I used to think the chief value of religion lay in it's being a moral-compass to guide society. And used to think I didn't particularly need to practise any religion as I was wise enough to be able to figure out for myself, when the need arose, the difference between what was right and what wasn't.

Perhaps though, those assumptions were wrong, for multiple reasons.

Religion's value doesn't just reside in its being a moral-compass, but in the faith it instills in man. As we strive to be independent and take our lives into our hands, we lead increasingly fragmented lives --- fragmented from the social standpoint. We somehow have fewer pillars to rest on than we did as children, or our parents did when they were our age. And despite our insistence to understand everything, and believe only that which we can rationalize --- I wish I'd grown up with some blind faith. I wish I could rest with the belief that someone up there was watching out for me, and that I didn't have to set life right by myself. I wish there was this black box into which I could put in issues that I can't grapple with right now. Perhaps the black box would resolve the issues by itself, or perhaps, while they sit stewing within the box, I'd grow stronger to the point I have the courage to open the box. As a child, I undermined the value of faith --- I knew not then that life would be more complicated than anything else I'd set my mind to understand.

Hair is black when we're born and white when we're old, I'd overlooked the fact that it would be a mixture of the two in the interim. That the black and white strands could form an entangled mess, and that it would be hard to separate the black from the white without damaging some of the strands themselves. I hadn't foreseen that my compass could fail me.

I wish I'd been more humble as a child, to have accepted God before life got wild.