Weird. Definition wise, this word means “suggesting something supernatural; uncanny”.

Not the word I

would use to see someone practicing their own religion or having a different political belief than me.
There is a very strong diversity in the world, but it takes moving out of your own comfort zone, such as
moving from a country side of the city, to truly understand that everyone is different and possess their
own identities.

I was raised by my very conservative religious grandparents. The political party and the idealism that
there is an almighty God kind of shaped who I was and what I believed in. Before attending public
school, even as a junior high student, my views of religion were only based around that of Catholicism
and my moral code followed strictly that of the Ten Commandments. Not only did the Bible’s rules play
a part in forming my morality, but so did some moral codes that my grandparents embellished into me.
Their moral codes were very similar to lessons that you could find throughout the Bible’s contents. My
grandparents made it very clear to us that when my brother and me turned 18 that we would be able to
choose our own religion, but until then, the Catholic religion was very much influenced onto. Attending
church on Sundays was held religiously and my brother and me were held to the expectation of keeping
that Sunday tradition even if our grandparents were sick and could not attend themselves. Likewise, my
political opinion followed strictly of the far republican party where constitution was made with the
motivation and willingness of keeping the country running in union. Have you ever experienced that
sickness you get after repeatedly eating the same food constantly? The word for that is food aversion. In
my home, I experienced the same sickness but for the repetitive actions of hearing the daily news. Every
day in my home, FOX News was playing. In the morning, in the afternoon, at night, and even while
everyone slept (just on a lower sound level). My grandmother would even play it in the car on the way
to school or to run some errands. My grandfather, on the other hand, would play the comedy station on
serious XM. You can only guess which one my brother and me preferred; the comedy station. It was our
escape from the constant broadcasting of news being played throughout the house. This constant
occurrence of it did not negatively change my opinion of the republican party, but it did interest me to
research the democratic party and their set goals. After a couple years of reflection of what I liked from
each party, I understood that I am neither republican nor democratic, but I am an independent-or
moderate as you would say. Some of my stand points on certain topics angered my grandmother to the
point that she had thought she had done something wrong while raising me. This formed a guilt in me
that maybe my opinion was wrong if it was something that would hurt my loved one such as I did.

My grandparents enrolled me into a private institution where Fridays were short days in class because
the rest of the day was spent in worship in the church. Religion was a big deal to me. Was. But when I
transferred to the public-school system, that part of my identity was weakened greatly. Because the
people I chose to make friends with and because of my peer’s judgment, I also felt a sense of guilt or
socially awkward to portray my religion. During lunchtime, I would bow my head and recite “Bless me
my lord, for these are gifts which I am about to receive from thy bounty of Christ, my lord, Amen.”. For a
while, I would get a lot of weird looks and see the people around me snicker and point or even confront
me about how “weird” I was being. To me, my religion became an obstacle to obtaining friends or fitting
in during my adjustment to public-school. So, I sacrificed that part of me, that part of my identity to
obtain a social status. Looking back at those moments now, I really wish I hadn’t done that, hadn’t
weakened that identity. In a way, it feels that I might’ve just weakened myself, weakened who I was
made up of. I wish that I was stronger than the pressure society puts on you and had kept up with my
religion.
When I switched from the private institution to the public-school system, the world opened to me in
perspective of religion and other political morals and point of views that I wasn’t accustomed to
experiencing. Political opinions weren’t shown much at all for I only stayed at the private school up until
5th grade. When I switched to the public-school system, I came to the realization that not everyone is of
the republican party. The only interaction I had with political stances was at home and it took me up
until my sophomore year of high school to come to the realization that I was a moderate and that I was
in between the two common parties. During my 8th grade year, all students were required to take a
Constitution test (one of which I passed 100%, not to brag but.). After that year, I was still dead set on
being a republican, but my horizon of how many different parties there were and how many I had
encountered greatened immensely. It wasn’t until I joined Junior Statesmen of America, an organization
that fought apathy, my sophomore year that I truly started to have conflict with showing my political
stand-point. For a group whose mission was to fight apathy, surely made me sit quiet. Whenever I
spoke, my voice, my opinion was lowered beyond rock bottom. This criticism that I endured made me
feel belittle and stupid for thinking the way I did. So, I kept my voice small in the organization. But why
stay in an organization that made me feel that low then? Because I still had hope that I could one day,
one lecture, one debate, feel heard.