Two Brothers, Two Paths

(755 words)

Two brothers born a few years apart, grew up in a loving Protestant household that hummed along with the daily rhythm of work, school, play, dinner and family conversation at the table, Saturday outings, and Sunday religious services followed by lunch with the grandparents — everything proceeded as it should in a good Christian family. When the brothers were not attending Sunday services, they watched, listened and learned from the examples set by their parents.

When the brothers left the nest for college, one brother stayed true to his evangelical instincts. He had an unwavering faith in Jesus and the Bible, and a fierce belief that loyalty to his God was the road to Salvation and a life ever-after. He did his best to follow his Church’s moral code of truth, patience, civility, caring, humility, inclusiveness, generosity, and love — not a bad set of values to strive for.

But when the other brother tried to make the “leap of faith,” he fell short and slowly drifted away from his family’s Protestant roots, unattached to any religious label. This brother had no bible or congregation or house of worship to affiliate with; just a reverent wonder in the infinite complexity and beauty of the universe and the moon, sun, the stars and sky above him, the earth below him, his cherished loved ones around him, and his instincts and common sense. He questioned the why? and how? of civilizations that carved up the spiritual pie into so many religions, each with its own god and holy scripture, each believing their theology was the one. But a quote by Ghandhi gave him some a perspective that came closest to expressing what he felt in his heart:

For me, the different religions are beautiful flowers from the same garden, or they are branches of the same majestic tree.

This spiritual free-range brother had the utmost respect for the good will of all the world’s religions, for the peace and love they offered their congregations inside their places of worship; and, he had a sincere appreciation of the power of faith and prayer in all people. But he was occasionally disillusioned by the hypocrisy in religious institutions when say: priests sexually molested altar boys and covered up their sins; or, white male evangelical legislators converted their personal moral codes into public laws criminalizing women’s rights; or, a [ Religion A – against – Religion B ] hate boiled in a pot for decades until it exploded, killing tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children. Free-range brother grudgingly accepted the reality that there would always be a few bad apples in every secular and religious barrel, so he clung to the hope that man’s humanity to man could still win the day.

The brothers stayed close as best they could since they lived far apart. They kept their noses to the grindstone during those hectic decades of marriage and kids and grandkids and then aging gracefully, doing the best they could with the minds and bodies they were born with. They showed up at all the family gatherings — holidays, birthdays, graduations, marriages, weddings, reunions and funerals — to show their love and respect for each other and the entire extended family.

But truth be told, it was the brothers’ parents that gave them everything they needed as they grew up and prepared to go out into the world as young adults. Their parents were there for them every step of the way, in flesh and blood, real time. They were always there to look them in the eye, talk to them, listen to them, smile and laugh and cry with them, walk with them, and hug them. But most of all, the brothers were forever comforted and inspired by the greatest gift their parents could have ever given them:

Their father loved their mother his entire life; and,

their mother loved their father her entire life.

The brothers’ hearts overflowed with the golden spirit of this magnificent marriage.

The brothers accepted each other for where they came from, where they had been, and who they had become. In spite of the never-ending cultural and political and religious tension in the world, they did not let any outside pressures divide them. While the two brothers walked different belief paths, they were basically heading in the same direction in the pursuit of careers and families and taking care of those they loved.

These two brothers still love each other today, as brothers will do.

My brother, and me.