| My Little Excursion into the wonderful world of rights violation... |
| Being a member of a high school band can be quite nice sometimes...and sometimes it can be just plain hell...take a gander at my little tale, which begins on a somewhat chilly night...Friday, October 13 2000... Since I'm a trumpet player in the Enterprise High School band, I had to go to this football game...it was an away game, and we were going to some place called Richton, MS, near Biloxi. I had never even heard of the place. Visions of a small, redneck community with no business district to speak of popped into my mind. I tried to ignore that gut feeling when I stepped on the band bus, and prepared for the long ride... After a cramped, rough 1 and 1/2 hour ride on the smelly band bus, with screaming adolescents chewing gum in my ear, we finally made it. Honestly, the place didn't look all that bad. I was surprised, to say the least. It was a very old, small town, with a town square, sidewalks, and about everything else you could picture. Even a few small businesses (several law offices, oddly enough). We stepped off the bus, organized in a line, and marched in. We sat on the visitor bleachers, which were somewhat rotten and extremely small. People kept dropping things between the tiny wooden planks...mouthpieces, valve oil, a trombone (really!), etc. Finally, it was time to stand up for the National Anthem and a "moment of silence". I stood up, happy as a clam, and then listened, in shock, as some hick gets over the loudspeaker... "Oh, heavenly Father, we pray to you..." Uh oh. I pointed up at the press box, mouth agape. I turned to Leigh Ann Martin, a fellow band student. "They're not supposed to do that." She had her head down, joining in prayer. She simply whispered "Shhhh..." and never looked up. These people actually held a Christian prayer over the loudspeaker...making people like me listen...FORCING me to listen, whether I like it or not. Anyone who knows me personally will tell you...you just don't do that to me. I couldn't resist...right after everyone said "Amen", I blew a big raspberry...I got a few dirty looks, but it was actually quite refreshing. During the other band's half time show, they asked us to sit on their side of the field and watch their show. They had a large, award winning band (as opposed to our 13 member band that doesn't even march), and they even had a dance line. We passed the dance line on our way over to the opposite bleachers, where they were in a circle, eyes closed, holding hands, praying. I guess they figure Jesus really cares about a marching band in Richton, Mississippi, and maybe prayer would keep them from making a mistake. Damn, was the PA system prayer at the beginning of the game not good enough? Ater the game, I got back on the bus, and spoke to Leigh Ann. I told her I wasn't to happy about a place that violated my rights. She told me to please not tell anyone, because she though it was "nice of them". Nice of them to be inconsiderate? Wow, that's a new one. UPDATE: I contacted the MSACLU...they never contacted me. Shucks... |
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