Youth & Laughter

Let's face it,

most Christian denominations

are pretty similar

give or take minor disagreements

over diet and damnation.

Petty squabbles over

interpretation have blossomed

into full blown feuds

over the rightness of their path.

When you're a child

you believe as strongly as you

let yourself believe over

things like faith or

Santa Clause. In my early years

there was a Baptist church

I went to. They were very

kind people, or so I remember.

When we had recess

we would go to the playground

while Mrs.Benevidas

would watch over us. Hard black

rubber was fitted beneath

the merry-go-round, jungle gym,

and swings. There was also

a large hollow tube made

of concrete the color or brick.

It could fit two, maybe three

children inside. My parents took

out of the school when I was

accepted into the Catholic school

nearby. We are Catholic.

This morning I drove by the old

Baptist church and it's playground.

Through the chain-fence

all I could see were the black rubber

mats surrounded by encroaching weeds.