One day in June I was walking down a forest path. The sun was high in the sky, about noonish I suppose, and I had taken to pondering the mysteries of the universe. The world seemed so peaceful here, so tranquil and serene. The more I thought about the serenity of my surroundings, the more strange it seemed. Such a contrast of the world in which I live, I had never seen. Had God blessed this place, or had he merely damned the rest of the world, I wondered. Perhaps this is heaven. As you may have guessed I am a Christian, a Quaker to be precise. I am bound to non-violence by my faith, but more so because of my own moral compass.I was not born into Quakerism or these non-violent belie ...view middle of the document...
I believed in the Minster and everything that he said, even if I didn't listen to it. Unfortunately this was not to last.Our foray into the Episcopal Church came to an abrupt halt in the beginning of the Gulf War, when the church we were attending decided to support the war effort. I remember the Minster saying distinctly "God is on our side and he shall lead us to victory." A greater hypocrisy I have never heard uttered, the thought that god would condone the slaughtering of his children disgusted both my mother and I, and from that day forward we did not attend the Episcopalian service.After wandering from church to church for a while, we found Haddonfield Meeting. The Quakers, or Society of Friends as they call themselves, welcomed us with open arms. They agreed that we did the right thing by leaving the Episcopalian church because they supported the war, but did not condemn those who stayed. They greeted everyone who came with open arms and a smile, and did not judge them on their previous history. After a week, we decided to stay. Their values were the same as ours and we felt at home.Through the years I learnt Quakerism and I adopted Quaker values of pacifism and understanding. Although they taught me well enough, I am far from the ideal Quaker. I still get angry regularly, I get into fits of rage in which I break stuff, and I am constantly fighting with my brothers and sister. Aside from that I also play violent video games, in which the objective is to commit mass genocide, which according to my Mentor, is acceptable as long as I don't carry them out. "Pixels not people!" he says all the bloody time.Yet even as bad a Quaker as I am, I experience religious frustration regularly. I am constantly torn between my testimonies, my values, and the practicality of the situation.Take the attacks on the World Trade Center for instance. I want with all of my heart to find a passive solution to the September 11th's events, but my striving comes to dead ends. I find myself wanting the Taliban if responsible, to be stopped in order to stop further attacks on other innocent civilians, but cannot conceive an effective peaceful solution to th...
