Chivalry

"Chivalry is not dead," a slogan heard in the forties or fifties, perhaps in response to my Grandfather's gifts of plants to women on the bus we were riding together. So I grew up when chilvalry was still OK, sort of, and that is within my character too. I imagined Betty Friedan's possible response to a gift of a plant from an aging man on a bus the other evening, what might she have said (?). Grandfather treated women with a decided difference in respect, and some people today would be critical of that.

Religion

One of my first memories of the word "religion" came from my Grandfather Roberts. He said "organized religion is the work of the devil," and another memory was that he was look upon as kind of a pagan, someone who would rather commune with nature than in a sanctified building. Grandmother Roberts had Mary Baker Eddy on her bedstand, next to the Bible; but she did not go to church. The otherside of the family, the Webbs were LDS, Mormons, came from Idaho, and my aunt Haroldeen felt that I (& my siblings) should be involved in it. So there was some attendance for awhile, but Grandfather Roberts's words were always there, one way or another.

Recently I heard the words of Cornell West, something about "religion as ideology," organized or not, I guess. At this point so many memories are floating around, eg. of Taliban fighters and arch conservative talk hosts and congregations, employing the words of religion in various ways. The amazing speech by Martin Luther King on Vietnam, at the Cathedral of St. John Divine in NY, aye what a mix. My cynicism about religion deeply affected my family, and gave a different twist for my siblings, none of whom attend "church" as far as I know; but who are "religious". Mormons/LDS are notorious for missionary work, and for hounding people they feel should be in their flock, and thus in heaven with them. When I insisted they leave me alone, and they didn't, I threatened them with First Amendment rights, and said that I wanted to be excommunicated & left alone, or would sue.
My parents were deeply upset by this since they were "practicing" the religion from middle age onwards. I'm not sure my dear siblings know about this chapter in my religious history, but it is probably time to share it with them, if not.