Big Questions

Zoe has been handing out some doosies lately. On Saturday, she was sitting in the car eating a Popsicle while I cleaned my car (yes, I know…two opposing activities). Out of nowhere, she asks if I know cheezus. I thought she was asking about goldfish crackers so I asked if she wanted some crackers.

Zoe: “Do you know Cheezus?”
Me: (thinking she wanted something else to eat…) Do you want some goldfish crackers?”
Zoe: (annoyed) “No. Do you know CHEEZ-us?
Me: “Do you mean Jesus?”
Zoe: “Yes. Some bad men did things to him.”
Me: “Um. Yeah. Where did you hear this?” Note: we are not at all religious, so I am now confounded about where this is coming from…
Zoe: “Daddy.”

So I asked Stan about this and he told me that with all the missions and churches they visited while in Mexico, Zoe was fascinated with all the images of Jesus and kept asking about his wounds and why people hurt him.

Then this morning I am driving her to school and we are, as usual, listening to NPR. There is a story about a man who flew fighter planes in WWII, in spite of the fact that he was African American. At that time, African Americans were only given menial jobs because of a study that was done after WWI that claimed that “negroes were a sub-species of human”. (I’m not kidding….here is a link to the story) After listening to this story, Zoe asks:

Zoe: “When will we die?”

After a moment of panicking because I don’t know exactly what to say, I decide on this:

Me: “Not for a long time, sweetie.”
Zoe: “YAY! Can I have a lollipop?”