The child objects

This morning Aidan logged a conscientious objection. He didn’t want to go to San Juan Bautista with his fourth grade class because he’s “a polytheist.” And, he “doesn’t feel comfortable visiting a Christian church.”

Aidan believes in the greek gods right now. Literally. He also thinks that we don’t respect his beliefs. This is probably because we don’t. If he’s going to continue to be a polytheist, it’s probably best that he learn about intolerance early. I can help with that.

When Aidan was a tiny thing, I’m sure I imagined the kinds of conversations we’d have when he was older. What I never imagined was that I’d have to use my forceful voice to say things like, “EVEN POLYTHEISTS STILL HAVE TO GO ON THEIR 4TH GRADE FIELD TRIP TO MISSION SAN JUAN BAUTISTA!” Followed by muttering about being open minded, listening to different view points, and how valuable it is to know our history.

Oh, and I might have told him to try to remember everything he learned so we could correct whatever stupid manifest destiny narratives the guides might use to soften the hard edges of what went on there. You know, like forcing Native Americans onto reductions (like reservations) and totally disrupting their way of life. We’ll talk this over while eating vegan kung pao tofu, even though I realize this totally makes me a liberal snowflake. 

{Shrug} 

I’m curious to see what he says when he comes home. I might change the menu to include hunks of flesh roasted over open flame, and I might yell, “‘MERICA” a few times spontaneously during dinner to even out the NorCal liberal vibe, but we’re still having this conversation. Oh, and I’m sure it’ll be followed by a discussion of how many sugar cubes we’ll need to buy in order to make a model of a mission… Because that’s how it’s done!