Siblings at Odds: He's an Evangelical Preacher, I'm an Atheist

[rug]

Sara with older brother. (Photo courtesy of Sara Gilliam)

Posted: 10/06/2015 5:23 pm EDT
Updated: 10/06/2015 5:59 pm EDT
For TueNight.com by Sara Gilliam

- snip -

We were essentially two only children living in the same household. One handsome, athletic and wildly popular. The other chubby, musical and an abysmal social failure. I do not remember us as close. Only decades later has it occurred to me that, given our differences, it was unrealistic to expect closeness.

It still is.

There are stark differences between my older brother and myself: he's an evangelical preacher at a rural megachurch who relaxes by bowhunting deer. I'm a tofu-consuming socialist who believes that we really have no way of knowing what's "out there."

- snip -

But in some ways, as a duo of siblings, we are broken. A rift runs between us and it cannot be broached with good will alone. It is our continental divide: impassible, resolute, unchanging.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tuenight/siblings-at-odds_b_8198198.html

[Jim__]

1. She does a good job of describing the problem.

Too bad she doesn't have any suggested solution. She's not alone.

It does sound like she's able to get along with her brother on most things. There are certain polarizing issues that seem to make any compromise a form of sell-out - mostly the same issues are polarizing for all of us. I wonder if most of us are uncompromising on certain issues because, as a society, we've been sold on the fact that these issues are polarizing. Or, if in any society, there are certain issues that become dividing lines and whichever side of the line you stand on tends to define you as a person.

[rug]

2. What I found remrkable is how freely she expresses genine love for him nevertheless.

There are many siblings who don't speak for much less.