The one thing I will not miss when I leave for school will be all these people who have judged me and condemned me to hell all these years. I live in the bible belt, and I'm Catholic. No one knows anything about my religion, and they've been taught at a very early age that their way is the ONLY way and they need to try to convert everyone to their way. No one took time to teach them about other world views. Luckily I met people who were open minded and listened to my side of the story, but with others I wasn't so lucky. People assumed I worshiped the Virgin Mary and the Saints. They thought I saw the Pope as God. One of my friends even said all Catholics were going to Hell because they were Pagan worshipers who didn't believe i God.
That was ninth grade, people. She never apologized, however we were able to put aside out differences and accept that we had different outlooks on life.
I thought I would have been able to handle the assumptions by the time my senior year came around. My teacher was just like any other bible teacher I've had before. He did his job and I took notes, whether or not I agreed with somethings he thought.
However that all changed when we started to discuss Abraham's Bosom.
He began talking about prophet who had passed did not go to Heaven, but instead traveled to Abraham's Bosom, and in time they were retrieved to go to Heaven. I raised my hand and asked if that was the place where I knew better as Purgatory, the Place between Heaven and Hell where some people went to become purified before entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
My teacher laughed.
HE LAUGHED.
He said that Purgatory was simply a scam the Catholic priests invented in the Middle Ages to get money.
Now, I am not going to deny the corruption of the Catholic Church back then, but none the less. I could believe that a glittery unicorn named Xavier descended from IceCreamland and created the world with his powers of friendship and woodworking skills, YOU DON'Y LAUGH AT A BELIEF OF ANOTHER PERSON.
I went to my next class crying in both embarrassment and fury. I wanted to hit him as hard as I could, but I froze and didn't do anything. I told my mom about it and gave me literature and essays to support Purgatory's existence to bring to my teacher the next day. She also arranged a meeting with the principal for me and her to talk about the event.
I walked the next day to present my information to him when he pulled me out of the room. He apologized for embarrassing me the previous day, but he was still adamant about how he was right. I kept trying to show him my findings, but he kept interrupting me and quoting scripture. In the end I didn't care about Purgatory anymore, I just wanted to tell him how much o a jackass he was for putting my faith down to a 'get rich quick' scheme. The bell rang and it was time for my meeting.
That didn't go well either. He did the same thing, and said he would reprimand my teacher for embarrassing me, but he said nothing about the issue I was really concerned about. In the end it was passed over and I was never given an outlet to express how I felt until now.
People need to know about how ignorant people can be but also how sympathetic someone can can be. My teacher called me out in front of the whole bible class. Thus, everyone rallied with me and realized he was wrong to do so. A lot of kids in my class didn't believe there was a Purgatory, but told me they supported me in my decision to bring the issue to the attention of the administration. And, since it's high school and gossip spreads like wildfire, other people in my grade heard and so did younger grades. It was a good feeling.
So my closing statements are these:
~ Don't shit on someone's beliefs
~ Please try to be open minded and hear people out about their worldview
~ Don't be a dick head
Thank you :)
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