Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Education in the key of religion


When religion is used as a form of social control (part of the very definition of religion, differentiating it from mere belief), it only erects a barrier between a person’s potential and their actions. This discouragement of critical thinking introduces imbalances to one’s psyche, many so common as to be a part of popular culture, so that the same mistakes tend to be made over and over again. In Dallas, I am surrounded by people who experienced religion as a form of childhood and adolescent socialization. In response to these shackles to their imagination, they turn to forms of escape in excess: alcohol, drugs, unprotected sex. For instance, many “rollers” who frequent a dance club downtown are alumni of a Lutheran Christian high school. A supervisor, who attends Baptist service and Bible study every Sunday, drinks heavily when not at work. And the cases of suburban teen pregnancy that I know arise from precisely this environment. On the other hand, the most content, well-adjusted families I have encountered do not subscribe to spiritual dogma, nor do they impose it on their children. Their “belief system” is based around each person’s ability to figure things out for themselves. They have accepted that life is change and remain flexible through the inevitable. My close friend and her husband are raising their son to value the unconditional love of family as sacred; as she puts it, “Love is my religion.” To tether education to religious dogma, particularly that of children, weighs down spirits and senses of possibility with unnecessary baggage that they are subsequently forced to waste precious time of their adult lives picking through and shedding. Education and dogma are 100% mutually exclusive. If you do this to your child, you are modeling fear, which is so great as to eclipse selfless concern for his well-being and respect for her individuality. This is truly the “missionary position” that is the scourge of colonialism: convincing others that your beliefs are right and theirs are wrong because you wouldn’t be able to stand it if yours were wrong. Ironically, polluting the world with such self-hatred couldn’t be more wrong.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Portrait


We don’t take pictures of each other anymore.
Where did the dimensions go?
Am I someone you don’t want to know?
We shutter to the next frame
in this self-promotion game.
Narcissus and Echo lure my friends
to short distances
mistaken for great heights and necessary ends,
and as the surface wavers,
the clock impatiently ticks.
We deserve to expect more:
An unknown knock at the door.
A surprise of unspeakable grace
that can only be read on an other’s face. 

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