The fight for diverse and conscious voices

davidfcooper's comment on a previous entry reminded me that I wanted to write a bit about one of the ways Thing 1 was awesome this past weekend. He agreed to go with me to the mass without complaint, including dressing appropriately. Like most kids his age he thinks shorts and tee shirts are de rigeur at all occasions and he's fought us about wearing proper (button up) shirts in the past. This time he cooperated and when we couldn't find one of his shirts that worked he agreed to wear one of mine. It's still baggy on him, but I imagine that won't be true much longer.

On the way there I told him that I appreciated his willingness and he said, "You know I don't want to go?" I said yes, and told him about a great piece that appeared on NPR's "This I Believe" some years ago: Deirdre Sullivan on "Always Go to the Funeral". It's something I believe strongly myself - you go, and you do what you can to support those who are still around because the dead won't be able to appreciate it.

This led to us discussing what the dead can or cannot appreciate. Thing 1 acknowledged that a lot of his discomfort came from discussions of an afterlife that doesn't align with what he believes and I re-shared my own militant agnosticism, of which the kids are well aware.

Digression/backstory: I used to believe in G-d. I was raised conservative Jewish and believed in that telling of the origin stories and construction of the universe as semi-mythical and that the truth values assigned to the literal words of the Bible (or Torah) were less important than the teachings and values those words gave. Then around age 19 I lost my faith. I still understand that it exists and that other people have it, but I could not maintain mine in the face of there being no evidence for G-d's existence. Still, I had to (have to) agree that lack of evidence is not always evidence of lack so I can't be atheist either. I am agnostic, and militant about it, which is to say I believe that I don't know, and you don't either! < /end>

Thing 1 opined that G-d likely existed because why else would so many people believe in it? This led to a brief discussion of how the popularity of a belief is not a worthwhile measure of its truth value. I reminded him that for a long time people believed black folk and white folk shouldn't marry. People even published "scientific" papers that "proved" colored folk were inferior. I reminded him that people will believe things that help them defend their own preconceptions and he agreed that the so-called science about people of color was indeed people making stuff up to protect their own (racist) assumptions.

He also seemed willing to agree that therefore, the fact that a lot of people believe in G-d wasn't actually helpful in deciding for himself whether it was true. He admitted that he wanted the world to be more like D&D cosmology, which admits of the existence of many coexisting divine beings. We got sidetracked then into a discussion of the history of D&D and religion and how having "angels" and "demons/devils" in the game caused problems in the past.

I suspect other people have these kinds of conversations with their kids more often, but Thing 1 has a strong reluctance to talk about what he thinks or believes so it's a rarity to find him open to discussion. Then we got to the church and things there mostly got dropped.

I did catch him eye-rolling at some of the priest's assertions about our friend enjoying the afterlife, though. Kids developing their own ideas is awesome and I love watching mine going through it.

I think this is the last preparatory post I will need to make. Comments and encouragement on the previous episodes (part one and part two) have been helpful.
( This should be shorter, and has a joke and a story )

I have a long post brewing inspired by my own son's bar mitzvah and a very different bar mitzvah I attended this past weekend. In an effort to make the post shorter and more accessible to everyone else I need to do some background explaining. This is the first part.
( It takes the form of a joke )

I had the urge lately to write down some more of my stories but then kinda lost the impetus. I'll try this one and see how it goes.
( Short, but I cut anyway )

I haven't tried telling this story before so it's likely to be wordy and not as funny as my usual. Read on if you wish. ( A small story about me and a much more famous person )

(Nothing in the following post should be construed as being negative toward home repair hobbyists and other do-it-yourselfers.)

Once upon a party long ago I was describing a household repair problem that was giving me difficulty. rmd advised: "The tool you want to fix this problem is your checkbook."

Today I watched a professional plumber spend the better part of two hours trying to do a 'simple' change of one corroded bolt on a toilet tank. I paid him his $250 and felt the better for the exchange. Replacing the bolt required fully disassmbling the commode, applying hacksaws and other tools to remove the corroded objects, and various other reassembly tasks I'm sure I would have screwed up over a time period that would have lasted much longer than two hours if done by me.

In the end I have a non-leaking toilet again and a reminder of why I think it wise to listen to my friends.

Sunday, on the way home from helping at a friend's move, I saw a biker. He was on a Harley and kitted out in what you'd consider traditional biker gear - black bucket helmet, goggles, old-fashioned leathers. From the back of his bike extended a makeshift flagpole, from which hung a large 1970s-era bright red USSR flag. More or less like this:



It was, to say the least, surprising. Had we not both been traveling at highway speeds I would have tried to take a picture.