The univeral soldier was once very short

[sealwhiskers]

I have been thinking a lot over the last week and a half, living in my head. I do other things too, I write, I walk, I've proctored tests, I've hung out with friends and kissed the geek, but all along, there has been a part of me solidly living somewhere else. There has been so much anger, disappointment, on-the-fly solutions, musing from above or

Comments

[gale_storm]

A few of you may know what I mean by this.

*nod* Me, too.

I am most probably never going to have children and what I've written here, as an only child, and what my father or mother did or didn't do will fade into complete oblivion, but in my kinder moments when I am at peace, I tend to think that there will be others like me, like him, so alike that it will and it won't matter at the same time. And in my kinder moments I think that this won't be such a bad thing.

Understood and very much agreed. I'm not going to have children, and my sister killed herself because of our mother, so our mother will fade into oblivion, where she belongs.

[sealwhiskers]

Lovely Gale. I'll say something that I wasn't gonna in this post originally, but it's been on my mind for a lot of reason, my phrasings about "oblivion" being one result of that. A friend of mine had a baby last year and he was very proud and going on about it, I was amused and a little touched watching him, but suddenly he seemed to realize and remember (he's a fairly close friend) my own struggles with kids and that I've more or less settled into not having them. He is a science teacher and an atheist - very vocal in both these areas, and he had been going on jokingly about how he now "had put a mark on this world and his genetics would survive" (for some atheists this idea has replaced the Christian one about family and afterlife), and he got embarrassed and probably felt "sorry" for me or something, so he hurriedly added that except for genetics, people could make social and cultural marks on the world, and that was great too

[gale_storm]

Do Christians say that only those who have spawned will go to heaven? I would love to be able to kick them all in the arse, but I suppose God will do that in the end, anyway!

BTW, reading that a friend of yours had a baby last year at first makes the reader assume that you mean a woman, but that changes a bit later in the sentence!!! ;-) As a recent-spawner, he undoubtedly has ideas about having kids being super-duper-important. Still, who the hell cares about other people's genetics, anyway? If people do nothing *but* spawn, then they're all useless fuckwads. *shudder*

[sealwhiskers]

Well, in Genesis, god is claimed to have said "Go forth and multiply" (and added some really nasty passage about how sorrowful it will be, being a woman while doing so, after the shun from Eden).

In our culture, this has been taken very literally up until recently, and Christianity, along with other world religions have this big family myth going on. Family is basically sacred and by "family" it is always meant man+woman+bunch of children+other blood relatives.

And my friend is a science teacher with a biology/math background. Some atheists with such a background, who are active in atheist forums (like he is), have a bit of a genetic pride fixation. It sort of seems to me, to having replaced religion in its strive for immortality. He is just more open and honest about it, and claims it is a "biological fact" that humans strive for the constant survival of the species down to the individual level. I am not sure I agree with him, but it's probably true for some, like himself.

[gerrisue]

In our culture, this has been taken very literally up until recently, and Christianity, along with other world religions have this big family myth going on. Family is basically sacred and by "family" it is always meant man+woman+bunch of children+other blood relatives.

I agree with what you've said here about our culture recently changing, and if I'm reading you correctly, our culture would indeed appear to be changing, and separating the myths of what family really is, from what Christianity considers Family.

Thank "God!" (Had to put that in there)

It's just my opinion, but I DO NOT agree with what Christianity considers Family. Most of my family do not have a single drop of my blood running through them, and if they leave a mark on this world, it doesn't need to be in the form of a child.

[sealwhiskers]

I agree, family is so much more than blood relations and the normal mom/dad/child structure. We actually walk around being family with many individuals over a lifetime, but instead of cutting those the same benefits as most are compelled to do with blood relations, I've seen several small minded, proud and egoistical people walk away very easily from such long histories.

It's like the act of walking away has been granted some form of mythical strength aspect in our modern times, which is funny, because it's one of the most easy and cowardly things to do. Weak people have done it all through history, but it is only to my knowledge in our current times, where certain groups look upon it with some form of positive quality attached. Like egoism needs yet another PR push, haha.

(obviously I'm not talking about deeply abusive relationships here, which is another category altogether)