If you think I’m talking about that throaty-voiced vixen that used to be lead singer for the Jefferson Airplane, you’re only half right, but I’ll get to the distinction in a minute. In case you’re too young to have attended any of the great concerts or were too stoned to remember the concerts you attended, she was the sexiest lead singer that ever “graced” the stage, and she sang the quintessential rock song of that psychedelic era — “White Rabbit”. If you never heard it live, my condolences.

I attended high school in that bygone time and despite the abundant availability of mind-altering stimulants and anti-establishment rhetoric, two things were different back then when it came to public education. First, discipline was still a thing, and second, Michelle Obama was still in diapers and had not yet destroyed high schoolers’ dietary choices.

Discipline
We had a vice-principal named Mr. Ponder and he was the epitome of fear-based authority. You did not mess with principal Ponder. In the very first semester of my Sophomore year, some dumbass came back to town following completion of Marine Corps boot camp. Believing all the hype the Marines had drilled into him young jarhead came to my school seeking revenge on Principal Ponder.

In those days there were no School Resource Officers on campus and no emergency notification phones in the classrooms. It was the Wild West. Marine boy made the mistake of entering the building and challenging Mr. Ponder. That got him physically thrown out onto the concrete sidewalk where any sane person would have remained, curled up in a fetal position.

Apparently, they didn’t teach reasoning skills in boot camp so young buck jumped back up and charged his considerably older ex-principal. The unabashed ass-whipping that ensued disrupted my English class for fifteen minutes while every student and the teacher peered out the windows in slack-jawed amazement at the raw violence. I’m pretty sure Marine boy spent several months convalescing before returning to his unit.

Dietary Choices
In those days, we still had coke and candy machines in the school. In particular, at the end of one of the classroom wings, there was a nook with an old-time candy machine. It had eight slots and eight coinciding pull-knobs. You inserted 35 cents and pulled the appropriate knob and out popped the M&Ms you stuffed into your pocket to sneak during afternoon math class.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the upper storage area of the machine sported a large mirror where girls could primp those giant hairdos, they all had back then. Hair spray should have been one of the eight vending options.

Near the end of lunch period one afternoon, but prior to the sounding of the bell signaling students back in the building, my friends Grady and Reggie, and I snuck into the building to purchase our afternoon snack. Important detail: the candy machine nook was only forty feet from Principal Ponder’s office.

A significant part of Satan’s domain — that began when Adam and Eve ate that first apple — is vending machines, especially candy machines that take your money and fail to dispense the coveted M&Ms. That demon-possessed machine took Reggie’s money and kept his snack. Reggie, in turn, delivered an impressive kick to the machine with his size-ten cowboy boot.

In response to Reggie’s challenge, the demon in the machine shattered the mirror into a million little shards of glass. When all those pieces fell to the floor, it made a lot of noise — only forty feet from where Principal Ponder was dozing in his office.

Instantly, the lion cage door swung open, and Principal Ponder came charging down the hall, bellowing, “Nobody move!” We were cornered. Grady and I backed up against the wall fearing for our lives. I’m pretty sure I heard Reggie mumble something about “Hail Mary full of grace.”

When the giant of a man entered our claustrophobically small space and demanded an explanation, Reggie just told the truth. I actually closed my eyes, expecting the wrath of God to strike. Instead, Principal Ponder replied, “That damn machine did the same thing to me yesterday. Go find a janitor to sweep this mess up. And you two other boys get out of my building until the bell rings.”

Since that day, I’ve never had a problem understanding the relief Daniel felt when those lions lost their appetites. But Principal Ponder’s reaction was not “Grace”. It was “Mercy”. Mercy is what someone in authority bestows on a guilty party. Grace is the continuous experience of mercy and un-merited acceptance, totally apart from our actions. It’s something we cannot generate towards others unless we’ve first experienced it ourselves.

Hence, the title of this missive. When did our culture discard the concept of grace and begin demanding that everyone else adhere to our personal preconceived norms? Is it because we have never really experienced grace ourselves? Or have we assumed we deserve grace where others don’t?

I don’t have the answers. Maybe you do. Let’s have coffee and you can enlighten me.

A meeting of great minds who think alike