Am I Eastern or Western ?

‘Do you believe in an afterlife?’

‘Do good things happen to good people?’

‘Do you believe humans are fundamentally good?’

This last question hit me hard. I let out a big sigh and buried my face in my hands. I looked up to see Gretel chuckling. I noticed her thick red lips. Did she think I was exaggerating my reaction? I hoped not. I was being serious.

Do I believe humans are fundamentally good?

There was nowhere to go to think quietly. I felt like I was in the TV show ‘Hot Seat’ — answering deep spiritual questions under an immense amount of pressure.

A thin pale-skinned young man with blond hair moved to the right side of the room. His arms were by his side. He appeared relaxed. On the left side of the room stood two dark-coloured men. One had a moderately sized beard and the other had a bushy moustache. Each wore a cloth head-dress wrapped neatly around their head. They believe that humans are good in nature?

I searched for my own answer, my mind finally retrieving an information source I had acquired a couple of years before — a reading entitled ‘Christian Original Sin’.

I have lied before. I have stolen. I have done bad things. Maybe I should stand with the young man on the right. But wait... my parents told me that we could become good?

Following from the previous question about whether good things happen to good people, I chose to stay in the same spot — the middle ground. A short young woman of medium complexion and wearing a hijab also stood next to me in the centre of the room. I felt reassured.

Ten seconds or so passed. Gretel’s big ocean blue eyes panned across the room. I lowered my head, awkwardly, staring down at the carpeted floor pretending to think, when Gretel called out: ‘Ollie.’

Phew. I’m safe.

‘You look like you want to say something. Can you please share why you chose to stand there?’

Ollie explained his decision: ‘I believe that humans aren’t essentially good because in the Bible it talks about how we inherited sin from Adam and Eve.’ He took a step back and clasped his hands together in front of him.

I recognised a couple of words he said. I nodded. I looked around in hope of seeing a similar reaction from the others. But there were no nods.

Gretel squinted in response to Ollie’s explanation. ‘Hmm…’ Her head turned towards the opposite side of the room. ‘How about you Harjap?’

‘Well... in my Sikh religion, we do not believe in original sin. But we can be tempted to do bad things.’ Harjap placed his arms out in front with his palms open and continued: ‘We can also receive good things if we do good.’

We all glanced back at Gretel. I looked at Harjap who was stroking his frizzy black beard. Seek? Shick? I hadn’t heard of his religion before.

After sharing our opinions, Gretel guided us to our seats. ‘Okay everyone, thank you for your honesty for those who shared with us. It’s time to delve into deeper questions for today’s dialogue session.’

Oh my goodness, the icebreaker questions were difficult enough. Did I make a mistake to sign up for this program?

We all walked toward the chairs which had been arranged in a circle. Oh dear, will we all take turns speaking? In the centre of the chairs stood a table full of food: Turkish bread, hommus and other dips, muffins and fruit. My mum had reminded me as I’d left the house that our family had to eat vegetarian food today. Seeing there was no meat on the table I dived in for the food.

‘It’s important that you talk about your personal experience,’ said Gretel. ‘This is what it’s all about — finding common ground between each other and everyone.’

Personal experience? Finding common ground?

‘Before we start…’ Gretel’s body turned towards me. She raised her eyebrows and her pupils dilated. She then smiled. I noticed her teeth were intensely white against the red lipstick. Me? Oh no. I wrapped my feet around the leg supports of the chair. My hands gripped the sides of the chair. ‘Ju-li-anne,’ she said. I was surprised by her soft and motherly tone. It put me at ease. ‘So, tell us more about yourself...'

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^Short story long-listed for Stories of Life, 2017, Mornington Publishing Australia.