Six-Word Memoirs for the (mostly) Non-Religious

I ran across a book recently called "Not Quite What I Was Planning, Six-Word Memoirs." I found it when researching information about Piper Kerman who wrote the non-fiction "Orange is the New Black" (which is very different from the fictional Netflix series.) One of the editors of the Six-Word Memoirs series is Larry Smith, Kerman's husband.

The book features six-word memoirs from mostly unknown people, but some from names you might recognize, including Larry Smith, Piper Kerman, Arianna Huffington, Dr. Jane Goodall, Deepak Chopra, Nora Ephron, Amy Sedaris, Joan Rivers, A.J. Jacobs, Joyce Carol Oates, Stephan Colbert, Daniel Handler, Michael Finkel, and Roy Blount, Jr.   I skimmed through the names quickly, so may have missed some. There were some common names such as Steve Allen. In most cases I decide it wasn't the famous one.  In the case of Steve Allen, he died in 2000 and this book was published in 2008, so I figure it was not THAT Steve Allen. And, of course, you might recognize names I missed.

The ones written by famous people were not distinguished from the regular folk.  I didn't even notice most of them until I went back to search for them.

You can read more six-word memoirs in this book or the additional ones (below) or online at http://www.sixwordmemoir.com.  You can also submit your own at that web site.

I was surprised that relatively few were about a complete and total devotion to God or Jesus. On the other hand, there were more than expected about the loss of faith or rejection of religion. My surprise was based on the 15% of our population that fall into various freethought categories as opposed the the 85% who considered themselves religious. Of course, the ones in the book were chosen from many more by the editors, so we don't know the total number of religious vs. non-religious six-word memories submitted.

Here is a sampling of doubters, the lapsed religious, non-believers, freethinkers, disenfranchised, and even one excommunicated......

Catholic school backfired. Sin is in!     ~Nikki Beland

Being a monk stunk. Better gay.     ~Bob Redman

I lost god. I found myself.     ~Carinna Tarvin

Raised Jehovah's Witness. Excommunicated at 22.     ~Kyria Abrahams

Lapsed Catholic; failed poet; unpublished prayers.     ~Marc Sheehan

Baptist Mom. Jewish Dad. Atheist. Surprised?     ~Sara Faith Alterman

Suburban Christian child. Hippie agnostic adult.     ~Shannon Barnes

God chose. Said no. Now what?     ~Adam Blackman

Atheist plus Methodist make Jewish children.     ~Richard Michelson

Beat death thrice. Still not religious.     ~Shan Palmer

God who? Oh, him. No thanks.     ~Carin Rhoden

Friends all Jewish. I'm merely neurotic.     ~ Brian Mahon

Met Jesus early, then ran fast.     ~Cher Tushiah

And a few from the religious (with commentary from me):

Living for Jesus because earth sucks.     ~Johnny Johnson
(Is this one implying that God didn't do such a great job with creation.)

Not a good Christian, but trying.     ~Alexander Tsai
(Does he mean trying as in "very trying"?  At least he's honest ---doesn't come off as holier-than-thou.)

Montana Jew ---drives Toyota, holsters pen.     ~Michael Finkel
(Talk about a fish out of water....)

Mormon economist marries feminist. Worlds collide.     ~Michael McBride
Mormon feminist loves husband, hates patriarchy.     ~Caroline Kline
(I wonder if these two are married.)

Still a very bad Mormon. Yay!     ~Marsha Brown
(Not sure if she is saying "Yay!" to still being a Mormon or being bad at it.)

Atheist alcoholic gets sober through God.     ~Bob Todd
(Maybe he is not longer alcoholic, but could still be atheist.)

Working with what God gave me.     ~David Schmoyer
(Do I sense a bit of disappointment here?)

Girl loved Jesus.  Girl loves boys.     ~Lindsay Robertson
(I notice that "loved Jesus" is past tense---maybe now loves boys instead.)