So
I decided to make a blog today, well actually Monday morning but I haven't
gotten around to writing anything. The reason I want to blog is… well I don't really
know. Maybe it’s because writing is my way of analyzing things. Some people
talk, some people just think, but I write. After several complicated
events occurred the last few months, I started looking for a way to think out
loud. So here I am, thinking. One thing I may warn you is that when I think, it’s
usually a big complicated mess so some of this might not make much sense! Currently I'm a bit under the weather, but that has never stopped me from thinking. So in the words of my
cousin (and someone so other dude a long time ago), here goes nothing!
Something I have
discovered recently is that I love to learn, even though I really hate dislike
school. I don’t know why I like to learn, I think knowledge just fascinates me.
The more I learn, the more equipped I am, I guess. It’s kind of like taking a self-defense
class; knowledge can be a weapon, either used for good or evil. I think I don’t
really enjoy school because it’s forced, I have to do it or my parents get in
trouble with the law. I’m more of a free spirit, one who learns as I go. The world
is filled with fascinating things, and I wish I could learn it all. I’m also a hands-on learner, anything I can
touch or feel I understand so much better. Last august my mom told me about this program
for teens to learn about their government in a hands on experience, its call
TeenPact.
I found out
that teens traveled to their state capitol and got learn around like-minded peers.
That sounded amazing, but that was also all I knew. I tried doing more research
but came up empty handed. It seemed strange that an organization could put such
little info out, but I now know that so much goes on during the week that it
would take up several pages to explain. Even
after the research, I agreed to go. It took me several months to complete my
pre-class homework; I officially completed it about two days before the class, but
I was still very proud of my work.
The months
quickly passed, August was gone and February had arrived, so I set off to Cheyenne
in my fancy new clothes! My mom dropped me off in the capitol with some
clothes, my homework, a bible and some money.
When I walked
into the room in which TeenPact was being held that day, the first thing I noticed
was that there were very few adults in the room. Then this guy that appeared to
be only a couple years older than myself came up to me, he introduced himself
and offered to help me get registered. I thought this was sort of odd, I just
assumed he was an alumni who saw that I was a first timer and wanted to give me
a hand because I was ignorant to the TeenPact registering system. Turns out,
nope! He was a staffer, though he was only about seventeen; plus he was my committee
leader (though I didn't find that out till even later).
That’s something
I love about TeenPact, the founders believed that young people have just as
much of a spiritual capacity as adults, therefore their staffers are teens and
young adults who can identify with the students. One of my friends was asked
this year to be a staffer next time, even though he’s only fifteen or sixteen
and he was a first timer! I think this is so important in youth programs to
have young and relatable people leading or helping. I’m not saying that older
people can’t run youth programs, I just think there should be someone there
that the students can talk with who has just come out of the same struggles
that the students are in.
The TeenPact
experience is not something that you can understand just by reading or hearing
about it, it is its own feeling or emotion in its self. I could tell you all
about it, every detail, but you won’t be able to feel the things we have felt. It
is truly incredible.
Speaking of
feelings, that week wasn’t filled with just all happy and good feelings, Tuesday
night we experienced a tragedy. A couple kids attending the class that week got
a phone call from their home a few hours away. There dad had called to tell
them that their grandfather had suddenly died in a four-wheeler accident. That moment
is not something you forget easily. My mother often tells me that there are
certain times in her life that she knows exactly where she was and what she was
doing when certain events happened. All those defining moments when tragedy
strikes and all you can do is pray. Like 9-11 or when the challenger exploded,
my mom can still remember it. As for us, we were sitting in small groups
praying during night session at the church, when all of a sudden we hear this
loud scream/cry come from the side of the room. I looked up and saw someone
pick up a baby and thought there must be something wrong, I was about to head
over to see how I could help, but I realized the baby was fine and that there
was a women crying while talking on the phone. We just kind of sat there since
there was not any imitate danger. I turned
to my prayer group and I had a silent conversation with one of the guys, we
both knew that the lady had gotten a heartbreaking phone call. So I told my
group that, for now, we need to pray for comfort for her and her family, so we
took turns praying. Then the pastor came up to tell us what we already knew,
someone has died and that we needed to pray for them.
We spent the
next hour and a half in prayer and worship through song. I looked around to see
many girls crying, even one that did not know the man who had passed. All of us
where shaken up a lot, I tried not to show it and instead began comforting the
crying girls. One of the leaders asked me how I was doing and I replied that I was
okay. Which at the time was the truth, but I began to realize that could have
just a likely gotten that call. One of my cousins has a heart defect, whom at
the moment is stable, but his heart or lungs could fail at any time. And at
that moment of distress, I felt alive.
Now I don’t mean
the “alive” feeling of like bungee jumping or living on the edge, but more of a
spiritual aliveness. I realized that no matter how hard I try, no matter how
much I think things through, I can’t truly be alive without Christ. Yes I knew this before that, but I now
comprehend it. A great pastor once taught me that there is a difference between
knowing and knowing, you can learn something and know all about it but you don’t
truly understand until you have experienced it. Taking swimming for example,
you could watch and study and learn about going in the water your whole life,
you could even have people explain the feeling of it, but you won’t truly
understand the feeling until you get in the water and swim.
My time a TeenPact
was amazing; it is something I would not trade for anything of this world. I specifically
enjoyed learning the legislative lingo, it’s such a funny way to talk and address
people, “would the gentleman of the well…” and “I move to the previous question”
were most odd. But the one thing in the lingo I loved the most was “seconding”
things. I used it so much during TPleg, (TeenPact legislature, our mock house
of representatives) that for the first couple of days back home I seconded
anything someone said that I agreed with.
For example: sibling: Mom can we have some dessert? Me: Second!
Yeah I got
some weird looks when I did it at our homeschool meeting at a museum, oh well!
If I told
you everything we did during the week, we would be sitting here for days!
But here’s a
list of some of my favorite activities:
TPleg,
worship, prayer, committees, mock elections, pizza, interviewing lobbyists, a
tour of the house floor, lunch, a tour of the supreme court library, a prayer
walk in front of the stuffed bison (don’t ask why), watching a murder case
hearing, many games of do you love you
neighbor? (I still have bruises!), hacky sack, dinner, people thinking my
siblings where attending (I found my long lost brother, not!), dessert, meeting
the governor, taking a picture with the governor, devotions, meeting my representative,
I’m probably forgetting something awesome, and so much more!
To sum it up,
TeenPact was not a disappointment. It was indescribable and I cannot wait to go
back next year!
(I might eventually
post more on TeenPact, but for now this is a good start!)
-Mckenna
