From Exceptionalism to Inclusion or Will the Real Prodigal Please Stand Up?

Summary

When I was 15 I started to rebel against my parents. I thought they were too strict, so I pushed against their boundaries. One hot, July night I went out with some friends. They didn’t want me to go, but I did anyway.

We didn’t do anything really bad. We were just boys being boys, a little ornery. Both my friends were older than me. Lynn, the one who was driving that evening, had a nice, late model convertible Chevy. At one point he started driving at a high rate of speed. I told him, “Lynn, you’re not going to make this corner.” I knew the road very well; it was the very road I lived on.