I have a very, fun, loving, and odd relationship with my brother Dylan. My older brother and I have always been very close to each other. We have been best friends forever, and in the coming year plan on going to the same college and staying in the same dorm room as one another. A very large difference in how we have come to be who we are comes in is that while I am a devout Christian, he is Agnostic.
I started going to church when I was 13 years old, as a friend invited me to come with him. The church I started going to was a fairly small church in the middle of nowhere, but became something special in my life. I found in that church a family that I hadn’t experienced before. All the older people of the church all cared so much for the youth that were coming up, and it was noticeable. After I came to the church, the following years the youth group just expanded at a rapid rate. Within 2 years, we went from having 3 teenagers sitting in a preacher’s office for Sunday school to over 25 of us barely fitting in the room we were given. I was beginning to have a home away from home.
As I became more devout and more active in the church community, going to numerous youth rallies and such, Dylan stayed at home and stayed on his computer. We both have always been extremely smart, ranking at the top of our class throughout our years of schooling. He had a mind that worked circles around just about any other in our small community. He created many friends online from across the world over the Internet; while I was content in becoming a part of the small community we were given. We still were close, but it seemed like a wall began growing.
The things he would listen to and look at on the Internet were pointing him away from the family I had joined in Christianity and were pointing him to seek other options, such as atheism and agnosticism. To continue on as his best friend, it seems as if I cannot approach him on the topic of religion. Christianity says that you must go and try bringing other people to Christ, but it seems as if this is an impossible task for me to do for Dylan, who I care so very much about.
I still have stayed close by his side and been his best friend throughout all of this. To this day, it seems as if we have grown to be polar opposites, yet still remain best friends. He is very introverted as I am outgoing and very pessimistic as I am optimistic. He enjoys going out to parties and alcohol, while I am firmly against them and would much rather just hang out with a few friends. I hope that one day we may actually be able to break down the barrier that has grown between us, though sometimes it seems as though that day may never come. Regardless as to what happens, he will always be my awesome brother and my best friend.