I grew up before the internet was invented (*gasp of horror from the teenagers reading this*). I didn't have a TV in my bedroom (nor did any of my friends). We didn't even have Cable - just three network channels, PBS, and four UHF channels (21,27,33,39) I watched the shows my parents watched. I listened to the radio station my parents listened to. I used the toothpaste my parents used, the laundry soap they used. I went to the church they went to and I liked the presidential candidate they liked. I watched the sports they watched and cheered the teams they cheered for. It didn't occur to me to question anything for myself because they told me what to think and believe. Questioning authority was simply not a concept I had any knowledge of. I respected and obeyed my parents and any authority they told me to respect and obey.
I never had an identity crisis because I knew exactly who I was. I was the person my parents had raised me to be. I was raised Baptist so I joined a Baptist church. I was raised Republican so I checked the box that said Republican on my voter's registration card. I was raised to be a Cowboy fan so I despised the Redskins. I was raised to be a Sooner, so OSU sucked. I was raised to be a certain person, and so I was.
Until I wasn't.
Since we got a computer with internet access 15 or so years ago, who I am and what I believe has changed. Some things have been a radical change, others a slight shift. Now these changes can not all be attributed to the internet, but the instant access to a infinite number of subjects has made me more aware of other people's ideas and views, and better able to research and study things I had never before thought of exploring.
Over the past 20 years I have changed from a young girl who had blind faith in a God she professed to believe in but didn't really know, to a questioning atheist/agnostic, to a pagan/Wiccan explorer to a middle aged woman who has a strong faith that has been tested and proven beyond doubt. I am secure in my knowledge of who my God is and what He has done for me. As a child I simply believed what I was told, but I have come full circle and I now believe what I KNOW. My faith has been erased and rewritten but it is solidified and permanent, unchanging.
My political views have evolved over the past twenty.... well, ok, over the past ten years as well. Although my journey of faith has brought me full circle back to what I believed as a child, my political views are not at all what I was brought up to believe, and I honestly can't say that they are anywhere close to being solidified! Most of the time I consider myself a Republican, and that is what is marked on my voter's registration, but often my views align more with Democrats. Although I have voted for a Democrat, I really don't consider myself liberal enough to be considered one. I don't know what I should be classified as. I sit in the middle and sometimes lean to the left, sometimes to the right. I have a few issues that I care deeply about - that I have studied, sought instruction and advice, prayed about and debated with myself over. These issues - the ones that I am passionate about - are the ones I have formed my own opinion about. My views are MINE and no one else's. My illustrations and justifications came from my own research, my own thoughts, my own summations, not parroted words of propaganda. There are many issues I do not know/care about, but these issues are near and dear to my heart because they are mine. You don't have to agree, but I need to state them. Perhaps these are issues you have not thought about, or points you have not heard or considered. Perhaps you will agree with me, perhaps you will not, but let your opinion be formed by you, not someone else!
.... to be continued.....
PS. I was raised in Texas. Football is in my blood. Friday night has a distinctive smell, a sound, an electric charge that can't be duplicated or explained. Saturday cartoons can never compete with collegiate ball. Sunday evenings (and used to be Mondays) belong to Dallas. Whatever changes my political and religious views have taken, my affinity for my teams will always remain. Regardless of their performance on the field, I will always cheer for the Cowboys. I will never hear the word "boomer" without following it with "sooner". I will always hear the word "panther" when "Eye of the Tiger" is played. Somethings will never change!
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