Religious backgrounds and superstition run deep in my family. There are a lot of weird rules that I’ve been told with no other reason than “it’s bad luck” and I have to accept that reasoning. For example, did you know that you’re not supposed to buy shoes or get a haircut on your birthday? That was a surprise for my brother, who asked for shoes for his birthday. I’m really curious to see where that one came from, but my mother won’t tell me. Perhaps because I find it annoying that no one will tell me anything, I’ve started to stray from an early age from that type of faith.  

Although my family is Buddhist, I never bothered to learn any of the gods’ names except for Buddha. I still don’t know any of them, even though I have gone to the temples annually and prayed since I was young. Even though I don’t know any of the names of who I was praying to, I’m on my knees on the red pillow moving my red incense stick three times up and down as I was taught to. I pray to my dead relatives with smoldering sticks of incense, but the only prayers I send are greetings in the forms of “Hello” and “How are you doing?” because I thought it would be a nice change of pace for my ghostly ancestors who were probably only receiving requests for blessings.

Of course, I don’t expect a reply from anyone or anything.  

Maybe I don’t get replies because the wispy smoke curling towards the roof—supposedly carrying my messages—gets sucked up into the mechanical vent in the corner of the room. It might also be because I accidentally breathed in the smoke that the messages that I send don’t go through. Who knows? Maybe God.  

I still do go to the temples with my family, not for myself, but just so they get a sense of relief that their child is protected by our ancestors or gods whom I’ve barely gotten to know. Maybe that’s the reason why I’m so skeptical about everything dealing with spiritualism or superstition. My parents raised me to be a tolerant person, so I was never strongly against religion. I don’t dislike it or ridicule those who believe in it. I see the appeal, but it’s not my thing. It just seems to me that a majority of people follow religion in fear of divine punishment. Even if there is a moment where I need to place my faith in otherworldly beings whom I have never felt the grace of, I don’t think I’d be able to accept that help will actually come.

Still, wherever you place your faith is up to you and only you. Parents are welcome to teach their kids whatever they want to teach them. However, it’s up to the kids themselves to decide what to believe.