Every day I came in right after lunch, so I was freshly high from whatever I swallowed or smoked for lunch. Unknown to me was the girl who sat next to me praying every day, day after day, burdened for the guy next to her that was without a doubt stoned.
One of my favorite drugs was PCP or also known as the Horse Tranquilizer. I first took it in my Senior year. I took it early morning before school began but didn't feel its effects until about 3 hours later in between classes. I only remember holding tightly onto the stairway rails to avoid falling.
My favorite teacher was Mr. Gunderson. He was not well liked by other faculty and many of the other students, but some of us loved him. He was openly bi-sexual and taught New Age thought even before New Age was popular. His was a communications course and I spent every possible free hour in his room listening to him teach. I thought he was the greatest.
There was one day 2 Jesus Freaks came to our school - they were long haired hippies who became born-again Christians. They witnessed in the hallways until some teachers grabbed them and put them in front of the auditorium where several classes met to hear them. Now realize at this time born again Christians were not well known like they are today. At that time they were a novelty.
As several classes sat in auditorium seats we listened as one of the Jesus Freaks told us how God got a hold of him and changed his life. While he was talking the other one sat behind him mumbling to himself looking as if he were in some kind of trance. Somebody next to me said he was praying in tongues which made no sense to me.
They were a novelty and nothing more to me until the speaker said something that hit home with me. He said, "We don't worry about tomorrow, because Jesus takes care of all our needs." As he spoke those words, I felt something different... something that compelled me to find out more about what this guy was talking about.
For the next few hours I felt different, I felt like there was something special to find with these guys - I felt like some sort of Christianity was calling me and this was a taste of what was to come. I went to Mr. Gunderson's class in the afternoon still hungry to learn more about what these guys had. It filled my thoughts and seemed to fill Mr. Gunderson's as well, but he evidently felt differently than I did about it. He attacked the message of the Jesus Freaks talking about how wrong they were. He looked for every fault he could. While the class nodded their heads in total agreement with Mr. Gunderson, my great feeling of hunger turned to intense hatred for Mr. Gunderson.
It was an odd feeling - I was mad at Mr. Gunderson because he was speaking bad about something I wanted to pursue. The feeling was very strong- unusually strong. And the feeling was followed up with a question within me..."If I can hate someone for the first time like this, then this feeling about Christianity has to be wrong." I listened and I agreed for I somehow related that hunger feeling with Christianity. So I abandoned my quest for what the two guys were talking about.
The Jesus Freaks left my thoughts and I went on with my drug filled life. The last thing Mr. Gunderson said that class was, "You know what really bothers me? What if they're right?"
