There were two cousins, the older one was perhaps “middle
class”; the other, definitely “lower class”.
They were both home-schooled, but in his early teens the older cousin
opted for some non-traditional education, leaving home to secure it.
The younger cousin stayed at home for such formal education
as was available and apprenticed himself to his father which also involved submitting to his discipline; this was crucial to his development. By his staying at home for
such training didn’t mean he was docile and
backward. Quite the contrary. Once, when the area, home-schooling
association leaders, tested him, as such tests were required of all male students, they were amazed at his competence They not only asked him questions drawn from
the curriculum materials, but questions they had long wondered about.
In time the boy’s parents came and stopped this process,
thinking it had gone on long enough.
But no sooner had the boy and his parents left than the association
leaders began to speak of scholarship possibilities for him.
Though this scene with the association leaders afforded some
interesting memories, especially for the boy's mother, it was back to work with his
dad where there were many fine points of his father’s craft to be learned; particularly at the point of discipline.
--------------
The older cousin, now into his early 20’s had opted for a
near-hippie existence, eating weird but apparently healthy stuff and spending lots of time in prayer and meditation. In fact, these things were the focus of the
commune of which he had become a part.
Group identity required they
reduce all personal needs to the absolute minimum. Today we might look upon such a group as
conducting “boot camp” on an on-going basis.
An unstated objective of this group was to create an outer toughness
that could function with a minimum of physical inputs, and an inner strength that
could enable graduates to stand alone.
Along with prayer and meditation, this group was given to
study, mostly a certain type of the “classics”, and special directed study in
public speaking should any of the group hanker for this sort of thing—this cousin
did. When his preparation was complete he went public, becoming a protester of protesters, a
fact later attested to by many.
--------------
Now, with both 30 or 31 it was time for the cousins to meet, for the first time, with consequences
continuing to the present. This
meeting was precipitated by the older cousin who had been holding public
meetings, challenging people to embrace a
life-style once common among their forebears, but which the present generation
had gotten away from. He was calling the
people to repent and be baptized for the washing away of their sins. His name was called John. Then came his younger cousin, Jesus, to be
baptized.
--------------
--------------
No comments:
Post a Comment