Correr Es Mi Destino

– Can I have a Dumaurier light 20’s king size please?

– What do you believe in?

Let’s face it, I rarely get what I want when I go to the corner store.

The shop assistant (or the owner, cause as far as I know he is here from 6:00 am to 12:00 am) looks up at me and obviously expects an answer. An Arabic language newspaper opened on the counter and no sign of him reaching for my cigarettes tells me I’m in for a philosophical moment.

– Well, actually, I don’t believe in much. Mankind maybe… on my good days.

– What religion are you, my friend?

– None, really. I’m an atheist.

– Catholic, right? Catholic you must be.

– Er… atheist, really. Like, I don’t believe in a God.

Gosh, I smoke, you can almost see my (black) bra though the thin (white) tee-shirt I put on to walk the 10 meters to the convenience store, and you won’t see me up before noon on Sundays - don’t you have a clue?!

– But you’re parents, catholics, right my friend?

– Nope. Atheists as well.

– Your grand-parents? Religion?

– Atheists. Well, they might have stepped into a church once in a while given it wasn’t that popular to live a life without a God at the time, but basically, they don’t believe.

– But…

– Nor did my great-grand parents as far as I know.

I cut him off before he gets a chance to realize that, indeed, my whole family was probably burning in hell.

– Can I ask a question, my friend? Who bore you?

I thought this guy was an engineer. Didn’t he take biology classes in his curriculum?

– My mother…

– And who bore your mother?

– My grand-mother…

What’s with genealogy today?

– And if you come back back far far in time, who bore the first person here on earth?

– Science?

– God!

We both looked at each other and laughed. I finally get my cigarettes (after I promised to think about the first person who born the first person).

I thought about it on the way back. The idea of a God isn’t stupid to me, but I just don’t believe. Granted, I can’t explain all the things surrounding me. Honestly, the Big Bang theory is fascinating but I’m not much of a scientist, so I probably wouldn’t be able to back it up that far. However, I truly believe in science. I know that there are still mysteries around us. I know that everything can’t be explain rationally - either because it’s too early, or because there’s still a part of “random” and “coincidences” in our lives, in our world. But giving a God the full benefit of creating us sounds like patching up a kid’s story on a grown-up matter.

Why am I writing this post already? Oh yeah. Because I’m glad I live in Canada, a country so multicultural, with so many beliefs and backgrounds, so many cultures and religions, so many people of different origins and languages… and above all, because I’m glad to live in a country where we can talk about our differences without killing each other. Sounds anecdotal? Maybe. But it means a lot to me.