I saw "Life of Pi" today and while I will...

review it over at www.tailslate.net I feel compelled to talk about its message about faith.  I was even more inspired when I got home and read about the story of Edwarda O'Bara.  She died this week at the age of 59, after spending 42 years in a coma.

Shortly before she became comatose she asked her mother to stay at her side.  That was in 1970.  Her mother, Kaye O'Bara was still there when she herself passed away in 2008.  That's commitment.  That's dedication.  And, that's faith.

In the movie today, the hero (yes, his name is Pi and I won't spoil how he got that moniker) is born a Hindu.  He will become a Christian and then a Muslim as well.  In an interesting discussion with his family over dinner, his father points out that believing in everything is really nothing more than believing in nothing.

An interesting notion.  If you believe in all religions, do you belong to all, or to none?  Does any one religion have it "right", or are there elements of all that have significant meaning.  I'm no longer observant of the religion I was born with, but my identity as a member of that group never wavers.  Was it imprinted on me and I just stopped having faith? 

I stopped following my faith because of a simple rule it insists upon.  You can't mourn someone who chooses to be cremated.  At least not officially.  You can't speak the proper prayers for the dead, you can't commemorate the anniversary of their death in the temple.  So rather than continue to practice a religion that forbade me from mourning some of my loved ones, I stopped observing the faith.

But I haven't lost faith.  And if anything, seeing the film I saw today has restored it.  I have faith in my fellow human beings.  Every day when I scan the headlines, I find both horrific things one person has done to others, as well as amazing things some have done to help others.  It's an interesting balancing act.  It proves we were given choice.  We can choose to be evil or we can choose to be good. 

There is a part of me that enjoys helping others.  I didn't choose to be that way.  I learned that behavior by observing others and I'm glad things worked out that way.