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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 455739" data-attributes="member: 177">I'll repeat - 16 year olds world-wide do things as odd every day.&nbsp; Odd behavior is part and parcel of being a teen!&nbsp; How many people do we start to put in counselling?Really, folks, think for a second.&nbsp; We live in a culture that thinks it reasonably okay for grown adults to strip to the waist, cover themselves in body paint and stand about for hours in midwinter cold in worship to a sports team!&nbsp; And we label this kid as weird? Yep - we who have dice superstitions, going so far as to &quot;punish&quot; pieces of inanimate plastic when they fail to meet our wants - we call a kid weird for thinking on a relevant symbol for a football game.&nbsp; That's perspective for ya. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin&nbsp; &nbsp; :D"&nbsp; data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />Back when I was in junior high, my gaming group had a little pantheon all it's own.&nbsp; It included &quot;The Great Gumbala&quot;, god of junk food.&nbsp; His main nemesis was Jack LaLane.&nbsp; Before each session, the GM found the biggest chip in the bag, did a little chant, and tossed it over the nearest boundary (a hedge, out a door, what have you) as a sacrifice.&nbsp; Not one of us has committed a felony in the many years since. As to the validity of religion- useful symbols are where you find them.&nbsp; Lots of folks follow paths that are clearly made up out of whole cloth.&nbsp; That doesn't mean it's false.&nbsp; One finds good symbols wherever one can.&nbsp; It doesn't matter that it's 2000 years old, or 20, or 2.&nbsp; The question is if it works for you.&nbsp; If the kid actually does find a measure of focus in saying a prayer, more power to him!&nbsp; Thus endeth my rant.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 455739, member: 177"] I'll repeat - 16 year olds world-wide do things as odd every day. Odd behavior is part and parcel of being a teen! How many people do we start to put in counselling? Really, folks, think for a second. We live in a culture that thinks it reasonably okay for grown adults to strip to the waist, cover themselves in body paint and stand about for hours in midwinter cold in worship [i]to a sports team[/i]! And we label this kid as weird? Yep - we who have dice superstitions, going so far as to "punish" pieces of inanimate plastic when they fail to meet our wants - we call a kid weird for thinking on a relevant symbol for a football game. That's perspective for ya. :D Back when I was in junior high, my gaming group had a little pantheon all it's own. It included "The Great Gumbala", god of junk food. His main nemesis was Jack LaLane. Before each session, the GM found the biggest chip in the bag, did a little chant, and tossed it over the nearest boundary (a hedge, out a door, what have you) as a sacrifice. Not one of us has committed a felony in the many years since. As to the validity of religion- useful symbols are where you find them. Lots of folks follow paths that are clearly made up out of whole cloth. That doesn't mean it's false. One finds good symbols wherever one can. It doesn't matter that it's 2000 years old, or 20, or 2. The question is if it works for you. If the kid actually does find a measure of focus in saying a prayer, more power to him! Thus endeth my rant. [/QUOTE]

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