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Show 52-1 do i t in the name of God. But they a l l want you to obey, to follow t h e i r d i c t a t e s , to do t h e i r bidding to stoo thinking. Listen to the Mormon Church, my dear! Every other word is obey. Obey, obey, obey. Obey your parents, obey your bishop, obey the Prophet. Not too much t a l k about obeying the Holy S p i r i t . Not too much t a l k about obeying your own conscience. Well, i t a l l sounds l i k e a l o t of brainwashing to me. And i f I had obeyed my mother, lady, you know where we'd be r i g h t now." "You always have a choice," I said meekly. "That goes without saying." "Oho! You believe that? When you don't obey, you know what happens? They force you into i t . They're disgusted by you. They don't want anything to do with you. You're F i n a l l y you leave, a freak, a monster. A But you're a monster anyway. Damned if you do, damned i f you don't - t h a t ' s the price of having a soul to call your own. Especially if t h e r e ' s nobody around to watch out for you - to show you a l l the t r i c k s of getting through t h e i r mazes of expectations." I sighed, knowing t h a t he s t i l l held the old b i t t e r n e ss about his father and the issue of his legitimacy - real or imagined, i t was very r e a l to him. Was there no place on this earth for him, no place where he could be comfortable with^niche, a group of loved ones to c a l l his own? Would over he always 'roam to and fro across the earth?' "Do you believe t h a t . . . e v e n of schools?" Something immp fundamental in me trembled. I had always believed that if you could l e a r n enough you could make things b e t t e r , that if you educated /e>gpple, you could improve t h e i r s t a t e of being. Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps the pursuit of learning |