Be Cautious.

My name is Augustus Rehmke, and I attend Lodi High School. This was not always so. For three and a half years, I attended Saint Mary’s High School. But with 3 months left in the academic year, I was cast out from my friends. From a system I had been in my entire life. I have known no other school than parochial. I was co-captain of Speech and Debate. I was going to Heritage Festival, which is a lofty investment, as anyone in band can tell you. But it is gone now. Why? Because I criticized the policies of St. Mary’s High School. I will not deny that it was done in a…less than tasteful way, but the message itself stood clear to those who read it. It appears though, that the die was cast before I stepped into the dean’s office. I was expelled. An example perhaps. Or maybe it was done in vengeance. But no attempt was made to resolve the issue. No discussion. No compromise. Nothing. I was simply gone. Forcibly removed from the life I had known for 11 1/2 years. I was told I was not necessarily representative of the gospel values taught at St. Mary’s. And whom am I to imitate? How very Christian was the behavior of those “punishing” me (I argue that expulsion is not punishment, it is the removal of a problem that is impossible to deal with). All this turning the other cheek, and forgiveness. The only Christian behavior I saw were my own attempts to apologize, and work with the school, in taking down the blog that offended them so much. I understand, that it was done to keep discipline and maintain order at the school. But what point is there to it, if you cast aside the very principles you exist to espouse, according to the school’s own statement of philosophy? I know that those who expelled me will probably read this. Do they believe they will walk through the halls of school without criticism? Without glares of contempt from their peers, or people that are my friends, or knew me as an older and friendly band member, that was easy to talk to, or the people that knew me as one of their captains, or vice president of their club, or the people I have helped through math? That knew me as engaging individual, who asked questions they rarely expected? I saw remorse in the eyes of some of those at my “tribunal.” Do you believe these people think about what happened and are not upset with what happened? That it doesn’t weigh on their conscious? I know some had no problem with seeing me go, and believe I deserved it. As this blog is titled, BE CAUTIOUS. If you attend St. Mary’s, do NOT post on here. I do not want what happened to me to happen to others. Saint Mary’s is still my school, the teachers are still my teachers, friends still my friends, the speech and debate team my team, the church is still my church refuge, and the parochial system is still my primary educator, what was done to me cannot change that. I know I’ll soon be forgotten, and what they attempted to instill in the students will be forgotten with me, confrontational discourse will resume, and someone else will become the lesson.

(Source: vengeance.pinguino.com)