Saturday, December 1, 2012

Comparison and Contrast

 I’m a blog reader for two reasons.  

Reason one is to get simple distilled information about the Down syndrome, disability, and adoption communities.  

Reason two is because I find the person writing the blog interesting and I want to know more about their life.  

Two of my favorite blog writers are a good lesson in contrast.  

The first is a mother of 11 children. I do not know her religion exactly (definitely Christian in nature) but her faith draws me to her. It does not matter to me where she places her faith, simply that her faith is the most abundant I have ever seen. And she is a beautifully spiritual woman, almost otherworldly in her spirituality. I imagine how wonderful being her child must be, because she is so gentle and devoted to them.  Her greatest aspiration has always been to be a teaching mother of many.  I have read her writings long enough to know that she is very educated, complex, and extremely intuitive in areas of human nature and learning.  She can be found at theblessingofverity.com

The second of my favorite mom blogger is a mother of 7 children. And a loud atheist. She provides a warning to her readers that she is a non-believer, curses on her blog, and doesn’t allow bullshit. Again, I imagine how wonderful being her child must be, not because she curses (I doubt she curses much in front of her children) but because while she is also gentle and devoted, her house is alive with questions, answers, honesty, and freedom. Openness without guilt. Questions and answers without reprimand.  Her children's maturity and empathy in matters of school and friendships prove she is doing things right.  She can be found at lisamorguess.wordpress.com

I admire both of these women. I admire their personal truths. I admire their parenting skills.  Although I've called them a lesson in contrast, I can still see similarities in them.  Mostly love and devotion.  But also personal sacrifice.  Empathy. Sympathy.  And activism. The big difference of religion doesn't matter all that much in that respect.  All of those attributes exist within and without religion.  I think they probably even trump it.