The summer that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, I received a plain envelope in the mail. It was addressed to me by hand but with no return address. Inside was a pamphlet explaining the mysteries of human reproduction.
One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
I have no idea who sent it, and most of the likely suspects have gone to their reward. But I am grateful to whoever it was. Someone cared enough for me to send the very best.
I already had received the most effective sexual abstinence education money can buy and knew I would rot in hell if I succumbed to the sins of the flesh. Sex before marriage would damn me to eternal fire, a notion hammered into me in freshman religion class at a Catholic high school.
Each day began with a reflection from Brother Joseph, a nervous fellow who chain-smoked between classes and conducted weekly rosary checks, awarding 5 points toward our grade if everyone in a row had their beads. I paid close attention to his homilies, most of which ended with reminders that I would be sorry, when I was being roasted by Satan, for my sinful thoughts.
One story was about a school bus with bad brakes that was roaring down a mountain, seconds from a fiery crash. I sat on the edge of my seat as the bus teetered over various precipices and Brother Joseph told us how the boys on the bus prayed for their souls as they rifled through their wallets, taking out their condoms and throwing them from the bus windows so they wouldn't be found on their corpses and they could be buried as decent Christians by their parents.
I had not seen a condom, let alone thought of keeping one handy. Still, I blushed. I knew how ashamed my family would be if I died on a road littered with unopened condoms.
A few years later, just in time to be extremely useful, that pamphlet arrived. I think about how much I owe to the unknown sender every time I hear people arguing over what kind of sex education we should provide to today's young people. And what I can tell you from my experience is that abstinence education -- even one fueled by the fires of hell -- is not enough.
