Why the Christian's Love Fences So Much
Trigger Warning: gore, mutilation
When I went back to visit my old high school, Northwest Christian, I had gone into the office to talk to one of the administrators. I told the lady behind the desk that I was writing a paper on cultural phenomenon within small town communities.
She had laughed at me and said that it was odd that I considered Lacey a "small town".
"Well, it used to be," I said, "and in some ways still is. Everybody knows everybody else one way or another. It all comes down to asking the right questions."
She looked at me then, a furrow between her eyebrows as if she hadn't considered this before.
"By the way," I went on, eager to change the subject at get to the matter at hand, "why did you guy's put a fence up?"
She blinks at me. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"The fence that's around the school's property. That wasn't here when I was a freshman, we just had a gate that the staff would lock at night. I always thought it was weird because you could just go around the gate if you really wanted to get in."
"Oh, that," she says, no longer confused and clearly glad to be discussing a subject she understands. "We put that in a few years ago. The principle thought it would be best if the kids didn't wander too far from the school. Plus, there were homeless that were trying to set up camp around the small crop of trees over by the grade school. We had to keep calling the police to have them escorted off the premises, and that got tiresome after a while, so the fence was installed." She smiles at me. "It's been much easier to manage since we made that decision."
I smile back at her, politely, but something in my eyes must be telling because she looks momentarily rattled. "That's typical," I say in a offhanded manner. "The logic of this establishment has always been that if you keep the world out then the world won't be able to affect the way you want to see it."
She frowns again, and I know that I've unsettled her. "What do you mean?" she asks, her tone carefully respectful.
"I mean that you're not the only religious establishment to put a fence around your..." I search for the word, then shrug and say the only one that comes to mind, "business."
She's looking confused again, so I decide to go on.
"It's the thesis of my paper, 'Why the Christian's Love Fences So Much'. It's a working title, so don't judge me too harshly."
"I wouldn't..." she says, but I can tell that I've piqued her curiosity.
"My other grade school did much the same thing back in 2011," I go on because I know she won't pry but is eager to know, nonetheless. "Evergreen Christian, over on the west side."
"Oh," she says brightly, "I've heard of that school. Second best next to us."
"If you've heard of it then you must have also heard of the reason why they put their fence up?" I ask.
She falters. "I...don't think I had. I'm not originally from here so..."
I shrug. "That's okay. Unless you're a local you wouldn't know. Now, when I was going to school there we didn't have a fence. During recess times we were just let loose onto the playground and soccer field, nothing but peet gravel and a dense forest beyond. They used to get so mad at us, the recess monitors, for trying to go into those woods. Time and again we would be caught eating the berries that grew on the vines just inside a small crop of trees, or trying to peer beyond the foliage to see what lay beyond. Kids are like that, you know, if you tell them not to do something they will push the boundaries of what you set for them."
"Did the fence go up after you left?" she asked, and I can tell that I have her full attention now.
"Oh yes," I say. "It was the late 90s when I moved from that school to CCA. I only just discovered that the fence went up in 2011, when I went over to talk to their administration. It's changed, you know, from when I went there. That forest has been ripped out with only some of the trees remaining and a small road and biking trail running alongside the playground. Since you're not from here, I'll tell you the reason they put it in. It certainly wasn't for the excuse that the admins gave me."
