Lights

...will guide you home.

So much festivity all around. Diwali has that one benefit of being sparkly and beautiful. I like seeing kids enjoy the festival. I'm neither traditional nor would I consider myself particularly religious, but as I'm growing older, I'm seeing the beauty and value of preserving some form of culture, atleast for the kids. When we were growing up, it was so stifling to have people force you to bend the knee to the idea of religion that it was really hard to have an objective view of traditions. Most of us rebelled against the force. I guess for me, divinity is such a personal and private idea that I hated someone telling me it needs to be just so. And I never thought fear of punishment should be the reason why you act with honor. I think you should do it because it's the right thing to do, just so. 

As a kid, I loved it when my granny used to tell me all these stories of gods and goddesses. I loved hearing about the triumph of good v evil. Loved greek and roman mythology a lot too, and then scandinavian myths. A large part of my moral compass and views were formed early on due to the stuff I read. And I think that's why it's important to give kids a foundation. I feel mythology plays a role in that, the storytelling is easy, kids get it and they imbibe a certain view which can help be a guiding light. I think the balance needed is to combine this with critical thinking and the need to ask questions, take nothing as is. I'd love to teach kids chess just for this. It has baked within its structure a lot of important skills that need mastering that can be applied elsewhere. 

I don't like external rigidity and force in life, something that's very unique to asian culture I suppose. It's changing now but man, it boggles my mind how insanely fearful adults used to be and how they clung to random societal rules for no reason other than fear of others. 

I hope when I have a family of my own, I can create a nice tidy unit where we are able to talk about everything, where we respect each other and are able to value whatever we all think and make room for our differences as well as similarities. As a teen, I spent a large amount of time wanting to stay away from home cuz it was so conflict ridden. I think it's one of the reasons I'm so possessive and protective of the idea of what's mine. All that garbage like open relationships or cheating or any of that absolute shite has no room in my world. Transparency, commitment and reciprocity are the cornerstones I want to build any future relationship on. As an adult, I want to ensure that within the bounds of my home there is peace, generosity and lots of love. A place people want to come back to, a place that has the feeling of warmth and baking bread and idk soft couches and a stellar music system lol. Yeah one of my vv few material wants is a good freaking sound system so I can listen to 80s music lots.  

I used to think I'd love it if a kid of mine inherits my love of reading earlier on, but now I feel I'd have done my job if they value hardwork, generosity and know the absolute strength of kindness. That much would be enough.