Lately I've been finding myself involved in some strange discussions. Discussions about evil kids, about family, about the future, about people from my past and about raising children. It is fairly safe to say that I enjoyed most of the conversations. Some of them led into different... activities that I am trying to strike from my mind on account of their highly traumatic and life affirming values. (If that last sentence meant nothing to you count yourself lucky. It means far too much to me.)

In these discussions I've often found myself defending people and ideas that I may not actually like or have any real opinion about. One conversation that really sticks out in my head is the conversation that I had with my roommate about her plans to raise her children. For the record, it is my sincerest hope that if she actually has kids, I want her to also have a very strong husband. Otherwise, I declare unfit for parenthood. She is too emotional and some traits just don't need to be passed on to the next generation.

My roommate says that when she has kids she doesn't want to raise them with any kind of religious base. That idea alone isn't that surprising to me. I've heard it before. Now when I asked her what her reasoning was she stated that [raising children with a set religion is similar to brainwashing.] I felt that was harsh, because I was raised with a religious background. Hell, my family, my extended family, is filled to the brim with preachers and deacons and choir members and trustees. I have been surrounded by religion my entire life. Christianity to be precise. Yet I don't feel brainwashed. I actually started to question my upbringing and come to embrace my own ideas as well as that of others.

When I mentioned that to her she says that I may be a special case. Or that I might be the norm. She couldn't say. But in her life she has met with a good amount of frequency the fanatics. The ones who would look at you and say with great sorrow in their eyes that are [truly sorry that you're a Jew, but you're gonna burn in the fires of Hell.] When she told me that one I felt a little sad for her.

We then moved on to other topics mostly because we had been talking on the subway and her inside voice doesn't really like to stay inside. She talks so loud. All the time. In Japan the goal of most people is to be as unobtrusive as possible. So on the subway it is generally polite to talk softly. I talk softly in public places automatically, but she just projects everything. Normally it wouldn't bother me but the train was full and people were starting to look at us.

Later during the night I thought more about the conversation and started to wonder, "What do parents teach their children? Wouldn't anything you teach your children be it politics, how to bake a pie, how to fix a car, where your faith lies be a form of brainwashing? Don't we indoctrinate our children as a way of life? How else are the lessons of the past passed on?

I've asked my roommate this and she doesn't have an answer. I also went on to defend Christians. Actually I didn't defend them so much as tried to explain why certain aspects of Christianity, namely a belief in the afterlife, are important to people. I explained that some people might feel that without and afterlife to work towards this life would be pointless. What is the point of being a good person or even living if at the end you're just gonna vanish in a flash of dying synapses?

To this she replied those people are sheep, there is no soul, and a few other things that I stopped listening too, because we were on the train and as I mentioned before she was loud and people were staring. At any rate I tried that line of conversation again but it was difficult and eventually we just agreed to disagree. Actually I declared that we had an unresolvable disagreement and further discussion would only prove aggravating.

I pray for her kids. But I'm not Christian...do my prayers work?