The Infrequently Filled Journal of One Whose Opinions are Irrelevant

 
    
24
Apr 2011
9:44 AM AST
   

Forget Christmas--Easter is the shittiest time of year.

Allow me to explain the situation. My family has two faiths, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox (I don't even know which. I've gotten different answers from the different people I ask). Forgive me for judging my parents, but I see it as a HUGE failing on their part to not pick one religion and stick to it. Sure, go nuts teaching us about the other, but do NOT have us, as a family group, celebrate both. There are two Christmases and two Easters, and every so often we have the misfortune of the two Easters falling at the same time. My father, being the Orthodox, has a whole other procedure to follow, getting the eggs blessed and all that. I've decided that not only is it exhausting to try to ascribe to two religious practices, but also fundamentally wrong--the whole point of religion is that you pick one and stick to it. I only ever realised that--only ever was told, that is--in the last few years. Hell, people go to WAR over things like this. And I'm no huge fan of organized religion, and I'm pretty sure that the God that I believe in goes against both of my handed-down beliefs ('beliefs' used in the loosest sense). Regardless, we are forced every year to go to two church twice, and (as I had the misfortune of forgetting this morning) eating a communal breakfast with all the blessed food that I've despised since childhood. I like to think that my brain does an excellent job of erasing all those awful memories, and so this morning it completely slipped my mind.

I know many families dread getting together and having to deal with all their crazy relations. I, on the other hand, dread their not coming. There is a shitload of things that my parents wouldn't DREAM of saying in front of company that we get to hear before their arrival, and believe me when I say that it doesn't lead to Christmas carols or joyful cries of Christ is Risen!. It nauseates me, that two people could have so much anger in them. And to someone who is as sensitive to emotion as I am, trust me when I say that sitting at a breakfast table with two people seething, one angrily resentful, and one aggressively uncaring is enough to take away my appetite. Shit. And so I await the time that my aunt and uncle and cousins come, because then my parents won't say the things they would otherwise. I won't get into the hypocrisy of that here.

At some point, I'm going to have to tell my father that I'm choosing Catholicism (despite its less-than-stellar reputation). He's not going to be pleased, but he can bite me. I'm an adult, and I've been capable of making my own decisions, ideologically and otherwise, for years now. And besides, I know that I'm not really a Catholic believer. Like I said, my God diverges in a great many ways from theirs.

May all your Easters (or long weekends) be less painful than mine.
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2 comment(s) - 09:52 AM - 04/27/2011
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