A Buddhist, A Christian, And A Muslim All Walk Into This Story…
My Mother-in-law is visiting. She pulls me aside in the kitchen, clearly agitated, as soon as I get home from getting some groceries.
Mother-In-Law: “I’m concerned about [My Son’s Name]. I had to put him in time-out earlier.”
Me: “Time out? Why? What happened?”
Mother-In-Law: “He’s looking into all these other religions! He was talking about Muslims and how he wants to go to a Mosque!”
Me: “…Yes. He told us that instead of just going to church, he wants to look into all the religions and make an informed decision. He told you about that on your last FaceTime.”
Mother-In-Law: “He said he went to a Buddhist temple!”
Me: “Yes, because he’s looking into religions.”
Mother-In-Law: “I thought that was a school field trip or something, which would have been bad enough, but this?! We have to put a stop to it! Where is all this coming from? Is it from school? Is one of the teachers indoctrinating him?”
Me: “Uh, no. This comes from us. We told him we don’t care what he does, as long as it’s his choice.”
Mother-In-Law: “So it’s you that’s indoctrinating him!”
Me: “Right. We’re the ones encouraging him to study every viewpoint… and you’re the one punishing him for disagreeing with your one viewpoint, but we’re the indoctrinators? Got it.”
Mother-In-Law: “I’m not punishing him! I’m saving him!”
Me: “You put him in time out for asking questions and showing curiosity. He’s eleven, not Galileo!”
She sulked the rest of the visit and left the dinner table when I asked my son to regale us with everything he’d learned about Islam that day.
CORRECTION: The story as originally submitted changed between first and third person. This has been corrected.
