Religious Autobiography Of This Is Water By David Foster Wallace

Religious Autobiography For a lot of families Sunday is the most important day of the week, mine included. At least it was the most important day of the week when I was younger. When I was in elementary school, my family had a Sunday ritual: my mom would cook breakfast, we would go to 10:30 mass and then go to my great-grandmother’s nursing home with my extended family. As I got older and my great-grandmother passed away, we started to go to church less and less, only going to mass about two times a month. As my brother started growing up, our attendance declined even more as my parents often traveled out of town for his basketball, baseball, and football tournaments, making it hard to be present at Sunday mass. For the past couple of years, we have only been going on holidays. With my grandparents being very religious, they do not approve of how little my immediate family and I go to church. My extended family on my mom’s side affiliates
church in their everyday life; making it the most important thing to them. They never miss a Sunday at church, pray at every meal, and read the bible for fun. My immediate family has never been that dedicated to our Catholic religion. As a kid, I believe my mom really wanted our family to have the same traditions as she did, but as time went on, that is not the way it happened. With my dad and his side of the family not being religious at all, and him and us kids complaining about having to go to church every Sunday, it got harder and harder for my mom to convince us to go. Even though my mom does not make us go to church every Sunday now, that is not how it was when I was in elementary school. My parents brought me into the Catholic religion when I was baptized at two months old at Saint Phillips church with my parents, grandparents, and godparents by my side. When I was first beginning elementary school, I started at Saint Phillips. There were nuns working as librarians, Spanish teachers, as well as lunch ladies. When I was attending school there, I went to mass every Wednesday along with every Sunday with my parents. After I spent a couple years at Saint Phillips, my family moved and I went to a public school. I continued with my religious education by attending weekly catechism at Saint Bernard. As I grew in my Christian faith, I made my First Communion, First Reconciliation and Confirmation all at Saint Bernard. As I grew older and stopped going regularly to church services, I was still able to build on my religious beliefs. Growing up, I have been exposed to various styles of religious practices. Every week, I would go to my Catholic religious’ education on Wednesday’s, along with Awana on Tuesdays. My neighbors are part of the Baptist community and would invite my siblings and I to their weekly Awana. While there, they would blend their teaching of Bible passages through games and other activities and rewarded us with candy when we memorized Bible verses. At the time I was too young to really notice the difference, but as I look back, I reflect on how two different religious organizations are run differently. In the end, both religions share the same values and beliefs in God. Growing up as a witness to two different belief systems, I have been able to grow in my morals and values of life. Religion has definitely affected the way I look at the world. It affects me in my decision-making growing up, especially throughout high school. I chose not to drink or be involved with other illegal activities. Also, I chose to be friends with people who share the same values as I; not necessarily in a religious way, but more so through moral values. Not to say that I am judgmental of the people that have different values as me. Through the teachings of my parents and their values, I have grown to enjoy assisting others through volunteering, I have many experiences such as: ringing bells for the Salvation Army, and helping the community by picking up garbage around the city. I believe if I was not raised in a religious environment I would not be who I am today and not make the same decisions I did growing up. Being raised by Christian parents is the reason I have strong values. Just because my Christian background is a huge part of my life, that does not mean Sunday mass is crucial in my life. The opinion I have of church is far more different from most Catholics. I do not think going to church makes one a better person. Growing up, I tried to make meaning of going to church and convince myself that it is important to attend, but eventually I just decided that it was not important. I still pray and go to church on holidays but that is about it. While getting confirmed my confirmation teacher told his story about when he got confirmed; he stated that he felt the holy spirit with him and it was the most powerful thing he ever felt. He kept going on about how he started to cry and it was the greatest feeling he has ever felt. I was looking forward to getting confirmed and feeling such a great power with me; when the time came and I was getting confirmed, I did not feel anything special; nothing was different. What I am trying to get at is, I have never been able to feel the presence of God. My connection with God is not as strong as I would like it to be. TRANSITION SENTENCE….. In Theology, I read This is Water by David Foster Wallace.
The reason why I am explaining this story is because the speech felt as if it was directed toward me and my mindset. I’m not going to explain the entire speech because that would be a little off topic. However, in the beginning of the speech, Wallace says, “There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says ‘Morning, boys. How's the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes ‘What the hell is water?’” The meaning I got from this is: Fish are living in water and yet they have no idea what water is. I made a connection because everyday I live in the work of God, yet, never feel his presence. Reading this, I realized the simple things are the hardest to explain. I now have a new mindset and finally realized I need to stop waiting to feel the presence of God. I do not need proof God is there, I just have to
believe. Sunday mass might not be an essential part of my life, I might not pray at every meal, and I might not find enjoyment from reading the Bible. Despite all of that, I still consider myself a good Christian and hold my faith close to me. As I said before, being raised Catholic is the reason I am who I am; I respect all humans, I have great manners, and help out whenever I am needed. No, I am not the stereotypic Christian girl; nonetheless, I am still Christian by heart.