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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kumar who wrote (43358)	10/2/2002 6:01:26 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

'hypes more than politicians' an example.. ''Another amusing side note is a recent story my brother relayed to my family. I belong to a very small religion however our bureaucratic tendencies do tend to get the better of us thus the administrative layers and tiers in my religion are as complex as those in Catholicism (to add some perspective Catholics outnumber us by a multiple of two hundred). I believe that this has fundamentally to do with the fact that most of my Iranian co-religionists (including myself) tend to have Zoroastrian ancestry, which is associated with “pedanticism” and meticulousness. In any case I am digressing and will summarily return to my story. My family is going to hold a religious function at our house in the near future and thus we had the pleasure of a liaison provided from our local spiritual assembly with whom to coordinate on the minutiae of the event. Invitations cards were to be designed* and the task invariably fell on my tech-savvy brother, who is virtually the only member in our entire community aware of the intricacies of the computer. In deep discussion with the liaison over the exact specifications of the invitation cards, that were to be sent out, my brother asked the question "what exactly are we supposed to write on them?" The liaison wrinkled her nose and hesitated for quite a long time before sombrely replying in her deep Iranian accent, "ah we haven't made a committee on that yet!" After hearing that story I can only pray for the good of humanity that my religion remains restricted to those of us who are well aware of its, shall we say, rather delightful quirks. We pride ourselves on our democratic instincts yet our community meetings are fodder for any sitcom (situation comedy) and virtually all the stereotypes are present. The fatigued elderly ranks who catch a quick wink during community discussions, the restless teens (my brothers and myself) who writhe throughout the proceedings, my mother is the lacklustre and languid onlooker (her family converted to the religion over five generations ago which has virtually deadened their spiritual impulses), the few passionate and ardent participants are my father (my father also belonged to a family that converted a few generations ago but he used to be quite active during his youth and presently decries the present state of decay in our religion), the English converts and the Iranian ladies who are in the entrenched positions of power in my community. In every annual election held there has never been a change of positions unless death or retirement had some part to play! However despite my constant sniggering of my religion it is an inherent connection that ultimately binds us all together. Religion is the adhesive that brings people together and allows a deep interaction of different minds, which cannot be brought about in any other circumstance. To renounce one's faith will shorn one of the ties that bring us comfort and I myself, despite my avowed secularism, feel a certain tingle when I learn of the existence of another of my kind (this is perhaps because our numbers are so few thus we are scattered throughout the globe bereft of one another). *My religion does tend to have a leaning for pomposity and grandeur, simple just no longer works for my co-religionists thus millions of dollars were devoted to construction works in Mt Carmel, Israel, when they could have been diverted to aiding our sister communities in India.'' latif.blogspot.com