I ran into an old family friend as I walked into a resturant, today. We saw each other and smiled and hugged, and then she introduced me to the woman who was sitting across from her.

“This is so-and-so, she’s part of my homeopathy circle.”

Wince.

But I smiled and nodded, not saying anything, really just wanting to sit down and eat my lunch.

“Josh used homeopathy as a child… He and his family used homeopathy.”

Wince.

It’s completely true. My father and mother used all kinds of alternative medicine when I was growing up; and they gave it to their two sons as well.  I remember taking arnica for bruises, zinc tablets for a cold, and for a brief period of time colloidal silver (I’m just glad I’m not blue). Oh yeah, and I wasn’t vaccinated until I went to college.

My parents still believe a lot of that stuff, though they’ve dropped the anti-vax nonsense and I think the homeopathy. They still get acupuncture, and they still use herbs their acupuncturist “prescribes.” The family friend in the restaurant was there when I was born…at home…by a midwife. You could say we go back a ways.

So, I didn’t say anything about homeopathy at the restaurant. I was polite, albeit non-communicative, and then I sat down at the bar and ate my lunch. Inside though, I felt dirty.

I hate the feeling of being implicated in something in which I no longer believe; like when someone comes up to me and says, “Oh I remember you from church!” I don’t know what to say in that kind of situation, I really don’t.