They were screaming at one another, it was just another fight -
the unique drama of an age-old story.
Parent versus child, child versus parent.
The discipline that comes from love,
the fundamentalist excuse for obedience.
But the fundamental reality of love
is action
not reaction.
Our lives have been shaped by our parents.
Each step that we take in life, it is another footprint on the road that we began walking with our parents. From birth, we learn from our parents. Our eyes perceive their actions, and we imitate those actions. We form words - we repeat what we hear, and we learn what our parents teach us. Now, we slowly loosen our grip on our parents’ hands - we begin to develop in the influence of others. The direction we take is a result of the path we are placed upon.
The grip is loosening, the bond is weakening. The exclusive influence that your parents had, it has become dimmed in the plurality of influences that characterize college. We change and develop into independent adults - we are no longer directed as we were while at home. Our parents should have already let go, but many have not. First, we must realize that it is difficult to let go; teaching, raising, and loving a child from birth to the teenage years requires a certain commitment that only a parent can understand. Parents are not unlike you or I in the fact that they are also still discovering the world.
Fundamentalist love takes on a whole new context in the face of religious discipline - discipline in the name of faith or love. While raising a child, it is important to understand that education is important; education in the sense of understanding the choice, and making the choice that is perceived as good. A problem that may arise out of discipline is the child's unconscious association of discipline with love. The parents says, ‘I will hurt you (physically or emotionally), because I love you.’ We can understand a level of discipline, but without understanding why we’re being disciplined (other than out of love), we associate love with discipline.
Fundamental love is the love that we naturally see. It is the love that we are naturally attracted to - regardless of cultural background or religious association. If a man turns the other cheek, the act of humble submission contradicts his instinctive urge to defend himself. It is a paradox that defies normal social behavior and that reflects that fundamental love - but not fundamentalist love.
