I was sitting in my living room the other day, doing nothing in particular, just thinking and staring away, when I noticed that my flip flops were upside down. I immediately went to them and returned them back to their normal position. Thought about this for a second, and realized why I did this.
It was one of those things that stays with you from your childhood: we were taught never to leave flip flops or shoes upside down. And why is that? Because it would be disrespectful to God. You shouldn’t put the sole of your shoes heading upwards towards our Lord in the skies! What absolute rubbish. Then I remembered that how as a kid, I was obsessed with keeping all the shoes, sandals, and flip flops of the household in their God-respecting positions. And to think that such a thing goes around spreading between people and people taking the time and effort to implement such a thing. As if God had nothing better to do than sit there getting offended from the soles of flip flops facing him around the world.
It got me to thinking about other bullshit that you’re told as a kid and how you take it and believe it then. I remembered that we had this nanny that would tell us that God came and gave a choice to Muslims and Christians: The choice was between faith and beauty. Muslims (naturally) choose faith, and Christians chose beauty. And that is why (she explained) most Christians are beautiful. But not to worry, because it will all be sorted out in the after life, where we will go to heaven, and get rewarded for putting up with our ugliness. Not to worry at all. Thank God our parents corrected this crap when we told them about it.
Indoctrination is such a powerful tool. Once you imprint something in the impressionable mind of an innocent child, it will most likely stay there forever. This is something that’s always s in the back of my head when dealing with my child.
