My Schoolmate: A Presidential Candidate
I feel so important. I just learned that a schoolmate of mine is running for president of the United States. Among his credentials is this one: Student Council President, Partridge High School, 1969. I well remember. . . .
Bennie came to our school when he joined his mother in rural Kansas. He had apparently been living before then with his father, who had an Air Force career and also worked as an aerospace engineer.
More than any one person, Bennie gets the credit for introducing the hippie/protest 1960's culture to Partridge (Population approx. 300). He raged at the high school administration for not allowing amplifiers to be used to blast rock and roll music at the annual prom. He smoked on the school grounds (gasp!) when he stalked off, his shoes thumping loudly on the hardwood hallway floors after exiting the office where he had had a shouting match with the principal. Somewhere along the line he got involved in a flag desecration incident. The hippie/protest introduction generally was not well received in Partridge.
I haven't seen Bennie since high school, although he lives in the same county I do. If I did meet him, I wonder what we would talk about. His online profile lists cross-dressing as one of his hobbies. His religion is agnostic. Yet he lists Jesus as the person (dead or alive) that he would most like to meet--if indeed He ever lived. He explains that because He had so much influence on Western civilization, he would like to know what Jesus really intended.
Thinking about Bennie leaves me feeling sadly wistful. He was an intelligent young man when I knew him, but he never looked happy. Now he'd like to meet Jesus, but he's not sure he ever existed. His online resume lists having run in various previous elections--never successfully, to my knowledge, not even for the local school board. At age 54 he is once again a college student. He is divorced, with a son named David. I wonder if any of the idealism he's tried to hang onto has ever translated into effective change around him. I wonder if his personal life has ever been tranquil.
Tonight I am praying for Bennie. And having resolved to do that has given me an idea of what I will say to him if I ever meet him again. I don't expect him to become president, but he still has a chance at an audience with the King of Kings. And I have a long-shot chance of running into a real live presidential candidate, right here in my home county.
Bennie came to our school when he joined his mother in rural Kansas. He had apparently been living before then with his father, who had an Air Force career and also worked as an aerospace engineer.
More than any one person, Bennie gets the credit for introducing the hippie/protest 1960's culture to Partridge (Population approx. 300). He raged at the high school administration for not allowing amplifiers to be used to blast rock and roll music at the annual prom. He smoked on the school grounds (gasp!) when he stalked off, his shoes thumping loudly on the hardwood hallway floors after exiting the office where he had had a shouting match with the principal. Somewhere along the line he got involved in a flag desecration incident. The hippie/protest introduction generally was not well received in Partridge.
I haven't seen Bennie since high school, although he lives in the same county I do. If I did meet him, I wonder what we would talk about. His online profile lists cross-dressing as one of his hobbies. His religion is agnostic. Yet he lists Jesus as the person (dead or alive) that he would most like to meet--if indeed He ever lived. He explains that because He had so much influence on Western civilization, he would like to know what Jesus really intended.
Thinking about Bennie leaves me feeling sadly wistful. He was an intelligent young man when I knew him, but he never looked happy. Now he'd like to meet Jesus, but he's not sure he ever existed. His online resume lists having run in various previous elections--never successfully, to my knowledge, not even for the local school board. At age 54 he is once again a college student. He is divorced, with a son named David. I wonder if any of the idealism he's tried to hang onto has ever translated into effective change around him. I wonder if his personal life has ever been tranquil.
Tonight I am praying for Bennie. And having resolved to do that has given me an idea of what I will say to him if I ever meet him again. I don't expect him to become president, but he still has a chance at an audience with the King of Kings. And I have a long-shot chance of running into a real live presidential candidate, right here in my home county.
posted by Mrs. I at
4:42 PM
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