In God I Still Trust

In God I Still Trust

In the early spring of 1999, the loud shattering of broken glass caused everyone in our high school cafeteria to cringe in unison. Most of us thought it was a gunshot, but we just sat there--silent and frozen in our seats.

A 15-year-old boy, who we later found out was on crystal meth, had decided that punching through the wire-lined "bulletproof" glass at our school's front entrance would somehow be a great idea. Moments later, he fell to the ground sobbing and screaming as two assistant principals ran over to him. The boy made no effort to fight them as they shuffled him back to the main office to stop the bleeding.

As strange as it seems now, we were back to eating and talking about five minutes later. I doubt that most kids even mentioned the event to their parents that afternoon. Though shocking, most of us had seen similar events in the past few years. When we were freshman, we tolerated the fear and didn't really talk about it. I think over time we just became numb.

The thought occurred me my junior year that I was around a lot of unstable kids--not violent, but very depressed and anxiety-ridden. A lot of us--myself included--didn't have much of a life foundation (religious or otherwise) to fall back on. We were wandering through life trying to survive and find some form of "normal". There didn't seem to be much we could do other than to keep moving forward and see where our lives went.

Most of our public school teachers were caring people however, and a few were a little rebellious when it came to what's developed into this "Separation of Church & State" debate. Two memories come to mind that really influenced the course I took in life:

My senior year biology teacher told us that if we wanted to explore the theory that we were accidental results of a one-cell organism mutating a bunch of times for no apparent reason, we were welcome--but he wasn't going to force us to learn an unproven theory, even if he lost his job. I was impressed by his conviction, though at the time I was spiritually clueless. All I knew was nothing said high self-worth to a teenager like being told you were the descendant of an amoeba, which was almost all we'd heard up until that point.

After reviewing the required textbook for our American History class and finding 75% of it had been rewritten to make it look like our country had no Christian heritage--to the point of outright lying--our history teacher found several video series on the Revolutionary War and WWII. We learned more in a few weeks than the previous 10 grades.

Real history is not so boring--it's the way it's presented in bland and watered-down format that bores students. Most people my age probably don't realize how dynamic and amazing our founding fathers really were--and how much they risked so that we could all be free right now, along with our armed forces throughout history.

After several experiences like that, I began thinking at night just before falling asleep--Why are some people so afraid of God that they want to strip recognition of Him completely out of our culture? I'd only been to church maybe 20 times before the age of 18, but the idea that there was a loving God who sent Jesus to save us--despite all our screw ups--made more sense to me than the secularized alternatives that some people seem to want forced on my generation.

That's not freedom or fairness at all in my opinion--and I have personally never seen any great benefits from the secularization that's happened so far. I think it's why things have gradually gotten so horrible in schools since the 1960s, when all of this started happening around the country. There are exceptions when it comes to public schools, but they're rare.

Something I've never heard of anyone suggest--and would still be very diversity-oriented--would be just having every religious (or lack thereof) expression open and welcome in our schools. It's more reflective of the real world, and actually goes along better with what the 1st Amendment says (which was actually designed to protect religious freedom from government interference, not the other way around).

We've got too many people repressed, suppressed, and possibly constipated on political correctness that a lot of parents don't realize that their children are being taught that it's better to stay silent on any controversial issue than risk the embarrassment of taking a stand on anything. Even parents who are trying to teach their kids right are often getting undermined when their kids go to school the next morning. What's even more sad are these actions often go unopposed--most likey from ignorance that they're even happening.

Parents--I know life is busy and hectic, but get involved with your kid's school at least to the point you know what's going on. Your very grown up and independent teens and pre-teens still need you--even when they don't tell you out loud.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with believing in God, loving your country, having moral standards, and appreciating freedom. It doesn't mean you hate everyone that believes something different--it just means you have just as much right as they have in their beliefs.

I have a great life now--a caring husband, great friends, and the kind of life that I only dreamed of when I was younger. I'm still learning what it means to follow Jesus, but I have peace, stability, and hope now--something I know deep down I never would've found anywhere else.

It's just sad for me to see so many people my age hurting into their adulthoods, and they don't have a clue as to why...

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If you enjoy my writing, I have published my first full-length sci-fi novel titled The Hannaria Series: Out of the Gray. It's currently available through Lulu.com (paperback and Adobe .pdf ebook) and for Amazon Kindle. You can find more information and preview the book at these addresses:

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-hannaria-series-out-of-the-gray/6...

http://www.amazon.com/Out-Gray-Hannaria/dp/B0027VSQD8

ID: 1551594   (Rated: 13+) Title: Prologue: Out of the Gray  Description: Introduction by novel's narrators: 13-year-old Rica Miller and 14-year-old Alex Verin By: Patricia Gilliam

The second book in the series, Legacy, will be available in November 2009. A free preview for it is available as well:

ID: 1554934   (Rated: 13+) Title: Prologue of The Hannaria Series: Legacy  Description: Book 2 in the series; Will be available in book format November 2009. By: Patricia Gilliam

You can find more of my other writing plus a section of free writing resources at my author's blog:

http://happycougar.wordpress.com