mystifications

 

Holiday season is upon us:

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Christmas

New Year's.

Everything coming at us in a string of events.

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A few days ago I listened to a You Tube video of a man explaining how he decided to leave the Mormon faith.  I was letting it play while I wrote -- and I wasn't writing about Mormons, I was just having the video on as background.

It was a pretty interesting thing, because of the way he had to think it all out, and all the beliefs and traditions he had to consider and "weigh" against other considerations of how he wanted to live.  He made the decision after getting married -- to another Mormon -- when their first child was born, he went into deep thought about how he wanted his son to live, and to understand the world.

        He said it was incredibly difficult.

        After listening to that, and then having Halloween coming up on Monday of this week, it reminded me of being in grade school in northeastern Ohio, and there were two children, a sister and brother, who always had to leave class before we had a Halloween party, or a Thanksgiving play, or Christmas gift-exchange and party.

There would be all these plans and preparations and everything -- and decorations all over the classroom for whichever holiday it was.  And those two kids would have to leave and miss it all!

        Now, these weren't Mormons -- they were Jehovah's Witnesses.  (The one reminded me of the other....)

Anyway, I hadn't thought of that in years.  It was not horribly upsetting or anything -- but I do remember feeling kind of sorry that they couldn't participate in the holiday activities.  I felt like, "Geez, why can't they have any fun?"  

        And I felt that little small chill of perplexity with a murky shadow of apprehension, as the classroom door was opened and the one sibling would be standing out in the hall and the other one would get up from the desk in our class and walk out and -- they would -- leave the premises, I guess.

        We assumed their mom or dad picked them up.

Strange thing now, I cannot remember if it was the brother or the sister that was in my class -- I just have that memory of them leaving.

        Exodus.

        It was the Pre-Ghost Exodus.

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