It’s funny how my friend and I are obsessed with realism in the Sims franchise. We play different versions, but that’s what we look for in order to modify our game. The strangest thing about it is, nothing on the Sims is very realistic: relationships aren’t based on a point system in real life. If the Sims were more real, you could hook-up or even marry an acquaintance with a score of 15 rather than having to wait until around 60 to become ‘best friends’ and 80 to ‘fall in love’. Sponges, mops, and bug jars don’t appear from mid-air. If it were realistic, Sims would have to make the trek to where ever it is they left the mop last or buy a new one. Also, real people do not look up into the sky, wave their arms and hands, and wail when they are in trouble.
Oh wait. They do.
Most people, if not everyone prays. I do not think it matters if you have one god, many gods, or no god at all. People will pray to nothingness if the situation is dire enough, or even return to their default god that they were taught to believe in before they chose to no longer keep the faith. I have given up most of Christianity because of the hypocrites you encounter and its restrictive beliefs and practices. To me, besides some of its terrific moral views, it forces you to be happy with being less human than you want to be, or forces you to be a hypocrite with the facade of perfection though you secretly live with what you are supposed to consider sin. But that is another discussion. Despite my distaste, on occasion, I still pray to God. When it was dark out and I was frightened, I prayed. I made it home safe. When I was anxious about a grade on a test, I prayed. I made a D. When I was worried about a loved one, I prayed to him ‘Oh, God, please save my cousin’. He still died. It doesn’t matter that a lot of things we pray about do not happen or do not happen the way we want it to, prayer makes us feel better. That’s probably how Gods were invented in the first place. Man has to give a name to everything, and for some, God is the name we recognize as that invisible, silent being we pray to.
Automatically, when something good has happened, we also give thanks to the same being. A mother who is reunited with her lost child would normally say ‘Thank God!’ As if it was his doing. Sometimes, it’s just implied when you are relieved. For example, I am (irrationally) frightened of thunderstorms, and I was once near tears over a very loud one. When the storm broke, I exhaled ‘Thank you!’ before I even thought about why.
I think that this is a normal human reaction to things, both praying and thanking no one; and that some ‘wise’ men connected a few chance prayers being granted, and proclaimed that it must be a heavenly being that we must praise and give thanks to…Or maybe I believe in God after all.
"Call Me Faye" 