Tuesday, March 18, 2008

You Can Only Move As Fast As Who's In Front Of You

So today at school we had stations of the cross. For all those non-Christians out there it's basically the reenactment and/or story telling of Jesus' Passion and crucifixion. This is basic stuff for a Catholic school kid. I wasn't surprised when they said we had an assembly for it. To be totally clear, I go to a Catholic school, but that doesn't mean that everyone who goes to my school is Catholic.

Like always, I'm sitting with my friends in the senior section and the choir starts singing "Were You There?" It goes "were you there when they crucified my lord?" My friend (athiest) goes, "nope," and turns to me, "were you?" in a sarcastic tone. This really got to me.

I never judge anyone by their religion, or anything else but their actions. The fact that she sat next to me and basically mocked one of the most solemn moments in my religion irked me like you would never beleive. When I didn't answer her she repeated the question and I just looked up and gave her a half smile. I wasn't going to bitch her out in the middle of churchnasium.

This has never happened to me before. Of course I've gotten crap for being Catholic, but never have I been so hurt by it. Maybe because she is my friend and she knows why I beleive what I do. Maybe because I just expect my friends to respect me.

To the uneducated observer, you could almost call my beleif system moral relativism. It's not. There are standards I hold all people to, but they aren't specifically because of my faith. They are basic moral codes that (almost) all faiths subscribe to. I don't judge others by what they beleive in and I expect people to get to know me before they pass judgements on me. It just doesn't seem fair that after years of friendship, I get this.

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