at the lapel singing from a hymnal or a Bible. "Oh great..." I thought "I'm already hot, sweaty and tired from this stupid train, now this..." but having grown up riding the subway in New York and the T in Boston - I'm fairly used to this and can tune it out...

Or so I thought. Almost immediately a woman ran up to him and said "I just moved from the other car because of your singing! Will you please stop?" he continued to sing... louder even "I'm asking you to please stop! I asked you nicely before! Please stop - I am not a Christian, I don't want to listen to this." he brashly continued waving her out of his view with his hand all while singing about little Jesus' birth... "You are not allowed to sing on Metro! No radios or music without headphones. Please stop this. I'm going to call the station manager."

At the point he had gone from trying to wave her away to pushing her hand away, then her arm. Still singing. "Stop it! Let go of me!" the woman cried out...her face growing red and tears forming in her eyes. You could hear it in her voice and I was only a few feet away and I could see it. I could see the cold, dark, hateful expression in his eyes as he sang about the little lamb born in a manager. Clearly she was supposed to be enjoying this and accepting Christianity, his brand of it too, into her heathen hell-bound heart.

"Is this Christian? Pushing me?! Not letting go of my hand? Hurting me? How Christian is that?! Why won't you stop it and let go of me. You are hurting me!"

At this point people on the train were paying attention and some of us were getting very uncomfortable. Someone mumbled about pushing the intercom. But we had just pulled into the station. He'd gotten on at Farragut West and we were at Foggy Bottom now. The woman pushed past him and exited the train (he'd been standing at the door).

Then, almost poetically (in a sick, cynically ironic sense) the verse ended and it was over. "Thank you everybody. Merry Christmas" the man said as he walked down the train to exit or presumably move onto the next car. "Merry Christmas" one man yelled back - but I think he was mocking him. The guy next to me said "Thanks for nothing" to which Mr. Christian Sings-a-lot said, in a loud acidic tongue "SHUT UP!" and glared at him.

Someone else yelled out "Oh yeah, that's real Christian! Is that how it is supposed to be? Tell people to shut-up? Jesus was all about telling people to shut up. Nice message asshole!"

The whole time I was frozen and my heart was racing... I don't know what I could have done to help the situation or that poor woman. Yes she probably made things worse by confronting him - but sometimes you have to STAND UP or else they will just assume they can do as they please. She was brave and no doubt is paying for it now - I'm sure her day is ruined. I feel like crap now. I'm glad she did it but what a sour taste it must have left in her mouth.

When I got off the train the lady was gone. People were already mulling about and moving on. It now had become the subject of gossip. Someone murmured about telling the station manager. But as I approached the manager's booth I was suddenly alone. My hands were shaking a little bit from anger and general anxiety.

Hopefully they were able to catch the guy. He practically assaulted the woman and he definitely hurt her both mentally and physically. The manager was going to radio ahead to Rosslyn which is far from Foggy Bottom so maybe they got him. But I only have one wish this Christmas...

One less wacko please. Just one - they are really starting to turn my heart and make me more cynical. Christians believe in free will - Americans believe in freedom of expression and religion - when will these idiots learn that these freedoms are not a carte blanche to IMPOSE their feelings on others?

One less wacko please. They're ruining Christmas.