Upon arriving in the Northeast, the first thing I noticed was the great religious influence on society. Sophie explained that the reason she came to America was to freely practice her religion as a Puritan. Although I consider myself a fairly devout Christian, the Puritans have devoted themselves to god on a much higher level. They have such a literal perspective of the Bible. She informed me that her goal in life was to continually be reformed by god and to live her life worshiping god. It is as if she is always looking down on me because I do not have a strong enough connection with god.
Truthfully, I don’t believe in god, but I do go to church every week to honor my family tradition, and many people would think of my differently if I was openly atheist. Now I’m learning that I must pretend to commit all my life to god if I want to have a pleasant time in the North East. I feel as if everyone knows I will go to hell, as if my placement has been predetermined.
If you look past their religion, the Puritans are actually nice, normal people. But the problem is, you can’t really look past a puritans’ religion, because their religion is the most important part of their life. They even dress in dark clothes, to show their conservative spirit!
I am not really looking forward to the rest of the trip anymore…
