Sunday, June 11, 2006
WHY?
Diarist da in Dailykos has written a comparison of the logical bases of "conservative" and "progressive" (or "liberal") thinking. Reading his essay got me to wondering why an individual grows up to have one or another set of political or social or religious opinions. I have known Republicans who were the children of immigrant parents who always voted for Democrats. These children of immigrants were perhaps rebelling against the social values of their parents. I have known liberal or progressive Democrats or Socialists who had grown up in conservative Republican families. They may also be rebels.
In my case, I never rebelled against the rather extreme political views of my father. Actually, they were extreme only when compared with the prevailing political views of the small town in rural Michigan where we lived. My father was the town radical. He was the only vocal supporter of Franklin Roosevelt during the 1930's in that little town. Not incidentally, he was awarded the position of Village Postmaster after Roosevelt's victory in the 1932 election. As we both aged, I came to see that my father's opinions were becoming more "conservative" than mine. Or was it that I was becoming more radical?
I did rebel, for a time, against the religious views of my parents. My parents were nominal Methodists. They did not attend church services regularly. I was sent to Sunday school every Sunday. The Methodist church was located right across the street from our house. Many of the boys in my class in school also attended Sunday school in that church. This went on until my mother learned that the man who taught the class may have been a pedophile. He had taken some of the boys in the class with him on some kind of excursion and had allegedly played some hanky-panky with one or more boys. My Sunday school attendance came to an end. Not long afterward the suspected pedophile left town.
This incident had nothing to do with my parents' religious opinions. As far as I can tell, they didn't have any. My mother once told me about her own belief with the statement, "when you're dead you're dead." Neither she nor my father spent much time musing about the after life.
My father's father was the rebel in the family, with respect to both religion and politics. His parents came from Sweden in 1853. His parents and his brothers (I don't know about his sister) were Swedish Lutheran in their religion and Republican in their politics. My grandfather was a Democrat and a religious skeptic. My father told about taking care of the old man as he lay dying, and wondering if he was going to make a deathbed conversion to the religion of his parents. No such conversion occurred. Grandfather died a non-Lutheran.
My rebellion came while I was a college student. I attended church services occasionally, as did most of the boys I knew in the dormitory where I stayed. I became interested eventually in the Episcopal Church and was pleased to find that the ritual of Morning Prayer in that church was very much like the ritual followed in the Methodist church. Eventually I joined the church and submitted to baptism. Later, while living in Washington, DC, I was confirmed by the Bishop of Washington, the Rt. Rev. Angus Dun.
My conversion to sacramental Christianity was not permanent. Although I was a faithful and enthusiastic supporter of the church during my days in Washington (I was an acolyte), my childhood skepticism of belief in supernatural things returned when I was attending graduate school at the University of Illinois.
All of this wordiness leads up to the question of WHY? Human beings develop their beliefs in a manner similar to the growth of plants. Some individuals are like plants of the grass kind: corn, wheat, bamboo, palm, lilies, irises, gladioluses. In these plants, growth occurs at the base of the branch or leaf. If the tip of the leaf is eaten by a hungry herbivore, the plant continues to grow more leaves from the bases. Other individuals are like plants such as beans, potatoes, tomatoes, peach trees, pine trees, and ferns. In these plants growth occurs at the tips of the leaves. If hungry herbivores devour the leaves and branches, the plant has to grow new growth buds.
There are sayings. One of them applies to peach trees and a certain type of individual: "As the twig is bent, so grows the plant." The Japanese have perfected the art of bonsai. By pruning and bending the foliage of a plant, often a small pine tree, the artist can shape the plant to whatever he chooses. Some human individuals are pliant, like bonsai plants. Another saying is "The fruit never falls far from the tree." This saying applies to an individual who is strongly influenced by his parents to adopt their ideas and beliefs about religion and politics. The individual thus influenced than develops in the manner of grass or bamboo. Persons with contrary opinions may nibble away at his leaves, but he grows more leaf from the same stem. A bamboo plant is not a candidate for the bonsai artist.
In my own case, I think I am like a bamboo plant. I've tried to be a peach tree, casting off the religion of my parents, but the attempt failed. I am like my father, or rather, I am like the person I thought my father was.
In my case, I never rebelled against the rather extreme political views of my father. Actually, they were extreme only when compared with the prevailing political views of the small town in rural Michigan where we lived. My father was the town radical. He was the only vocal supporter of Franklin Roosevelt during the 1930's in that little town. Not incidentally, he was awarded the position of Village Postmaster after Roosevelt's victory in the 1932 election. As we both aged, I came to see that my father's opinions were becoming more "conservative" than mine. Or was it that I was becoming more radical?
I did rebel, for a time, against the religious views of my parents. My parents were nominal Methodists. They did not attend church services regularly. I was sent to Sunday school every Sunday. The Methodist church was located right across the street from our house. Many of the boys in my class in school also attended Sunday school in that church. This went on until my mother learned that the man who taught the class may have been a pedophile. He had taken some of the boys in the class with him on some kind of excursion and had allegedly played some hanky-panky with one or more boys. My Sunday school attendance came to an end. Not long afterward the suspected pedophile left town.
This incident had nothing to do with my parents' religious opinions. As far as I can tell, they didn't have any. My mother once told me about her own belief with the statement, "when you're dead you're dead." Neither she nor my father spent much time musing about the after life.
My father's father was the rebel in the family, with respect to both religion and politics. His parents came from Sweden in 1853. His parents and his brothers (I don't know about his sister) were Swedish Lutheran in their religion and Republican in their politics. My grandfather was a Democrat and a religious skeptic. My father told about taking care of the old man as he lay dying, and wondering if he was going to make a deathbed conversion to the religion of his parents. No such conversion occurred. Grandfather died a non-Lutheran.
My rebellion came while I was a college student. I attended church services occasionally, as did most of the boys I knew in the dormitory where I stayed. I became interested eventually in the Episcopal Church and was pleased to find that the ritual of Morning Prayer in that church was very much like the ritual followed in the Methodist church. Eventually I joined the church and submitted to baptism. Later, while living in Washington, DC, I was confirmed by the Bishop of Washington, the Rt. Rev. Angus Dun.
My conversion to sacramental Christianity was not permanent. Although I was a faithful and enthusiastic supporter of the church during my days in Washington (I was an acolyte), my childhood skepticism of belief in supernatural things returned when I was attending graduate school at the University of Illinois.
All of this wordiness leads up to the question of WHY? Human beings develop their beliefs in a manner similar to the growth of plants. Some individuals are like plants of the grass kind: corn, wheat, bamboo, palm, lilies, irises, gladioluses. In these plants, growth occurs at the base of the branch or leaf. If the tip of the leaf is eaten by a hungry herbivore, the plant continues to grow more leaves from the bases. Other individuals are like plants such as beans, potatoes, tomatoes, peach trees, pine trees, and ferns. In these plants growth occurs at the tips of the leaves. If hungry herbivores devour the leaves and branches, the plant has to grow new growth buds.
There are sayings. One of them applies to peach trees and a certain type of individual: "As the twig is bent, so grows the plant." The Japanese have perfected the art of bonsai. By pruning and bending the foliage of a plant, often a small pine tree, the artist can shape the plant to whatever he chooses. Some human individuals are pliant, like bonsai plants. Another saying is "The fruit never falls far from the tree." This saying applies to an individual who is strongly influenced by his parents to adopt their ideas and beliefs about religion and politics. The individual thus influenced than develops in the manner of grass or bamboo. Persons with contrary opinions may nibble away at his leaves, but he grows more leaf from the same stem. A bamboo plant is not a candidate for the bonsai artist.
In my own case, I think I am like a bamboo plant. I've tried to be a peach tree, casting off the religion of my parents, but the attempt failed. I am like my father, or rather, I am like the person I thought my father was.
After writing this post I realized that I had used some bad metaphors. I should not have likened myself to a bamboo plant, but rather to a tree like a bonsai pine that had been pruned and pinched in its youth and now grows in the shape that its gardened gave it. In my case I was pinched, pruned, and shaped as a young child to share the opinions and ideals of my parents. I still share those opinions and ideals. I am like the bonsai pine tree.
