Two things I’ve learned by Noor Patel

There are only two things I’ve learned in religion class. Only two things that have been taught to me repeatedly. Only two things that I’m not forgetting anytime soon. Only two things that you should know, too. One, God made us in his image and likeness. And two, God’s greatest creation was us, mankind. 

I’m not Catholic, and not even Christian, yet every day I find myself sitting in religion class at St. Joseph. Since kindergarten – for nine years – I’ve learned all about the Catholic faith, but nothing really stuck out to me as a big revelation or anything of the sort. I just duly noted the information and went about my day – most of the time, anyway. 

In fourth grade, we took pictures of our favorite features about ourselves: our legs – to run with, our hands – to work with, or our eyes – to see our beautiful world with. We printed out those pictures, wrote a little paragraph about why we loved that feature of our body, and hung them all up on the wall, right below a phrase my teacher had put up there. “Imago Dei.” It translates to “image of God.” Our teacher explained to us why we were doing this project, and she explained to us the concept of Imago Dei. It’s a fundamental belief in both Christianity and Judaism stating that we were all made in the image and likeness of God, coming from Genesis 1:27 – “So God created mankind in his own image […].” I can’t explain why, but those two words, two powerful words, have stuck with me since fourth grade, and we bring them up often, even in eighth-grade religion class. I like to think it’s because when I feel mentally inadequate or emotionally weak, or just plain dumb, I remember I’m made in His image and likeness. Now, I don’t necessarily believe in the Catholic concept of God. However, the idea that I was made the way I am and have the ability to reason, love, imagine, problem-solve, and care in the way I can is a comforting thought when I feel inadequate, and a marvelous thought when I remember that we’re just humans. Incapable of throwing Jupiter across the Milky Way, but able to love our neighbor because we were made in the image and likeness of God, and that is the better of the two in every way. 

But, sometimes, I feel physically inadequate or physically imperfect in a way that I hate. Then, I recall the second thing I learned in religion class. “God’s greatest creation was us, mankind.” God’s greatest creation was us. God’s greatest creation was you and me and all of us. He made us complex and elaborate. Human teeth are as strong as shark teeth, for example. And information goes through our nerves at about 250 miles per hour. The human body is like a web of labyrinths, and we were made in God’s image and likeness. Still, no one is perfect but God. We all have our little things that make us not without fault, but because God loves us so much and has so much faith in us, because we are made in His image and likeness as His greatest creation.

There were two things I had learned in religion class; now there are two things you have learned from me. One, God made us in his image and likeness. And two, God’s greatest creation was us, mankind. They go hand-in-hand and show how you are mentally complex, strong, and marvelous, as well as physically complex, elaborate, and beautiful. All of us.

-by Noor Patel