"In my mother's house there is still God"

The other day i was thinking about the scene in Lorraine Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun when Beneatha, the daughter says that there is no God and no need for religion. Lena Younger, her mother, slaps her clear across the face and tells her to repeat the words, "In my mother's house there is still God."

This scene raises a lot of questions for me about what happens in that time between leaving your parents and becoming an adult. My parents taught me a set of morals, values, and even religious doctrine in hopes that they've "raised me right" so that I would not depart from it as the Bible verse says. And they did raise me right; i successfully graduated from college and living on my own in DC. However, it's amazing how as you get older, you feel the need to create your own doctrine, your own set of rules, ones that seem to best match were you are in life.

It's not a matter of respect or lack thereof for your parent's teachings. It's not even a sign of disobedience and rebellion. It's merely a sign of learning what works for you, what doesn't, and how to reconcile the adult, freer-thinking you with the child of your youth who did things because your parents told you to.

That's where I'm at now, and I think that's where a lot of early twentysomethings are. I'm at a point where I'm figuring out what was realistic and what was idealistic about my parents' wishes, what i'm comfortable with and what i'd rather change. I'll be the first to admit that it feels awkward most of the time, but I wouldn't have it any other way.