Existential conversations with my daughter.

Alex: How old is the real baby Jesus now? (NB: We have recently discussed the fact that "the real baby Jesus" won't be at our Christmas pageant because that story happened a long time ago.)

Me: Um. The real baby Jesus was born very very long ago, thousands of years, and people can't live for that many years. So he died a long time ago. (Considers, and rejects, introducing the idea that some people believe in the Resurrection.)

Alex: Why?

Me: ...Because the earth is very old, and people have lived on earth for such a very long time. They were born, they grew up, they got old, and they died, and then new people grew up and got old and died. That's how it is.

Alex: (firmly) I'm never, ever going to die.

Me: Good! (suddenly realizes where this probably came from.) ...You know, usually children *don't* die. Children almost always grow up and live for a long time.

Alex: What if they have a long sickness?

Me: Even when children have a long sickness, they usually don't die. Their doctors can usually figure out the right medicine to give them.

Alex: (sounding satisfied) Their doctors are detectives.

Me: That's right.

---

I guess that to a kid who has only encountered the concept of death as an intimate and personal tragedy (Grandma Nancy had a long sickness, and she died, and it's so sad that Papa still sometimes cries when we talk about it), the idea that most people who have ever lived are dead now is incomprehensible.

It's not just the idea that everyone dies someday, although we have introduced that idea and apparently it didn't take. It's the idea of generations upon generations of dead people. Laura and Mary Ingalls are long dead now, and so is Blackbeard, and so is everyone else who lived in the "old-fashioned times" that Alex has been interested in learning about, and there were, literally, countless generations who lived and died before them.

Golden boys and girls all must
Like chimney sweepers, come to dust.

And this is not the sort of thing I tend to think about, until I suddenly find myself saddled with the responsibility of explaining it.

Icon picture meme.

Because I am a bad person, I forgot that I owe lynsaurus an icon post.

DIRECTIONS:
- reply to this post with a reason why you want me to do this meme with you, and I will pick six of your icons.
- make a post (including this info) and talk about the icons I chose.
- other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
- this will make sure you're entertained until the next meme rolls around.

lynsaurus picked the following icons. I appreciate that she explained why she likes them, instead of just giving me a list; I'll try to do the same if people respond to this meme. ( Read more... )