Chris often gets a lot of looks and questions when he is out with the kids. He usually gets to cut in line and has women young and old fawning over him. He loves it.
What he doesn't really love are the questions only because we get tired of answering them. We always get 'Are they twins?' and for complete strangers our standard answer is yes. The next question is 'how old are they?' and we say just over a year old. It's just easier for us.
At the grocery store today an old woman asked the standard questions and got the standard answers. The conversation then changed subjects rather quickly.
Old Woman: You know, ::mumble, mumble, mumble::
Chris: I'm sorry, I didn't catch that.
Old Woman: You know the kids nowadays are taking guns and just shooting each other, so make sure you take those kids to Sunday school.
Chris: mmmm, ::blink, blink::
Old Woman: They should know the Lord in their hearts.
Chris: ::blank stare:: ::blink, blink::
Old Woman: You understand me, make sure you take them to Sunday School.
Chris: Okay, yes ma'am. Have a nice day!
Chris had absolutely no idea how to respond to this woman, but he wanted to be polite. Really, though there are three main issues with this conversation:
1) It's none of this woman's business how we raise our children in regards to religious views
2) I'm not sure how going to Sunday school and preventing shootings by kids are related, and
3) Why did she assume we are Christian?
We think religious beliefs (or lack thereof) are personal. We don't talk about our views all that often because we've found that not everyone is tolerant of beliefs that are different from their own. Our children may have different views than ours and we're okay with that. We plan to expose our children to a variety of religious views (at an appropriate age) and allow them to make an informed decision about their own beliefs.
(I'm not having much luck convincing Chris to start his own blog...so he has reviewed my summary and gives it his stamp of approval.)
2 comments:
First, I can't imagine how annoying it would be to have to answer the twin question all the time and yet you know you'll have to do it for the rest of the children's childhoods. How annoying!
Second, I hate your story. I take that back, I hate the fact that you had it to tell. It always annoys me when people assume I'm the same religion as they are. I suppose in some sense it seems reasonable because it's easy to assume that people think the way you do. But still, to verbalize it. It just seems rude to me. And the guns? What the heck????
Oh, and keep the stories coming! Even if Chris just reviews them, they're great to hear!
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