January 6, 2012

  • Courage in One Form

    Today wasn't terribly exciting. If I tried to write about today, it would probably be about Terraria again, so I'm going to go back a few days and write about an incident that happened then. Sometimes, I can't tell right away which moments will be significant later on.

    As Discord and I were leaving for the airport, his mother wished me happy travels. I thanked her for having me over, and she told me not to bow to her. She said, "we only bow to God in this house" and read to us from her Bible, and the verse she chose said (as close as I can remember), "God gives eternal life." That moment stands out in my mind. It illustrates very plainly how very serious she is about it. She seems to actually believe it, and to want others to believe it too, because she thinks it is a good thing. She wants others to believe it the same way I want people to sign up for cryonics.

    I imagined growing up with people who wanted one to be a certain religion, and wanted it because they loved one and wanted the best for one. What happens when they decide it's not for them? Then their parents are truly and honestly upset, the same way I'd be upset if my family member began smoking, because I think smoking is destructive. So too would they think one's soul was in danger. I remembered Badger telling me over the summer about discovering as a high-schooler that he didn't actually believe in the religion of his parents, and telling them, and how disappointed and upset they had been, and how unhappy his coming out had been. I remembered a conversation between Discord and his grandfather. And I know what it feels like for one's family to be disappointed and disapproving all the time.

    I've realized that Badger and Discord and the many others who've broken away from the established religion of their families have endured, and must still continue to endure a great deal. It's easier to not care what my classmates thought about my atheism, but much harder when the very people who are one's family are the ones who feel strongly about it.