Thanks, it is difficult for me to have to hide it from her, but for religious reasons they have a distrust of modern medicine and my mother no longer thinks she needs blood pressure medication because "God healed her". So there is a possibility that hearing something traumatic could send her to an early grave. She already flipped **** when I told her I knocked up my girlfriend.
I've got folks like that in my family too! I'll never understand that. I mean, I can understand a lot of belief-motivated oddities, but that particular strand is just baffling.
There are many reasons to have some distrust for modern medicine.... religion is only one. As for the OP. I agree, it was well addressed, but inclusion is one of his strengths. I won't go on to interpret his motivations.
I gotta agree with DD on this one. It took courage to stand up for his beliefs, yes. Your kids look up to you as their hero. He chose to leave them behind.
Man.....your situation sounds a lot like mine. My mother is borderline crazy in her religious beliefs. When I told her I was divorcing my first wife.......it literally caused her to shut down for weeks. She could not handle that at all. What I did not tell her was that I left the church and went my own way (not cause of the falling out with wife one....but my own convictions). When I finally sat her down years later......she took it better than I thought. We did not talk for months but she came around. I know your mom and mine are not the same person......so I do wish you luck when/if you decide to tell her. It sucks that we have to hide who we are to people we are close to to ......as my wife #2 says all the time.....'Protect them'......so I feel your pain man. It was a painful period but it came around. I hope the best for ya.
I hadn't seen it until now either... the fact that he named me too... I don't quite know what to say. Ironic that, for the most part, I stopped posting in D&D over a year ago, and LL's unbending position against homosexuality was a big part of that. I thought to myself "why do I bother? People's views hardly ever change." Now I find out that in fact, in LL's case, they did. Which in itself I think is great... but the idea that this change in views may have contributed towards his death just shatters me. I feel both very sad, and angry at this family of his, that apparently did not see fit to support him at all in his changing views. Reminds me of my mother trying to get my gay brother to sign a petition against gay marriage. I wish you'd had more support around you, LL, maybe you'd still be here. LScola, regarding your own changing views... if you're interested, try reading a thing or two by Thomas Merton, a monk who also studied many eastern religions. Years back now, his stuff was what moved me from considering myself an atheist in high school to an agnostic in college (and still agnostic)... as well as beginning to do community service just for the joy of doing it.
Thanks, D. You'll hear from me soon. I can't pretend to have advice for you on this one, but I can say that there is no cowardice in swallowing your pride for someone you love. Keep venting to us; we can take it. Hopefully we can work towards building a community of mutual respect and compassion around here (especially in this forum). The idea that we can confine the effects of our words within the walls of this little sub-directory on the internet can no longer be maintained. There is no escaping responsibility. Thanks, Drexlerfan. I'll check it out. Thank you.
