I bring the bottle of Blue Moon to my lips, take a swig and swallow. A gentle warm breeze rolled through, rustling the leaves in the trees. It was late summer, and it was my mothers birthday party.
We were standing on the lower deck area in the backyard of my house in a circle, conversing with one another about the government shutdown and politicians. I leaned back against the guard rail, listening to one of our family friends explaining his thoughts to my aunt about the government shutdown.
"All they have to do," he said, "is stop bickering between each other like old women arguing about how to sew properly and open the fucking government! That's it!"
My aunt, who stood on my left, nodded in agreement, "Right. But the thing is it's like religion and science. They can't agree with one another."
Oh no, I thought to myself. Why'd she have to bring up science and religion? It was a subject I have very strong opinions about. The urge to speak welled up within my throat. No, don't you dare talk about it, I thought to myself again, taking another swig of my beer to stop myself.
My sisters boyfriend spoke up, "Well, to an extent. Science is based on facts grounded in logical proof. Religion is based more on beliefs and faith of the supernatural." He made an unsure face as he held up his hands, turning them this way and that to indicate his uncertainty about the comparison, "Politics is...well, it's more about difference of opinions and views on how to run the country."
My aunt nodded her head, "Yeah, well there's that. But it's still kind of the same."
Shit.
I couldn't hold back, "You mean like how creationists and scientists argue with each other?" Our family friend made and uncomfortable movement, which I noticed out of the corner of my eye. Great, now you've done it.
My aunt pauses for a moment before replying, "Um, yeah. Kinda like that...I guess."
"Well, that's a whole 'nother ballpark," my sisters boyfriend said, as he too had seen the uncomfortable our family friend made. "That's a conflict of beliefs in logic, more or less." He seemed to struggle with how he wanted change the subject, glancing up to the sky as he bit his lower lip.
"Filip," our family friend said, "the problem is that all the politicians can't put their little disagreements on how they think the country should be run aside."
I nodded, but I didn't respond. Instead, I just took another swig of my beer. Then I shook my head subtly in disappointment with myself.
Knew I should have just stayed quiet.
Not exactly sure if this follows the model for a CNF short essay, but this is all I could think of.
No comments:
Post a Comment