When I read interviews with people like Aella, I think of my brothers who left faith entirely, despite being raised in it. I wonder a lot about the brave, happy face that gets put on in front of everyone, the "I'm doing so great, even though your religion told me I'd be doing bad" kind of face. I wonder how true those faces are, or are they merely calculated (like Aella's selfies?). It has been my experience in talking with such people, is that they will betray their confidence, as the last quote you took from Aella, that somewhere inside, they know they shouldn't be doing what they're doing. They can't quite believe the lie they've made for themselves, and it comes out in those small statements of incongruity.
This also makes me think, now that I'm a father, even more about the seemingly impossible task of raising this boy into a man, knowing I can't make decisions for him, and he has to find his own way, his own faith, as I did. I pray God protect him.
These stories are hard to read. It's like watching a video of plane crashing, except you know the story of the pilot, and you know the pilot's decisions led to the crash. You can only shake your head and pray.
Such a heart-rending, sorrowful essay. As a parent and grandparent myself, I can't read an account like this without being engulfed by a dark flood of empathetic grief--for both Aella and her parents. In this case, I'm familiar with Aella's dad, so her story is especially agonizing to read. It does motivate me to pray earnestly for her, and for her parents.
Good grief. That's chilling (at best) and so very sad.
This was a really great write-up! Very thought-provoking.
When I read interviews with people like Aella, I think of my brothers who left faith entirely, despite being raised in it. I wonder a lot about the brave, happy face that gets put on in front of everyone, the "I'm doing so great, even though your religion told me I'd be doing bad" kind of face. I wonder how true those faces are, or are they merely calculated (like Aella's selfies?). It has been my experience in talking with such people, is that they will betray their confidence, as the last quote you took from Aella, that somewhere inside, they know they shouldn't be doing what they're doing. They can't quite believe the lie they've made for themselves, and it comes out in those small statements of incongruity.
This also makes me think, now that I'm a father, even more about the seemingly impossible task of raising this boy into a man, knowing I can't make decisions for him, and he has to find his own way, his own faith, as I did. I pray God protect him.
These stories are hard to read. It's like watching a video of plane crashing, except you know the story of the pilot, and you know the pilot's decisions led to the crash. You can only shake your head and pray.
Such a heart-rending, sorrowful essay. As a parent and grandparent myself, I can't read an account like this without being engulfed by a dark flood of empathetic grief--for both Aella and her parents. In this case, I'm familiar with Aella's dad, so her story is especially agonizing to read. It does motivate me to pray earnestly for her, and for her parents.