What about me?

Whilst conducting an EPIC clean up of my room (a work still in progress, and may not be completed before the New Year - you must understand this involves a tidy up of school books, clothing, throwing things out, unpacking from college, organising exec things for next year and so on; I just threw out a cardboard box full of recycling!) I found this sheet, which I apparently filled out in a year 7 class (though I have no idea which one). I find it a bit of a laugh, and thought you might too.

That first thing up there you can't read says "My personal strengths are...I'm independent." And yes, I'd just gotten a horse (I went through a horse-crazy phase) though I was never good enough to justify fancies of competing in the Olympics. I left "I learn best when..." blank. Apparently, "my social strengths are...I am conscientious and caring" and "my best skills are swimming, acting, [indiscernible. a prize if you can figure out what I wrote here]." Yes, I used to play cricket.

And I'm sure you've all noticed "something I believe in strongly is...God." Yes, I used to believe in God. My RE teacher in grade 6 was very devout. At that stage in my life, though I may have been opinionated, I had no firm beliefs about faith. I was religiously apathetic, as was most of my childhood - I don't remember ever going to church, except for weddings and school nativity - though my father has always been a fairly vocal atheist (who now calls him agnostic.) It's like Diana said - Christianity offered me a kind of security, the idea that something cared about me. I prayed a lot - mostly about little things, but also the more troubling things. I made a lot of deals with God about what I would do if he granted me this. I remember going to a discussion group in high school with a friend, where we would talk about each other and pray. I don't know at which point my faith started to unravel - sometime around year 9, I suppose, when I fancied myself as a bit of a Buddhist. I had my doubts - sometime not long after 9/11, I asked my mother how God could allow such evil to happen. She confessed (no pun intended) that this, too, was something she had struggled with in her faith. Thus ended one of the only conversations I have had with my mother about her religious beliefs. To this day, I don't know where she stands. I think she may be something of a lapsed Christian.

x
JAG