Why Not Listen to Your Parents 101

1) They give the most absurd sermons.
>I remember my mom and me in a conversation that went like this:

Mom: Why are you not going to church anymore?
Moi: I am still questioning things. Frankly, I’m not sure if I still want to
Believe in God.
Mom: You see that is what happens when you get exposed to people who have
Long sold themselves to the devil.
Moi: Philosophy nurtures my many questions.
Mom: Because of that philosophy of yours, you neglected God. No wonder
You’ve been getting low grades.
> Intervention: Hmmm, I edited this a bit because I can’t recall the great exchange of lines I’ve had with my mom days ago. My assessment on this argument is that it is sooooooo fallacious! It is absurd! How can not praying and going to church affect my grades? I don’t see any difference besides last term it was really my choice to slack off. I was still undecided at that time so my days were rather wild and uncertain. It was simply my choice why I ended up with low grades.
My mom often gives philosophy a bad connotation. She associates it with Satan and anti-Christs. Well, I do believe in the idea that Hell is other people and that the concept of evil is subjective. What may be true for me may not be necessarily true for you. How I wish I could make my mom read Nietzsche then she’ll skin me alive! Speaking of Nietzsche, I’m hiding my Anti-Christ book because if she sees it…I’m dead!! I love Nietszche. There is nothing that would stop me from reading his works.
Lastly, I don’t really enjoy going to church except for those compulsory religion courses crap in my school. I never felt I would live life to the fullest as a Christian. It is just to idealistic and it goes against my own beliefs and I consider it one that would hinder me from knowing myself (the Socratic Dictum!).

P.S. >> If you saw this live…you might have laughed.

2) They bear the stench of a conformist.
>Eeeew! Conformists suck big time. Your life is a useless piece of shit (forgive me for the language!). I really can’t help it. You follow and follow the norms and you realize you just end up in circles and then if you are lucky, you’d realize you are not actually being a human being but a zombie. Most parents readily accept the norms thinking they are the absolute, well for me it’s just not besides doubting is a manifestation of your awareness and your existence.

3) They render metaphysics or metaphysical ideas as reality.
>My mom in particular talks about God as if they are close friends (I don’t want to start with her and tell her, have you met him? And so on and so forth). What’s worse is that I live in a household where my aunt also lives who happens to be a loyal church-goer and serves the parish here in our village. Now, more people are against me. I always hear this line every Sunday….

“You spend so many hours doing other things. All you have to do is a lot
an hour to the Lord.”

And I find it funny because they say I am becoming a handmaid of Satan. Well, as far as I am concerned….I am not. I am just getting rid of the constraints that limit my individuality.

4) They are concerned with what OTHER people think.
>Remember Sartre said “Hell is other people.” I consider that a maxim. There is no way that I am enabling other people to make me aware that I am like this and like that and later on living my life prior to what they say, again I repeat my favorite word Automaton which I would be if I do live according to what others think.

My parents always want me to behave in a way that would reflect them as good parents. Well, I often do not because due to the fact that “everything is subjective.” What is the point of living life when all you have to do is live under the dictates of other beings?

5) They force me to go to church.
>They drag me or should I say oblige me to go to church but if I go there, I do not actually participate actively or listen intently. And if you are that desperate to make me go to church, you could bribe me with any of the following; a pair of Tod’s Gommini, a Louis Vuitton Speedy Watch in Chrono, a sleek Dior Homme ensemble, an IWC diving watch, a Cartier Santos Watch in Steel and the easiest would be a breakfast/lunch/dinner and a box of Macaroon de Paris from Bizu. I would happily accept those but do not expect me to pretend “I am holy” in church.

6) They live by the rules of Christianity.
>Ugh! Do I even have to follow such rules? I have a counter argument to that and it is from Albert Camus (I think) “The law would be absurd without the presence of those who do not follow.” Another thing is that, I do not actually consider myself a Christian at the moment. My parents are firm believers and they are suspecting me as en route to atheism!

7) They like to manipulate your opinions/ views.
>It is simply a grave offense to the individual to make him grasp a general truth for it doesn’t take into consideration his own perspective; his own interpretation of things.

8) They oblige me to pray the very long rosary complete with all the litanies.
>They do this atleast once or twice a year and I try to escape this thing I consider a chore rather than a necessity. Each time this happens, I feel like Al Sayyid Ahmad in 1989 Nobel Prize for Literature Nauguib Mahfouz’s Palace Walk. In the novel, he is described as one who prays with the mouth and not of the heart. And this is what I feel in times like this.

9) They always live by the TRASHIEST rule in Phil. Society.
>What is it?

In Filipino, they say it as “Mas nakatatama ang matanda” which translates as the
Elderly are always right and you should not disrespect them. My stand on this…
It doesn’t mean that they are older, actually makes them wiser or right at all times.
I do have respect for other people but it takes time and effort to win my respect.

Let me now share a classic example of this in my life. Once upon a time when I was still a helpless little kid, I was playing with one of my cousins. I got annoyed and
so I uttered a word that is similar to “son of a bitch.” My uncle was furious of course and so was my aunt. I was unaware of the implication of such a word because I often hear it around older people. What my aunt and uncle did was spread the word to the other relatives saying that I am such an immoral kid. They say I am rude and garish and the world should know. They go around every household and made mention of it. The thing is how could elder people do such a thing? They were hurting the reputation of a kid (moi) who hardly knows a thing. I mean how they (my aunt and uncle) could do such a think when they already have the advantage of reason; they weren’t being reasonable as well. Each time I remember this, I think of them as real rotten bastards. I’m even planning to write a novel inspired by the way my uncles and aunts who mistreated me. Now the end of the story is that I have lost respect for them and it is not my fault. I do not RESPECT them and I am not even CIVIL with them because being civil is just a euphemism for hypocrisy. It is not a subdued form but rather a less revealing term. They do not deserve my respect and besides I was only 8 years old at that time and I hardly know which is which, I am still going through the process of learning the basics. They could have just told me not to do instead of spreading the word.

Maybe they hate me now even better, because it hurts their pride that we actually rub shoulders and see each other face to face in malls without me looking at them or even saying a word!

(In case a cousin of mine comes across this, I am just practicing freedom of speech…too bad were in a democratic country, I can ridicule any of you in no time.)