Saturday, March 24, 2007

My religion

In our religion, a branch of Christianity, we didn't have "good girls" and "bad girls." There was behavior, simply good and simply bad and gradations. There were children and adults. It was difficult, as grown women in advanced studies programs and offices to be asked to conform to the Catholic insistence that we were all "practicing" girls of the types "good" and "bad." If we said "women," they demanded that we become -- instantly -- gay or old. We have the human right to our unique personalities. It's in the Humans Rights Declaration. Anyone who wants to improve her behavior or to understand the effects of her behavior on someone else, is welcome to become aware of herself and change. In the realm of human affairs, I was lucky enough to have a mother who is a genius of privacy, decency, and liberty. She is a good judge of reality and an able reader, who feels a shudder of horror at the thought or practice of condemning anyone else.

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