This week, for no apparent reason, I decided to tell my parents everything about my life that they did not know. Actually, not everything...but almost. They now know:
- I have no religion at this point (Which you're supposed to be shocked at, because my father is a minister)
- I've been lying to them about Rasta for almost a year
- Their daughter is not a virgén
Now I understand that for most of you, this may be normal stuff that your parents wouldn't react badly to, but would rather probably be expecting. This is sadly not the case for my parents. Actually not sadly because I will be the same way with my children. I love my parents and the way they raised me. I love the fact that I feel like my business is their business because they made me. I love the ideals that I've been instilled with, even though I've not been able to uphold them in this "not-so-ideal world" (to quote my father). At least I am aware of and firmly believe in those ideals...even now, however much I don't adhere to them. I learned this week that Aristotle calls people like me incontinent. There I was thinking that incontinence was the inability to hold your pee.
Anyway, they reacted just as I thought: angry, upset, et al. The next day they called and apologised to me for being selfish in their reaction. They are the most reasonable human beings I have ever encountered. One because they have the ability to see their own mistakes and admit to them. Two, because they are able to be pursuaded by reason, and at least entertain an idea without necessarily accepting it. Too much Aristotle, I know. I blame Dr. Satterwhite (who by the way is disgusting, but I like philosophy, so I like her by association). It is great having people who will always love you, and always be there for you - no matter what.
Now that I've stopped living a double life, I feel so free. The only burden left is establishing a life of my own, with ideals and principles of my own - and I have yet to figure out what those are. I suppose this is all a part of it.
2 comments:
Most people are forced to live their own life and that of their parents. I can’t say I know for sure why that is so but it may have something to do with parents wanting to have clones instead of babies. Parents are usually disappointed in their children unless they become a doctor, lawyer, and to a lesser extent, an engineer. It’s not that economist and West Indian Cricketers are not considered prestigious but it is considered traditional to impress other parents with the classics. Besides, West Indian Cricketers are not impressive these days.
“My son plays for the West Indies.”
“oh ho”
The best gift a parent could give a child is the freedom to choose and those choices should include religion, mates and hairstyle. Actually, the best gift would be in teaching a child how to make wise choices and not apply any parental guilt on the child. I think the best thing in life is freedom from parental guilt but easy access to parental support. Once a parent is satisfied that the child is wise enough to manage their life they will turn off much of the guilt.
It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.
Voltaire
I say no more on the topic other than I agree with Voltaire on this one. Virginity is not a virtue, help eradicate it now.
There is something I tell people about religion and goodness and that is people are either good or bad, and religion has nothing to do with it. People should take comfort in what they do and not simply in what they believe. I think your parents understand that.
Double lives are never easy since a single life is though enough. With a double life you can make twice the amount of mistakes and suffer twice the amount of pain. You also get only half the amount of happiness.
I hope I wasn’t too long :)
They do sound fantastic... they're parents AND they listen to reason... Rare.
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