by Andrew Price
Daily Lobo columnist
I was walking in a straight line headed toward my Human Sexuality and Development class when I blundered upon a crowd in the midst of which stood a man holding a black sign and shouting. For some reason, the shouter singled me out and yelled, "You are headed straight to hell!"
Why does everyone always want to yell at me?
At first I wondered how he knew that I was headed to Psychology 231, and then I realized he meant hell as in eternal damnation. Had this man been following me? I was just about to ask him how he knew I was going to hell, when he made the assertion that another passerby was also headed to hell.
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The realization hit me that he must think most, if not all, of us at UNM are burning a trail to that infernal prison. I stood and watched for a few moments as he shouted his claims that all the women were "harlots" and all the men were "gays." The shouter said, "All you boys like to bend over each other. I've had to add that God hates gays to my sign, which I didn't have to do 20 years ago." Of course, this statement brought indignant protest from the crowd, and the whole scene degenerated into chaos - as always - and I walked away.
The thing that struck me about all this is the anger and mean-spiritedness in everybody involved. Are these preachers here because they are truly concerned about the souls of us on campus, or do they just get an endorphin high from yelling at kids and having them yell back? It has been at least a decade since the last time I darkened the door of a church, but I can only recall two times when Jesus lost his temper in the Bible. Once is described in the book of Matthew, chapter 23, verse 15: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."
That was just one statement from a long list of things Jesus said to the religious zealots of his time in Matthew 23. The other time, that I can recall, he got mad when he threw the moneychangers out of the Temple. It seems that the sacrifices of the common people weren't good enough for God, according to religious leaders, so they would take the sacrifices and trade them - for a fee - for "God money," which the common people could then take into the temple and give up in hope of whatever religious people hope for when giving up hard earned money to God and religious leaders. Somehow, this for-profit worship pissed Jesus off, and he flipped. Other than that, it was mostly peace and love.
With Thanksgiving coming up, we here on campus should strive for a kind atmosphere and a gentle nature toward each other. I like a good argument as much as anybody, but I don't hate anyone who disagrees with me. When someone shouts you down, remember when Abraham Lincoln said, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
Turn the other cheek, like Jesus recommended. Celebrate and defend the right of fools like the shouter to stand up there and shout, because it is a sign that we are still free. Although I believe that most of the dribble that you liberals scribble in chalk and spout at your meetings is as significant and important as a McDonald's McGriddle, I still defend your right to drivel.
Be serious, but don't take things so serious. This time that you have here on campus is a tremendous opportunity for you to grow, learn, question and have fun. Someone can call you bad names like these nutty preachers do and you - on campus, unlike people out in the real world - can explore from an academic standpoint what might compel someone to do such a thing.
The world looks at the what, when and where, but by educating yourselves you can look at the why.
Finally, give thanks for this time in your lives, learn things that you are interested in, and go out and change the world.
