You Gotta Have Faith, Uh…
Getting a grip when there’s nothing to hold on to
There’s supposed to be a separation of church and state in New York City public schools. Mrs. Martinez didn’t care. She was my Junior High Spanish teacher, and she wanted the world to know that she was a proud, God fearing christian.
At the time, I was a card carrying, very vocal atheist, and I refused to let Mrs. Martinez get away with preaching in my class. I argued with her at every turn, telling her the stories in the bible were just allegories, and that it was ridiculous to think otherwise.
My classmates loved it. Once Mrs. Martinez got going, there was no turning back. It ate up most of the clock, and my classmates would urge me to start an argument so they could get out of working. I’d always oblige, because I enjoyed debating Mrs. Martinez, and I already knew how to speak Spanish.
Through our arguing, Mrs. Martinez and I built a bond because we respected the conviction of each other’s positions, and the methods by which we defended those positions. She was positive that we all needed to be saved. I was sure she was wasting her Sunday mornings.
Back then, life was easy. Despite growing up in a shitty, violent neighborhood, school wasn’t challenging for me. I found athletic success early on too, and I never thought I’d hit any bumps in the…
