I've always thought it says a lot about our "belief system," that about age 7, just when kids are getting into Piaget's operational stage, where we expect them to realize that it's not logically possible for Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny to exist, we start plying them with a challenge to their newfound logical system: Now we have them believe in a being they can't see, can't hear, and have no physical evidence to prove that it exists. Yet they are supposed to believe they're loved and cared for, and everything that happens to them has a divine reason. And it's a failsafe system too: If something bad happens, it just could be that they didn't pray hard enough. Or of course, the ultimate Catch 22: God had a reason, we just can't understand what it is, but we need to keep on praying. Wonder if Piaget ever tried to squeeze that into his stages...
Beth Benoit Granite State College Plymouth State University New Hampshire --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
