An ode to prose.
In 1995, my family moved back to Naperville from Lawrenceville. The adjustment was gigantic. My class at St. Ann’s in Lawrenceville consisted of maybe 12 or 13 kids. And I was about to start school with 4,000 other high schoolers. I became lost—emotionally.
I came extremely close to dropping out. So on the second day of the second semester of my sophomore year, my father yanked me by the collar at the front door an brought me upstairs to my parent’s room. A military duffle bag was on the floor, somewhat out of sight, which consisted of my SOP. And so we drove from Naperville to Boonville in central Missouri. It took 6 hours with minimal conversation between the two of us.
When we arrived at Kemper Military School, it was time to say goodbye, and he looked sad. I received a crash course on marching into the Mess Hall and ate my first meal at my new school. And for the rest of my sophomore year and summer school, I was a New Boy. New Boys lived servant lives in the barracks.
If I had no Standard of Honor violations, as a New Boy, I would become eligible to sign the Standard of Honor. The Standard of Honor was simple; it states: I will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate thereof. And in return, I would receive a Greek cross, with the letters “GCHS” on each corner of the cross, from top to bottom, left to right; representing “God, Country, Home, School.”
After I was crossed by every Old Boy, I would receive my privileges—being “blood-crossed” by many would earn them—pinning your cross to the white T-shirt of your Class B uniform without the backing, where it meets the palm of an older Old Boy’s hand. Privileges certainly made student life easier, and Kemper slowly became my home.
Did I violate the Standard of Honor? Of course I did; I was a high school student. When I was a senior in a leadership position, I was susceptible to immature leadership, and could dish out the same hazing I had received as a sophomore. And I did some terrible things. But under the new covenant, I repented of my sins before the Cross and accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. And I became found—spiritually.
As a result of Kemper Military School and the Standard of Honor, I am allergic to lying. I try to be a person of integrity that fights to uphold the truth. Jesus spoke of the devil saying, “he does not stand in the truth, because there is not truth in him.” (John 8:44 ESV) He also said “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31, 32 ESV)
Image by Dino Reichmuth via Freely Photos