Posted on 02/13/2005 8:46:21 AM PST by Scenic Sounds
"What about a radical, belligerent anti-Christian, anti-family activist?"
The Buddhists next door are non-activist, non-belligerent, but anti-Christian. They support virtually all liberal causes. The other week when I was there, the daughter (who is still at home) was expressing support of gay marriage. The dad came unglued and actually called gays "little faggots" (with a proper English accent). Funny thing is, they home-schooled their girls (but support more funding for public schools) and were very strict, but not authoritarian. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that the children of European parents tend to be better behaved because despite politics, parents there are still recognized as the heads of the family.
I asked them about their opposition to Christians. They truly believe a high percentage of Christians try to seek God, but are unenlightened, preaching but not practicing. The dad explained that so many skip over Christs' message and forget about the charity and compassion He espoused. I agree with him there. I mentioned to him a man who told me he went to India and met a guy at the market whose live chickens had their legs cut off instead of binded. His explanation to the shocked tourist was that the "chicken was a bad man in a former life." His reply was that it's the "human condition."
My wife knew a woman in college who was a fully commited Lesbian ...she is now married to a Doctor (male)lives an upscale middle class existance and has 5 grown kids.
Excellent post!
Right on the mark!
Well, of course. LOL.
And, even though the child has "hit 18" and become, in the eyes of the law, an adult, outside observers still tend to expect that the fiftyish parent will approach these kinds of issues with more maturity than the daughter. Is that fair?
I couldn't read the article becuase the WP site was apparently down, but I find it sad that her parents won't talk to her. I'm a big advocate unconditional love.
Is there some link between lesbianism and conservative politicians?
It seems like a Lot of Repubs have lesbian daughters, sisters, etc.
Bizarre. All this advice to Dr. Keyes! I think it's pretty safe to assume he knows what he is doing.
On the other hand, if you really respect someone you will try to understand their beliefs and emulate their behavior.
Can't access the entire access because Washingtonpost.com is undergoing maintenance, but here is my two cents: The public may never really know what happened. Sad story.
Her side of the story (from the article):
"As long as I was quiet about being gay or my politics, we got along," she says. "Then I went to the Counterinaugural," last month's protests in Washington against President Bush. "My father didn't like that."
Maya returned from the demonstration to find that she had been let go from her job at her father's political organization.
She says she was told to leave her father's apartment and not to expect any money toward attending Brown University, where she was admitted but deferred matriculation to spend a year teaching in southern India. "In my father's view, financing my college would be financing my politics, in a sense," Maya says, "because I plan to be an activist after college."
She wrote to her parents to tell them about tomorrow's speech, but says she got no response.
Dad's side of the story (again, from the article):
Some children are just naturally rebellious. The very best parents can rear a child who chooses values 180 degrees opposite theirs.
Thanks. There are always two sides to every story. Even though I may not agree with Keyes and his political views, like I stated to an earlier poster, very sad.
Good observation.
Tell them you love them, that you care for them, but that if they want your support, especially money and staying at home, they have to live by your rules.
Nobody bought me a college education.
To live at home, I had to live by my parents rules, although the rules were reasonable.
And that's life.
AS my daddy likes to say, cut bait or fish.
My oldest had this choice, and chose to move out (although no bridges were burned.) I expect him to go wild for awhile, decided it's not as fun as it seems, and then settle down.
That's normal.
To continue one's adolesence by saying "Mommy and Daddy hate me" is a sign of not enough hard lessons about life learned.
I've always maintained that I've never seen a child of overly strict parents who didn't become an accomplished liar. I've yet to see a single exception, although I'm sure one exists somewhere.
It's one thing to come out, it's another to come out on stage in the spotlight; fashions change, soon there will be a rash of "old-time-revivals" and the wheel will turn and turn...
I was thinking the same thing. I could see pulling the purse strings, but not talking to the child just seems incredibly wrong to me.
"Being Jewish I can comment from a different point of view. Parenting is hard work, and we don't always get things right, and this has nothing to do with how strict or strong our religious beliefs.
We insisted our son go to classes leading to his Bar Mitzvah. He was reluctant, but did have his friends who felt the same way in class. After resisting for several years, he came through for us and himself in the last 6 months and did a good job. He also has not set foot inside a synagogue since, (well once in college to check out for Jewish girls in the new community). But we feel it was our job to provide the experience and he does not regret it now. On the contrary, a Jewish student I had in High School said he did regret dropping our of his class. So you have these choices to make. We did not force him to continue music lessons, (maybe that was a mistake?)"
God Bless your boy and I bet he isn't a screw-up because you loved him right let go when it was time. These days, being a successful parent means your kid works, doesn't do drugs and hasn't been in jail.
Correct me if I am wrong, but my observation of Jewish families is that many of the kids from conservative backgrounds turn out to be liberal atheists. My best friend in high school was (and still is, as far as I know!) a Jew. She was a staunch atheist and absolutely refused to attend synagogue. But she was a kosher vegetarian and after college, was very conscious of dating only Jewish men.
This is unrelated, but I've got to relay this funny story about us. One day she called me and told me she went to a party. The man whose house it was at (he was in a band)apparantly shoved her. She didn't know this, but he was a drug dealer. She went into the bathroom, came out and noticed all the lights were out and said "What's going on?" There was a cop across the street, but instead of telling her to duck down, he shoved her, to the ground, and told her to shut up. He never apologized. She was humiliated, and we discussed how to regain the power she lost that night. I talked her into something this good girl would have never otherwise done, as I was apparantly Gentile a corrupter of nice Jewish girls. These were my atheist days, so revenge was very much on the table. I mentioned that in the back yard was a doggie poop bucket with an airtight lid. I was determined to make this man pay for hurting my friend. So we took out the plastic bag containing the moist, moldy dog poop and placed it in my trunk (something I regretted for the next 3 months). We went to the store and picked out a card that said "Just wanted you to know how I feel about you..." We drove by, dressed in disguises (black Celtic cloak and ball cap for me), and before we passed his house I said "wouldn't it be proof of God's existence if the windows in his van were rolled down?" We had planned to place the poop at his doorstep, but as fate would have it, his van (with all of his band equiptment) was open with the windows down. We parked a block away and snuck around like criminals, casing the area and trying to keep our voices low. The lights were out. She was so scared of being caught. I proceeded to take the dog poop and toss it around his van (with gloves on of course). She then got her courage, placed the card in his window and took the bag and started rubbing the dog poop in his seats. I then got a little nervous and insisted we leave. She then pulled out some eggs from her pocket and started throwing them at his windows as we retreated, like a couple of covert soldiers tossing grenades. But soldiers don't giggle and laugh as they retreat, but we did, even after his lights went on. She and I laughed for months over this. We imagined him leaving for work the next day and discovering this scene as he sipped up his coffee. We discussed what technique he used to remove the moldy dog poop from his guitar box. We never even heard of this incident, not even through the local band scene. My mom told me that the end doesn't justify the means, but my friend got her dignity back after this. It was well worth it.
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