It's commonly said that kids never listen to their parents, yet nothing could be further from the truth. They posture their independence through relatively meaningless actions like clothing, hairstyles, and the like, but they usually don't rebel in profound ways.
The overwhelming majority of us, regardless of how much we quarreled with and rebelled against our parents, are today products of their lessons whether we like it or not. Our ethics, biases, religious beliefs, even our political persuasion commonly have their fingerprints all over them. The irony is that when children become adults and are afforded their first opportunity to truly breakout, they don't. How they think and behave usually mirrors how their parents do.
Most intriguing of all is the inheritance of religion. Our parents introduced us to the deity who governs our life and is the custodian of our afterlife. It is usually a bedrock belief simply because our parents told us so, followed by years of reinforcement by the religious institution.
How many adults do you know who questioned the religion they inherited? How many do you know that actually explored other faiths? How many do you know that changed? The reality is that if we are brought up Christian, we are Christian. If we are raised Moslem, we are Moslem. We are fervent believers of what our parents wanted us to believe.
No one seems to stop and think that we could just as easily be fervent Sikhs, as fervent Jews. It was not a decision that came from childhood rebellion or even deep thought and exploration. We were simply rubber stamped by our parents. I think we should each reflect on this next time we consider our god as the true one and see followers of other faiths as inferior, at times even threatening.
