Stating the Obvious, But Getting Off Task

BY THE TIME I WAS IN FIRST GRADE, my grandmothers were busily trying to make a Christian out of me, and my parents put a stop to it, insisting that I would need no religious instruction from uninvited sources, that I seemed to be an intelligent little boy, and could probably be counted on tp eventually seek out whatever instruction I wanted, in my own time, and in my own way. Great parenting. By the time I was ten, and aware that the central event in the Christian faith involved nailing a man to a wooden cross and torturing him to death, I knew I would look elsewhere for my religiosity, and have ever since. Thus to this day I am not supportive of parochial educational institutions, and would prefer that the resources invested in them be diverted to the public sector, and to philosophical and scientific instruction, rather than religious. That said, Catholic High in Covington, Kentucky is doubtless a fine school, well supervised by its overseeing diocese. The diocese seems to have taken a different attitude towards the behavior of the students in the national capitol than the parents, administrators, staff and students of the school itself, which shows the complexity of the now infamous events of that fateful day. Apparently, however, everybody agrees that when the kids were taunted by the group of folks with very unusual historical beliefs, they responded with a show of school spirit, school chants, a sort impromptu pep rally. Those who support their actions, essentially the right wing media, have decided that the students behaved very well, unimpeachably, indicating that they were raised right, and did not act like brats and thugs. I remember high school like it was yesterday, although it wasn't. I loved the pep rallies, ball games, and the school spirit part of it. Still do. But it might be argued that when confronted on the streets of Washington D.C., far from home, by a group of trouble making, taunting activists, the best response is not a display of school spirit, but instead, a relocation to another street corner, and finding a police officer, as surely there were some nearby. The students definitely did not "defuse" the situation, as they have been widely credited for doing, but reacted defiantly, which might not have been the best idea. And whether the elderly gentleman approached the younger of vice versa, the option of backing up a bit, or removing to a less intrusive distance, or leaving altogether was certainly open to the young gentleman and the rest of the students, an option they did not take. The kids were in town for a "pro life" rally of some sort, which on the surface is a noble cause, but in actuality a redundancy: people who support a woman's right to choose do not live in the hope that women will choose to have abortions. Quite the opposite, from my experience. I think we can have enough faith in humanity to take it on faith that people are generally "pro life". I have rarely if ever met a person who desires the extinction of life, or the murder of unborn babies. Some fine day students may load up on buses, and ride to D.C. for the purpose of advocating more enlightened religious and philosophical schools of thought, less primitive ones than are currently extant, more education in science and harmonious living with the natural world, and less intolerance of cultural diversity. Its not so much that the high school students behaved badly in allowing themselves to get involved with interactions with other groups of activists, but that they came to town only to state the obvious, but got off task.