Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Daisy sat down at the piano the other night with a gleam in her eye.

"Oh, Daddy, guess what I get to practice this week?" she asked, and then without waiting for a reply, launched into a halting rendition of some crappy Christmas carol.

As a Jew-by-birth-agnostic-by-choice, Christmas carols aren't really my thing. They aren't symbolic or meaningful to me; they're just those annoying songs you hear in grocery stores and on commercials. Christmas carols are the sound of intrusive commerce, a fruitcake for your ears.

What song was Daisy playing? Walmart. All week I've been hearing her play the Walmart damn carol over and over and ding-dinga-ding over.

On a mostly unrelated note, I think it's just a matter of time before Daisy finds religion. I get the feeling that she finds comfort in the notion of an afterlife, and of some super-hero god-thing ruling this land and looking out for her. The structure and carrots offered by religion seem to have more sway than the physics and logic-based system that I stress with increasing panic.

You see, the notion of Daisy finding religion is about as appealing to me as it would be to some preacher if his daughter announced she was an atheist. I accept that I'm surrounded by religion everywhere outside of my house (yes, even in San Francisco, aka Sodom's Heathenatorium), but I had kind of hoped that our little home would be a religion-free zone.

We'll see, I guess.

On that note, only 19 more shopping days left until Winter Present Tree Day!

9 comments:

Sister--Helen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sister--Helen said...

I deleted my comment Mike because I really do like you and I have no right to try to tell you anything about your family. I know you love your little girl and only want the best for her....It is your blog and I do not have the right to try to tell you how to do something, or get into a serious discussion....I really like our relationship the way it is...just me picking on you from time to time...after all I am still not convinced you are not just a 50 year old woman just making up this life about Hank and Daisy....See how much better this works out as opposed to me trying to get serious with you...oh yes, and God Bless you.

carey said...

Mike, make Daisy read the children's version of The End of Faith by Sam "Happy" Harris. That'll turn her around. ;)

lostworld said...

Can I blogroll you? I'm rather fond of what you write!

Mike said...

4th Sis, you are welcome to give me advice, much as I'm welcome to ignore it.

Carey, the book looks good, but not quite as cheery as Daisy normally likes.

Lostworld, I'm pretty sure that blogrolling me is something that I thank you for rather than something you ask me permission for. Thanks!

Grumpus Zissou said...

Take a stand. Show her that there is a bigger world out there than she knows. Don't let your child get caught up in a silly religion -- take his noodly appendage in your hand and heart.

FSM will save you.

Mike said...

Pilaf, I'm pretty sure Daisy has written off any worldview that I might present. My best strategy at this point is either subtle inferences or reverse psychology. Props for the FSM reference though.

Diana said...

I just read this now, otherwise I wouldn't have sent you that fruitcake for your eyes! Are you really agnostic, or just being polite? I am apparently... I used to say I was atheist, until I was chided by my mother, "Say agnostic, not atheist! It's rude and stirs things up!"

Mike said...

Hey, I like your Christmas cards! Keep 'em coming. As for my agnosticism, yeah, it's about right, although if you made me bet on whether or not there was a god, I'd double-down on "no god". I'd say there's about a 10% chance of there being some sort of god-ish being out there pulling the strings.