Myths

Journal Entry 3 - Reflect on the myths you were brought up with and discuss which of these you would want to pass on.
1/29/13

Myths I grew up with...well, I was raised Christian (Southern Baptist to be precise) but, I don't recall a time when I was vesting in the existence of a fire and brimstone vision of hell - or a gated community heaven for that matter. In fact, my participation in religious studies often made even our pastor squirm. I was baptized when I was eight years old; look back, I know I did so not because I truly understood the connotations - rather because it was simply what was expected. I still remember walking into the basin under a dimly back lit cross and feeling the pressure of the water but not the temperature because it was so very close to the temperature of my own body. I was a curious child - in every sense of the word.

Even at that early age, I had serious doubts and questions to match. I remember tyring to reconcile what I knew of science and what I knew of the bible. I decided that maybe a day for me was not the same as a day for God. Maybe Gods' day lasted a millennium. If that were the case, maybe things on Earth developed more slowly than our concept of six days. Besides, if God made the sun and the moon after the first day, how could he know how much time had passed? I was a curious child - in every sense of the word.

I remember being very perplexed about the story of Noah and his ark. Logic dictated to me that there was no way Noah only took two of every animal - otherwise, animals would have to reproduce with their own parents and siblings to expand their population and that was just weird. And being the avid reader I was, I had some notion as to the sheer numbers of species in the world and it didn't seem possible that he could have build a boat big enough for two of EVERY animal (except unicorns because they were too busy frolicking to get on board...). And how convenient that he lived close enough to every animal to collect them all (like Pokemon). And didn't Noah live in/near a desert? Where did he get all the wood for his boat? I was a curious child - in every sense of the word.

The greatest misstep I ever took in the time I was forced to go to Sunday school (in a dress no less - I can't tell you of my red hot fury when years later, my mother allowed my sister to attend in JEANS!) was in fifth grade. I'm not entirely sure how we came about to the comment I made but, I remarked to the class that I thought missionaries were committing cultural genocide. My fellow students were hung up on the meaning of the word genocide, vacant expressions plastered across their faces. My Sunday school teacher sat across from me aghast at my audacity, vocabulary - or both. I was a curious child - in every sense of the word.

My mother recounts that while Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy were all mainstays at their respective events, she never had to tell me that they weren't real. She said I just kind of knew somehow. They were fun and fanciful and I played along but I never thought that any of them were actual beings. Maybe it was because Santa Clause had handwriting so very like my mothers' own distinct penmanship. As for what myths I would carry on...I don't think there are any. There are a handful of traditions (like the paper chains we'd make to count down the last couple of weeks before some really exciting event) and values (like never lying to your kids) but, myths - nah. Those can stay right were they belong: in the past and in story books.