CHLOE’S STORY - 2
Honestly, all I could think was, “I‟m not paying for you to get a degree in philosophy.” But as she stood there with her hands on her hips waiting for me I realized she wasn‟t going anywhere until I gave her my full attention and answered the question. I didn‟t know what she expected me to say though. We‟re all just trying to survive and make the most out of life. That‟s all there is to it, and I tried explaining that to her, but it didn‟t satisfy her at all.
“But whyyyyyyyyy?” she moaned, hunching forward in a pleading gesture. Then as a sudden thought struck her, and she snapped back up straight and added matter of factly, “God had a reason.”
Before I go on any further I need to clarify that for a number of reasons I hadn‟t taught Chloe about God, but my wife and I had come to a compromise on the subject. We‟d let Chloe come to her own conclusions, and if she ever asked us what we believed we‟d tell her in a non-pressuring way. Of course, children don‟t have to spend long in this life to learn about God from someone. So there we were.
I felt guilty for doing what I did next, but since I didn‟t think it was time to have the God conversation with her yet and I didn‟t have an answer for why God created us all I could do was dodge the subject. So I cheated and told her in a sagely, far away voice, “The Lord works in mysterious ways.”
Then, talking to me like I was 6 she said, “So you don‟t know what we‟re supposed to be doing? So how do you know what…chores you‟re supposed to get done? I mean, won‟t you get it trouble if you don‟t do em‟?”
Chloe stood there waiting for my next bit of time-tested wisdom, but she read the blank expression on my face before I could answer with my mouth. She could tell she‟d stumped me. So, having given up on me she threw her hands up in the air again and marched off back towards the grass to search for more clues on her own.
For a moment I tried to laugh off the conversation as one of those “darndests” things kids say, but I got to thinking about it and realized she had a frighteningly valid point. Granted, the way she worded it was puerile, but the idea itself had merit. What she was trying to say was that if we don‟t know the meaning of life then how can we be sure we‟re fulfilling it?
The concept made me uneasy. So next I tried to brush the question off as one of those curious but ultimately pointless novelty riddles like, “If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it does it make a sound?” but the more I thought about it the more I had to admit Chloe‟s logic was sound…and humbling.
I considered myself a responsible adult who followed all the rules and lived a successful life by modern society‟s standards. I had the wife, the kid, the education, the job, the respectable friends, the high credit rating, the house, the car, and a few high end electronics. I even had a small allotment set up at work to automatically donate a little money from my paycheck to charity each month. I did everything you‟re supposed to, but could I say for certain I knew the meaning of life? No. So could I honestly be sure I was fulfilling it. No. I was just expecting I‟d nail it by accident. I was leaving it up to chance whether or not I validated my existence or wasted it in vain.
Honestly, all I could think was, “I‟m not paying for you to get a degree in philosophy.” But as she stood there with her hands on her hips waiting for me I realized she wasn‟t going anywhere until I gave her my full attention and answered the question. I didn‟t know what she expected me to say though. We‟re all just trying to survive and make the most out of life. That‟s all there is to it, and I tried explaining that to her, but it didn‟t satisfy her at all.
“But whyyyyyyyyy?” she moaned, hunching forward in a pleading gesture. Then as a sudden thought struck her, and she snapped back up straight and added matter of factly, “God had a reason.”
Before I go on any further I need to clarify that for a number of reasons I hadn‟t taught Chloe about God, but my wife and I had come to a compromise on the subject. We‟d let Chloe come to her own conclusions, and if she ever asked us what we believed we‟d tell her in a non-pressuring way. Of course, children don‟t have to spend long in this life to learn about God from someone. So there we were.
I felt guilty for doing what I did next, but since I didn‟t think it was time to have the God conversation with her yet and I didn‟t have an answer for why God created us all I could do was dodge the subject. So I cheated and told her in a sagely, far away voice, “The Lord works in mysterious ways.”
Then, talking to me like I was 6 she said, “So you don‟t know what we‟re supposed to be doing? So how do you know what…chores you‟re supposed to get done? I mean, won‟t you get it trouble if you don‟t do em‟?”
Chloe stood there waiting for my next bit of time-tested wisdom, but she read the blank expression on my face before I could answer with my mouth. She could tell she‟d stumped me. So, having given up on me she threw her hands up in the air again and marched off back towards the grass to search for more clues on her own.
For a moment I tried to laugh off the conversation as one of those “darndests” things kids say, but I got to thinking about it and realized she had a frighteningly valid point. Granted, the way she worded it was puerile, but the idea itself had merit. What she was trying to say was that if we don‟t know the meaning of life then how can we be sure we‟re fulfilling it?
The concept made me uneasy. So next I tried to brush the question off as one of those curious but ultimately pointless novelty riddles like, “If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it does it make a sound?” but the more I thought about it the more I had to admit Chloe‟s logic was sound…and humbling.
I considered myself a responsible adult who followed all the rules and lived a successful life by modern society‟s standards. I had the wife, the kid, the education, the job, the respectable friends, the high credit rating, the house, the car, and a few high end electronics. I even had a small allotment set up at work to automatically donate a little money from my paycheck to charity each month. I did everything you‟re supposed to, but could I say for certain I knew the meaning of life? No. So could I honestly be sure I was fulfilling it. No. I was just expecting I‟d nail it by accident. I was leaving it up to chance whether or not I validated my existence or wasted it in vain.
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