Keiran Eagen 9/25/13 Challenge Extension Fictional Story So the other day I was leaving Saturday evening mass

and I met some friends and as we walked to their car they asked me why I still go to church. I replied Why not? I mean I have been going all my life, why stop now? They thought about it and thought that I had a good point. Still my friends think that I should just skip it and go hang out with them. I mean I can understand their thinking. This is our senior year of high school. Why would you want to go to church? I understand that they think that there are more important things than church, but I go anyway. This made me think about being a little kid in a neighborhood where going to church was kind of considered lame or nerdy. This was at a time when for me everything was about fitting in. Mostly because I had just moved. I was in third grade, I didnt have friends, and it was hard transitioning from everything that I had known so well to a brand new town with different people and different ways. When I snapped out of my little flashback of deep thought I hopped into my friends crowded car. People were laughing and joking and I joined in. When we arrived at the party we were going too I decided to walk around and meet some people. This wasnt one of those crazy parties with blasting music and dancing, actually they were playing my favorite band called The Mowglis and everyone was just hanging out and talking about school and sports and how this was our senior year of high school. Finally at 11:00 people started to leave. I was talking with a girl and somehow we started talking about religion. She was a Catholic too. We talked about how our friends didnt understand why we went to church. I was pretty tired but Im pretty sure our conversation went something like this Hi Hey she replied with a smile So hows agoin? I asked as we both turned and looked out the window Good. You? Pretty good... Do you like music? I asked just to get a little conversation going Yep! I really like this band. Cool. She replied with another bright smile Do you go to church? I asked. I was tired and that was what came to my mind. With a surprised look she said That was kind of straight forward but yes.

Cool. It just popped into my head. Oh thats okay. My friends dont get why I go. I hate that. Yeah my friends dont seem to get it either. And we went on talking about this for what seemed like a very long time. About an hour and a half later she fell asleep on a couch and I decided to walk home. As I walked through the brisk 12:15 am air I thought about that girl and the fact that my friends would probably never understand why I went to church. The more I thought about it the more I realized that I did out of habit but that habit was created by my parents teaching to be loyal to God and love. I went to church because I needed something to believe in that was greater than humans. Then my mind wandered off to that girl and I got home. I woke up earlier than usual and got up to have some cereal. My dad had already left for his early flight to Washington D.C. and my mom was still in bed. I was going on a 40 mile high country ride today. It was 5:45 and I was meeting my friends at seven. So I went out with my delicious bowl of cereal and started prepping my bike for this ride that would definitely take a toll on me and my bike. It was cold in my garage so using the tools was harder than usual because my fingers were so cold. As I ate my cereal I thought about religion even more. Really I wasnt sure why this thought came back into my head but it did and as I thought I tried to figure out why religion attracted so many people. I mean religions clashing together has started wars yet so many people are deeply rooted in it, including me, and at that point I realized that it is a sense of loyalty to a persons is why people stay. They like having something to believe in. They like being able to know that there is someone watching over them and that they are not alone. I guess I like it too. I finished eating my cereal and prepping my bike and took a shower. I checked the weather map on my phone just to make sure no freak storm was going to kill me and then I threw my stuff on and said by to my mom. Then I hopped on my bike and started riding down to the rec center where I was meeting my two buddies who I was going to be riding with. Even though it was 6:30 I thought it would be nice to go early since I would be able to stop and get some coffee or hot chocolate from The Coffee Co. and somehow I started thinking about that girl and the thought of her made me start thinking about my friends who would never understand why I go to church. This started to make me question my beliefs and what the church taught. Which then led me to this conclusion: That the church isnt always right, that it is okay to question what you believe and what your religion teaches you, and that people make mistakes and that we should forgive them but also try to teach them to act differently. As I road down the hill side saddle and holding my coffee in one hand as I held my handlebar in the other. I continued to think about religion. I realized that the reason that my friends never went to church I because they hadnt been socialized to go to church. They had been socialized to see religion as something that wasnt needed. That they didnt need to go to church. They believed this because this is what their parents believed and your parents are our first and sometimes last teachers in life.

When I arrived at the rec center one of my friends was already there. His name is Johnny. He is skinnier than me but he somehow downhills like a maniac. He works at the same bike shop I do and we ride for the race team. We like to joke around and make fun each other by boasting that one rider is faster than the other when in reality our skills counter one another. When our other riding partner, Evan, shows up he immediately asks if either of us has chain lube. He rides on our team too. Evan is short and likes the smooth fast trails like the one we will ride today. Also Evan loves to argue about anything, even if he knows hell lose. So I lend him some chain lube and as he lubes his chain we all start talking about the fastest route to the trailhead. I started by suggesting that we take Johnnys car and go out to the bottom of Cascade Mountain. Of course Evan has to start arguing but Johnny tells him to be quiet and put his bike in the back of the car. About fifteen minutes later we get to the trailhead we just hop on our bikes and started riding. Im leading the initial climb because Im the fastest climber. So as I get a little lead on Johnny and Evan I get a chance to think about how people have been socialized. As I was thinking I wondered whether I had been positively or negatively socialized by religion. I decided that I had been positively socialized by religion. Mostly because it gave me something to follow. It gave me a way to act and something to believe in. This made me realize that I wasnt always the best friend or the best person I could possibly be. I thought about how I might be able to change this. I concluded that to be the best possible person I could be I would have to think about what I would say and how I would act instead of just acting out of impulse as I sometimes do. And then the climb stopped and I got a beautiful view of the valley below. As I enjoyed the silence and the beauty, I muttered Wow, our God is good. Soon my friends reached the top and Johnny took the lead with me following last and Evan in the middle. We started to whoop and holler as we sped down the steep technical trail. Some woops out of joy and fun and other hollers because one of us almost hit a tree. Then the descent ended and it was time for the flat part that went through a meadow. Johnny and I started talking and I decided to practice what I had thought about earlier. So as I talked to him I truly thought about what I would want to say in response to everything that Johnny said. It was actually kind of hard to do. I didnt realized how much I responded to things off of impulse reactions. But this doing this was also refreshing, it was different, and it actually kind of felt good. Our conversation ranged many topics but I really got the thoughtful response down when he asked me about the upcoming race Yeah I would say Im pretty excited. I mean I am leading in the overall standings. Yeah that makes sense. Hey you better watch your back! He said in a joking way What? I replied. I wasnt catching on You better watch your back cause guess whos gonna be chasing your but all over that course! He said with a chuckle I replied You better start training cause you arent going to see be seeing much of my but with how fast Ill be going. No Im joking. This race is just you and me.

Hey dont forget me! Said Evan And Evan. I said with a chuckle But trust me this race has our names written all over that podium. And that was where my socialization kicked in. I joked with my friends but then lifted them up. I boosted their confidence. I tried to be caring. I joked with them but then I was caring and told them that this race was just for us. We had that podium in the bag. So we kept on riding until the trail took us to a parking lot where we turned onto Highway 304. It was warm out and the sky was completely clear of clouds so we rode the highway back into town and then rode back to Johnnys car to get any stuff that we had left in it. As I said goodbye and started heading back towards my house I made a little pact in my mind. I decided that I would follow my religion and use it as a tool to make me the best possible person I could be. That I would think about what to say and how to react before I did anything. That I would make sure that religion kept on socializing me in a positive way and that I always remember that God is always watching.