Though a child is shaped by his parents, siblings, friends, school, religion, and other societal factors, no foundation laid by mankind in a child is immutable. Some are replaced or altered by society as a child grows. However, Almighty God remains the ultimate authority over the course of each individual as dictated by the course a person chooses to take. Though we all go astray due to our will, He lays His own foundations.
This is a continuation from my previous article, “Peace in Providence: Come See What God Has Done for Me,” and there will probably be at least two more accounts after this before I relate how I became a satanist (I avoid capitalizing that name).
Science was King
Science was a major force in the U.S.A. in the 1950s that was popular to many, offering intrigue and excitement. I remember talk about Sputnik, the first man-made craft to orbit the earth, developed and launched by our potential enemies at that time–the Soviet Union. As a result, the U.S. began its race against the U.S.S.R. to reach certain objectives before they did, with the ultimate goal being to land a man on the moon.
The Salk Polio vaccine made its debut then, and I vaguely remember getting my injection. There were other advances in medicine and people were raving about penicillin.
Albert Einstein was often mentioned and heralded as the genius of the 20th century. I found science to be interesting, and aspired to be like Einstein. I really have to chuckle after writing that last sentence.
But I did find science to be most intriguing, and viewed it as having the answers to the needs of society. To me, science was king.
To some other boys, sports was the thing. I remember sitting with a friend on the front steps of our home on 5th Street in Jersey City. We were both given a glass of soda.
I do not know what started the conversation and I forget my friend’s name.
However, we began to argue which was best–science or sports.
“Sports is best,” said my friend. “No, science is,” I countered.
This kept up until my friend said, “I’m going to pick up this soda and throw it at you.”
I did not wait. Probably out of fear, I picked up my glass of soda and baptized him. He left crying.
My parents told me, if I remember correctly, I should have waited to see if he would throw his at me. Well, I kind of disagreed with that. I figured I would strike first.
Cold War
Looking back, I strongly thank God neither the U.S.S.R. nor the U.S. took that same attitude toward each other. The two nations were in a cold war. They were always on guard against the other.
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