Losing my church
meant losing more     Emery Carrington is Senior
                                                                           at Marshall Academy and
                                                                           Editor on the School Paper.
than a building to me
   I've never seen a real structure fire. I've hardly even seen a fire, but if I had, the object that was on fire was insignificant to me. Basically, I hadn't seen a fire, period. But, unfortunately, I saw one last week end, and unfortunately, the building that was engulfed in flames was as dear to me as my own home. It was my church.
    Thanks to our police scanner, we heard that our church was aflame and rushed up the street. Also thanks to the essential scanner, I arrived before the Byhalia fire department did. On my way up the street, I was so sure that it wasn't my church that planned on just driving by, magically seeing nothing and returning home to "Saturday Night Live."
As I turned up "Presbyterian Hill" (sometimes you just have to be from Byhalia to understand), Isaw my first blaze and almost fainted.
    I hope I have your attention by now, I could probably make an "a" in Mrs. Spencer's Composition 2 with a lead like that. But anyway, as the night progressed, the flames seemed to get hotter and hotter  while more and more fire departments were called .  It had to be one of the scariest experiences of my life.
    As I stood helplessly, I realized that my youth was burning up with the Byhalia United Methodist Church. I also realized that when I came home from wherever I am at college next year. I won't be coming home to the same church that I grew up in. That terrified me. I mean so many of us are going to college next year. We will soon have jobs and, possibly, even be married . This scared me more then the blaze!
This editorial seems extremely personal. but I know you all can relate if you try. All of us have these fixtures in our lives, especially being from the South. Most of us have gone to the same church, lived in the same house, had the same room and gone to Marshall Academy our entire lives. Some of us ate the same meal on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter 2000 as we did when we were two years old.
    We have so many traditions that, when something like this horrendous fire happens; it is devastating . That really and truly made me think; and trust me, I had a lot of time to mull over things while watching the firemen and others. There was nothing else I could do BUT think.
    I know I'm going to college and everything will be dirrerent when that happens ;  but no matter if  I end up going to school 30 minutes away in Oxford or 3,000 miles away in Hawaii or some thing. I began wondering if it was worth the trouble to cling to traditions. I mean think about it . It's great doing the same thing because we find comfort in it. But also think about how many things that can go wrong to destroy our beloved customs. Is it worth the heartache of losing something precious?
    My answer is "yes." It's kind of like one of those "it's better  to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all" kind of things. I know this because I remember all the times I had in that church. They were all so meaningful.  From cracking Easter eggs over my head to being christened to spending the night in the church, the fire can't destroy these wonderful memories because they're in my heart (corny, but true!).
     I hope this message reaches someone, even if it's just one person. I know I'm being a sentimental senior and I'm sorry; but I have come away from this blaze with an extremely important observation. I will appreciate the every day little things that make my life wonderful. I figure that it can't hurt  to do this and it may make things even more interesting. I will remember the importance of appreciating traditions. I hope that you will as well.