RELATIONSHIPS June 9, 2008 Issue

SON TO DAD—THOSE THREE LITTLE WORDS

KWADJO BOAITEY

SOMETIMES RELATIONSHIPS seem to go sour. Someone you love has said something to you that hurts. You feel slighted, upset, maybe even abused. You withdraw. As time goes on, disliking this individual or simply not speaking to him or her seems normal, almost natural.

This would describe the relationship between my dad and me. At one point I hadn't seen him in over ten years. We talked to each other during holidays, but we could never be on the phone for more than five minutes at a time. When we did talk, our conversations seemed scripted; they were so painfully polite. I saw my dad as volatile, domineering, and insensitive. He didn't listen to me, and it appeared as if he looked upon my life choices with disdain.

Although I'd attended a Christian Science Sunday School as a child, it was during this time of estrangement from my father that I really became a Christian Scientist. I was attending church services regularly and trying to put into practice what I was learning from the Bible and Science and Health.

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