September 20, 2018: Onward Christian Soldiers, Collateral Damage, Easy Prey

One reaches the point in one's life when reflection takes over; when one finds oneself reminiscing about days now gone. In that vein I was moved to surf the “nets”, as “'Ol Two-Cows” used to say, to discover what had become of my long lost classmates.

Some are gone. Schoolboy friends like Ray Carlson and Roger Munch with whom I attended a Lutheran elementary school have long since shaken the mortal coil. Others haven't fared so well.

I am struck by how those of us trained to be “Christian soldiers” found life difficult, if not tragic. My class numbered about 13. About half of that class was boys. Of the half dozen a third of them had problems with the law.

What moved me was my inquiry into my first flame, my first crush. She was, if truth be told, the only bright spot in what was a miserable existence after I reached the age of 8 or so. My parents had and acrimonious divorce and, of course, I was placed in the tender care of Billy Sheers (see previous post*).

Beverly was, like me, small for her age. Platinum blonde, blue eyed, and gorgeous. She lit up my day and gave me the only reason to smile as I waited for the bus each morning. I've often wondered what became of her and my journey on the nets did nothing to illuminate. However, I did run across some information concerning her siblings. Her brother, who had been sent off, like Donald tRUMP to military school died at an early age. Her sister for the last two decades of her life fell into the influence of one Keith Raniere who, from accounts, is a charlatan who recruited young girls for sex under the guise of a cult. Posturing as a learned man, indeed a self-described 'genius', Raniere set about creating a religion-patterned after L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology--with himself, of course, as prophet. Raniere used his power, of course, to create his own harem, treating women like chattel property going so far as to burn his mark upon them with branding irons.  Beverly's sister, a year behind us in school, fell for it and, by some accounts ruined her life, becoming part of Raniere's harem and recruiting young girls for him.

This is what happens when you are taught that authority figures should be all controlling. This is what happens when one is taught not to question. This is what happens when one is taught to follow. Becoming the ultimate “follower” led to ruin.

This is the collateral damage of the 'Christian Soldier' marching off to war. One has to believe in something and when the old certainties no longer hold one becomes easy prey.

The record of my old parochial school is not a good one, either at the time or in the subsequent lives of my classmates. I understand how Holland Christian, a Christian Reformed institution, can produce the likes of Betsy DeVos and her brother Eric Prince. But I can't forgive them for it. This is the legacy of Billy Scheer, this is what child abuse and indoctrination produce. One moves from one cult to another finally, by degrees, finding oneself in tRUMP tower.

Meanwhile, each year, more and more of our public resources are poured into these institutions.

“An' Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.

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* also see April 27, 2015: J. William Scheer,, Suffer the Little Children, American Madrasa
**https://frankreport.com/2017/10/08