Respectful

Cheryl Brown

Respectful Paper

October 30, 2010

Sociology 1000

Religion, while not readily accepted, has been a large part of my life. I was baptized Christian at the age of 9 and raised in the church after my parent’s divorce, unlike the other members of our family. I attended church every single Sunday for the next 10 years against my will, with that being the extent of my religious experience until I left the nest to be married. My Dad forced me as a child to complete all of the Christian education that was required of me, with no regard if my sister and I should be free to choose whether or not we wanted to be active in the Church. Although I was forced into Church by my family, I do believe in God and I have my own relationship in my own way. Now at 30 years old, my husband and I are starting our daughter out in church: we will baptize her, but we have decided that it will be her choice how involved she wants to be. What matters most to me is having faith in something, or someone when you need somewhere to turn I believe that this is more spirituality than religion.

Both of my parents worked growing up just to keep a roof over our heads and put food on the table. There was very little, if any, extra money for us to have if we wanted to go do something with our friends. My parents saved all year long in order to take a 3 day camping trip during the summer each year. I started babysitting at 12 years old for my own spending money. I got a full-time job at 15, working for a newspaper. This was how I was able to make a car payment, pay my own insurance, buy myself new clothes or go out with my friends. In my household education was very important, as an incentive my grandparents would pay us $20 for each A that we brought home on our report cards. This was a way of guaranteeing hard work in school, my mother graduated from high school but never attended college, my father earned his Associates at 40, so it was very important for us to...