Daddy, Am I Going To Die?

"Not today." I said casually.
He thought about it for half a second, then brightened.
"Oh, okay!"
He was satisfied, and never asked again. He never cried. He talked about The Spirit World as if he could reach into it like a cupboard, and lots of other death related ideas, never in the negative.
He's always been in his own world, practical and pragmatic, but his.
In youth, I agonized, for many, many years over my mortality. When he asked that question, I thought for a second, and had an instantaneous epiphany. It wasn't about death, and it didn't have to be about fear or anything else, and that it was up to me to create his lifelong impression of an important issue, in that moment. A simple, casual, and true answer. No promises, no discounts, no lectures, no pamphlets. His mind has been open to all the beliefs in the world, none favored over the other. He respects other peoples right to what they believe. He understands that all religions can't be right, and none are particularly wrong, and the issue comes down to Faith. He owns his Faith, and needs not prove it, nor pick one off the shelf, nor deny other's their right.
As I look back through history, he and the increasing number of others like him, give me hope for the future of Faith. Blessed be.