No not the internet ones the DreamWorks movie. So there is a line in that movie that the antagonist says “There’s only one way to be happy. MY WAY!” I reminds me of the christian god. The only way to have eternal happiness is to listen to every word he has to say. The alternative is eternal suffering.
Ok so this is kinda off topic and I’m pretty sure that’s a no no for a new blog but I gotta get this out there!
So my kids have been obsessed with the Disney film Moana. Which means the songs are constantly stuck in my head (just so damn catchy). I’m also close to being able to quote the movie line for line. So I started to analyze it a bit ( I do this with almost all of their shows and movies). I came to the realization that nearly the whole movie is in her head. Nothing super natural comes into being until she bashes her head on the canoe and reef the first time she tries to leave.
Up until that point there were some diseased trees and missing fish from over farming. It wasn’t until after her accident that the “darkness” is shown to be invading her island. Everything that had happened was very explainable.
When the ocean reveils that it chose her as an adult she even says “I thought it was a dream”. Hint hint it was! Her ailing grandmother encourages her dillusion. Also the one thing she’s wanted more than anything was to sail on the ocean and there just happens to be a cave full of large sailing vessles hiding on the island.
Everything that happens off island can only be coaberated by a chicken. I find the entire thing very unlikely and it’s more likely that she suffered major brain damage and is hallucinating.
This is relatively new territory for me. I suppose a bit of background might be in order for context. In the early days of my youth my family was one of those Christmas and Easter Catholics. Religion didn’t become a big part of our life until my parents divorced and my dad married my now stepmother. She went to a church that was very different from what I had experienced. This was when I was about 12 or so. From that point I had the notion that church = good and no church = bad. We became a “good christian” family after that.
I was then raised to be a Christian after that and all that comes with it. Feeling guilty for thought crimes at the age of 17 is a pretty heavy burden. So I did all the things I was supposed to in order to again the approval from my father (which rarely ever came) and the sky Daddy (which never came).
After leaving religion I am now faced with how I am supposed to raise my kids. I can’t look back on my childhood (for more than just the religious reasons). My son who is 4 has some recollection of having been to church and some of the seeds that were planted there. For example, I haven’t revealed my lack of faith to my father yet. One day he came into town and wanted to have dinner with us. We set the table and food was put down and we were all seated. He gives me the “grace?” look. I had a small panic attack. Was this going to be the moment when I have that conversation with him. I wasn’t ready for that! My son sitting next to me grab my hand and his hand and bows his head and says “Thank you Jesus for this food, Amen”. Saved by my 4 year old!
Now in this moment I was glad for it as it saved me from either an awkward conversation I wasn’t ready for, or a lie and a continuation of pretending to be something I wasn’t. But it made me realize that I need to have a plan here. I need to put together a road map of how I’m going to teach him about the world. I’ve already started him out on using the scientific method to find the answers to questions but there is more to life than that. I don’t have it all figured out yet but hope to get it going and not just continue to make it up as I go along.