Three Essays by Tyler Reed

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Chincoteague

Every summer, since I was two years old, I have gone to a small island called Chincoteague. This island is off the coast of Virginia in a place called the Chesapeake Bay. I enjoy visiting the island during the month of July, for it is this month when the pony swim takes place. Every July the fire department rounds up the ponies that live on the island and has them swim across the island to where they are to be auctioned off. The pony swim takes place to uphold the myth that states the reason for the coming of these beautiful creatures. The myth states that the ponies came to the island when a large cargo ship carrying the ponies crashed off shore allowing the ponies to be set free in the ocean. Out of instinct the ponies swan to shore where they still remain today. The myth about the ponies and how they came to be, and a story about a very special pony, can be read in a book that was published by a man that came to the island, and became very familiar with the myth. Visiting the Island was so much fun, because I was able walk right up to the ponies and pet them, this was until the summer of 1999. A little boy fed a pony and the pony bit him, so the law forced the ponies to be fenced in a designated area until further notice. The islanders have never been notified.

The ponies are always fun to look at every summer, but this summer was the greatest I have ever had on Chincoteague. I visit this island with my grandparents, who have a house there. This year I had the privilege of going crabbing with our next-door neighbor. He drives his boat out into the bay every morning, hoping for that big bushel of crabs to feed his family. This summer I also helped my grandfather build a workshop for his house that we will start construction on in late 2006. On the island there are many things that I could do during my stay. I could go deep-sea fishing, go crabbing, mini-golfing, clamming, swimming, water skiing, and jet- skiing. My favorite thing to do is swim. This past year there was a small storm so it brought all the warm water to the shore, along with some big waves. I really like to surf and boogie board on those big waves. I'm still learning how, but surfing is great fun.

Still today, I go to Chincoteague in hopes I will go on new adventures, acquire new hobbies, and become a really good surfer. I cannot wait to go this summer and the next, because I am planning to help my grandfather build his new house. This will be the house that I might inherit in their will. Chincoteague is my favorite place.

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What Was My Fear?

Childhood was interesting for me, growing up in a family of five. I had a sister, three years older than I, and a brother, sixteen months younger than I, a mother and a father who both loved me as his first born son. I was scared of my older sister and parents, for they were much larger than me. So, this is just what I needed, another fear. It seemed that when I got older, my fears became more real. As a child I had fears such as being afraid of the dark and having monsters in the closet. As I got older, I realized there is a reason to be afraid of the dark, but there are no monsters to be worried about. Don't we all have fears? Our churches put fear into our lives every day. We don't like to think of it that way, but they do. They tell us that if we don't do what a little black book tells us to do, then we're all going to hell. They also have told us that one single, solitary man decides if we should live in a glorious kingdom or a horrific underworld for eternity. Growing up with fears is a terrible life, so one day we must decide to get rid of them. That is just what I did, but it took me twelve years to do it. I had a fear of heights.

Sure, it stared out with my being afraid to get on ladders or standing in really high places. But then my fear grew. I would do anything possible to stay away from anything that looked as if it might hurt me. But wait. Did I really have a fear of heights, or was I afraid to get hurt? When I was eight, I went on the usual visit to my grandparent's house. I went there often, almost too often. I visited them after school, on the weekend, any time that my parents were too busy to take care of me. One day, when I went into their backyard to swing, I saw the tree on top of the hill. I call it the tree, because it was very tall, to my eyes, and had branches that seemed to touch the sky and dance in the wind. I wanted to see if I could make it to the top. I ran up the hill to the base of the tree, where its strong roots would soon be trying to support me on my journey to the gods. I began climbing. I felt free, and I knew that this was the day that would break this fear that had kept me from doing the fun things that every boy should get to enjoy. I moved up the tree faster and faster, but I was too fast, I wasn't able to support myself on each branch. I soon reached the top where the branches grew thinner and thinner, I stood on the last branch, the branch that would release me from this curse. It broke.

I remember waking up in my grandparent's house with a few cuts and bruises, still oblivious to what had just happened to me. I was told by my Uncle Tommy that I had fallen from the tree a total of five feet. I still don't know if I really only fell five feet, or if he was trying to make some good out of a bad event. I went back to sleep. I learned later that falling asleep is the worst thing I could possibly do. If someone has been hit in the head, that person might never wake up. So I learned to stay away from the high places that could cause me to be put in a hospital. I began to feel as if I were starting over again, I felt that I was back where I had started eight years ago. I began the process of facing my fear of heights once more. The event that really pushed me to the edge occurred during the summer of 1999. I went to my mother's parent's house. These visits were events that I had to wait a whole year to do again. Visiting my grandparents was really fun, but I always have to go through that embarrassing moment when I see my grandfather for the first time in a year. He played football for the University of Maryland. So, from this one could gather that he is a very muscular man. During that embarrassing moment, he would make a wise crack about how small I was. I probably did look small to him, for he looks like a giant. In that summer of 1999, I was asked to go up on the roof of an old shed to take down an old and rotted birdhouse. This shed was next to the water, so it was built up on stilts that made this small shed a two-story building. No one could ever imagine how scared I was climbing up that ladder to the top of this building. I wanted so badly to say that I was scared of heights, but I was afraid what he might say about how much of a baby I was. I reached the top and had the same feeling of freedom that I felt from being at the top of that tree, except this time, I wasn't knocked unconscious after leaving the last step of the ladder. Had I done it? Had I finally rid myself of this fear? There was only one way to prove it.

Late that summer I went to Six Flags over Georgia. The one ride I had my heart set on was the Parachute. This ride would take victims, pull them up into the air at a rapid speed, and then slowly let them fall, as if floating down with a parachute. I was a little scared when entering in line, but I rode and got off it with ease. The next thing I had to do to complete my trip to the park was ride as many roller coasters as possible. I stood in awe as the Scream Machine took people to great heights and threw the passengers towards the ground at great speeds. My stomach twisted inside as I heard the yells from the passengers, allowing the roller coaster to live up to its name. I slowly walked away, realizing that I had just burdened myself with another fear.

I continued to go up to high places throughout the next couple of years, I even helped put a roof on a workshop with my grandfather. This roof was so steep that it required roof jacks to support us. My fear of heights had been demolished, but my fear of roller coasters still prevailed. It wasn't until the summer of 2004 that I tried to relieve myself of this fear. I received a phone call from my father, while on vacation, telling me that the family was going to Six Flags when I got back home. We talked for a few moments. After hanging up, I grew nervous of the thought of riding a roller coaster. Shortly after returning home, we all went to Six Flags. We rode a few rides and then moved deeper into the park where the roller coasters lay. I tried to trick myself into riding one, but it was no use. When I would step up to the gate, I would "chicken out." After a few hours my father, sister, and her boyfriend literally dragged me into the line of the Ninja. I slowly moved through the line, acting as if I didn't care. I sat down in the car; I thought that it was all over. But what was all over? Why was I so afraid of this? After riding I felt puzzled. I couldn't answer the questions that had stopped me from riding these roller coasters. Leaving the Ninja brought the end to my fear of roller coaster.

I don't know what my next great fear will be. Maybe I will fall off a roller coaster and have to start the process of facing my fear of them again, as I did because of the tree incident. Whatever it may be, I have faced both my greatest fears, so I can take on anything. Maybe my greatest fear at the moment is dying. I hope that isn't any time soon.

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What Will One Choose?

On October 12, 1999, Governor Don Siegelman attempted to give the Alabama county and public school systems some money for materials. No one noticed that the lottery was a way to help our children get better desks and materials. Church groups began protesting that the lottery was immoral. The loss of the lottery proposal foreshadowed the ending of the governor's term. Why should we vote for the lottery? This is a question that the everyday working man asks. I am determined to answer his question.

In 1998 Don Siegelman ran for governor of Alabama and won. For his campaign he vowed to get a lottery passed for the state of Alabama. When in office he accomplished many deeds that proved him to be a fine governor for such a fine state. But was Alabama a fine state? Alabama is ranked forty-ninth of fifty on the national rankings. This means that the igloo schools in Alaska are nicer than the cardboard boxes that we go to today. Nearing the end of Siegelman's term, people began asking about the fate of the lottery that he had promised. Thus, a lottery vote was proposed for the state. Not long after this was proposed and citizens were readying themselves for voting, the churches want to interfere.

It is a funny thing about those church members. They stay in their buildings until at a random moment, and then they strike. All over the state, senseless church members began rallying against this brilliant idea. The church has created a few slogans that slam guilt on some people. In my church, children are told or threatened that if you do specific things you are not a Christian. The church members turned these threats around to make the "none church goers" feel guilty and change their votes. Slogans such as; If you don't do or you do a certain thing you're not a Christian, or the all time favorite if you do or don't do something you don't believe in God. In the early 1500's the churches ruled the world with their slogans that they still use today. As people headed out to the polls they could not help seeing an old woman shivering in the autumn breeze holding a sign to "VOTE NO" in her hand. If this is the way that the church tries to keep us from voting "YES", it works. People feel sorry for an old woman freezing her butt off to help her church ruin a great source of funding for the public school system. This made the voters feel guilty enough that they would not vote "YES" on their ballot. Thus, when voters would try to vote, the phrase, "You are not a Christian" kept popping into their heads, restricting them from marking "Yes". Maybe it is the churches" fault that we do not have a lottery. On October twelfth, Alabama citizens rejected the lottery by a margin of 54 percent to 46 percent. Alabama became the fourth state, after Arkansas, North Dakota, and Oklahoma, to reject a state lottery.

After the lottery was declined, people started to settle down and read the paper again as opposed to the weekly newsletter from the church. Soon people realized that the city and county school systems didn't have any money. How could this be? Don't we have a solution to fix this loss of money? That's right we just flushed the best thing that could ever have happed to the schools down the drain. The lottery tax is always in effect when a lottery is passed. This means that for every dollar won in the lottery, the state gets a percentage. In New York, the state receives an estimated three billion dollars every time a winner is drawn. Three billion dollars is enough money to buy KleenexTM for every teacher for a lifetime. If only we had listened to the government for once instead of to the church.

After Don Siegelman ended his term, a Republican governor took office. He tried to think of a way to obtain money for the state, and probably even crossed his mind that the people should have voted for the lottery. It took all he had to raise taxes, because Republicans don't raise taxes. We are taught that taxes are the scum of the earth. Taxes take money out of wallets by force; the lottery doesn't. A new poll was taken in 2004 and it showed that despite the churches thinking, the lottery would pass if it was proposed once more. What will Alabama choose when the time comes again? I urge Alabama to vote towards the lottery to help our school systems receive great deals of money.