Read Online No Easy Answers by Brooks Brown Rob Merritt - Free Book Online Page B

paying attention to the teacher. Often I would get yelled at in class for doing this, but I didn't care. Other kids would make fun of the fact that I carried books around with me; for a while, my nickname became “Books” instead of “Brooks,” as if reading for pleasure was somehow improper. I didn't care about that, either.
    I was once asked in class to write something memorable about my childhood. I wrote about the moment I first read Atlas Shrugged. I identified with the idea that “Each man must live for his own sake, not sacrificing others to himself, or himself to others.”
    We were individuals, all of us, and we were proud of it. Other kids tried to make us feel ashamed for feeling different. We never did. Their words hurt us, and we lived in constant fear and hatred of our tor-menters. But we were proud of who we were. When it came to getting through the day, that made all the difference.

6
troubles
    FOR YEARS, MY PARENTS URGED ME TO FIND SOMETHING I COULD BE passionate about. I'd always tell them that I was passionate about computers and about books, but that never seemed to get them off my back about the constant string of C's and D's that I brought home from Columbine.
    Whenever I found something really interesting at school, though, I threw myself into it. There were two things that fit this description for me at Columbine: the theatre program and the debate class.
    My dad encouraged me to join the debate team. At first it just seemed like another class, so I thought, “Why not?” and signed up. But once I arrived, I discovered that I loved it. I loved being able to debate in a situation where the other person can't just say, “You're an idiot,” and walk off. Instead, the two of you have to continue until the judges say you're finished, and then afterwards they tell you, “Okay, you were right and you were wrong.” The judges don't know either of you, so their decisions are based solely on the arguments you presented.
    I enjoyed that so much. When you argue with people in real life, no matter how rational you are, generally the other person says, “Well, kiss my ass, I know I'm right,” and then walks off acting like he won. In debate, we actually had to prove our points.
    Not only that, debate allowed a student to constantly improve. After a debate, the judges will fill out a form telling you everything that you did ordidn't do right, and generally they will give you helpful hints. Also, during my freshman and sophomore years, I would approach the kids who did really well during competitions and ask them for pointers. All through high school, I did better at each tournament because of what they taught me.
    Being in debate class automatically meant I was on the debate team. The competitions would take place on weekends, at locations all over Colorado. My freshman year, we took first place at the Jeffco Invite for Lincoln-Douglas Debates, which was an incredible feeling.
    Lincoln-Douglas debates are the perfect exercise for the analytic thinker. For each issue I was assigned, I would have to prepare arguments for either side. I wouldn't know which position I would have to take in the debate until two minutes before the round. That's tough, because it means that even if your personal opinion falls on one side of an issue, you have to be able to argue the other side convincingly enough to defeat the person who is arguing the side that you agree with. It was exciting. It reinforced the idea that there is more than one way to think, and more than one side to any issue.
    For someone like me, the debate team was a godsend. The only thing that matched it was drama class.
    I didn't get along with most of my teachers, but it's amazing the power that a positive, caring teacher can have. My best experience with such a teacher was Sue Caruthers, Columbine's drama teacher.
    Mrs. Caruthers—or “Mrs. C,” as we usually called her—ran the most fulfilling extracurricular program I've ever been a part of. There