Algot Stephenson:  

FAVORITE SAYING: If being a Christian were illegal, would there be enough evidence to convict you? The curse of the intelligent is having to deal with those who are not, which there are more of, and much to everyone's amazement seem to be the ones running things. If I knew then what I know now, I would have dropped the drugs and become a Christian sooner. One of the things that I remember the most about High School was the blatant hypocrisy. Being an adult, I can forgive the students, because they knew no better. They just lived as their parents taught them. However, hypocrisy as adults has no excuse. When people were alone, they treated me as a friend, or, at least, as an equal. However, when they were in their little peer group, the relationship changed. By the time that I reached my Senior year I pretty much accepted the two faces of society that were allowed, and pretty much expected. A pretense that I never really developed a taste for and subsequently, much to my demise, never learned to exercise. I was the social outcast that everyone didn't want to be like, but was the first one that everyone came to when answers were needed on tests. I was the one that everyone wanted as a lab partner, but became disposable outside of class when their peers came around. I was the one that everyone wanted to sit by during quizzes and tests, but couldn't get far enough away from once those test were over...until the next one. I was the one who knew what people were doing, but allowed them to think that they were so smart. Even though they were coming to me for the answers. I was the one that all groups came together to make themselves feel better by elevating themselves at my expense, but was one of the few who would befriend people like Eddie Lacross (Monroe), Tom Fisk, and Darcy Christiansen (Benson), instead of making fun of their handicaps. I wasn't a jock, in Band, in ROTC, in the German Club, in the Physics club, on the Swim team, or even in Cross Country. I was the one who was real. I was the loner, the outcast, the example of what you didn't want your lives to be. However, what I was then, many are now. Though many detested my life back then, they are living it, now. I've, since, moved out of that entrapment and don't look back at High School as they do...that High School was their glory days. I don't, as they do, see my High School years as a time of unlimited possibilities that I have, since, squandered away. The unlimited possibilities that I have only came about after High School. And I am living them, today. My life, now, is defined by helping the less fortunate...a quality I learned when I was the less fortunate. I level the playing field of those in poverty to help them avoid being treated as I was by their schoolmates. I give them a chance, since, I know first hand, that their peers won't. I may still carry some baggage, as do we all, but mine is to keep me going forward. My baggage is to remind me of what I don't want to become, not to remind me of a squandered life of past unlimited possibilities. Life My Spouse I was the Rooms Division Manager in a hotel, she came in as an applicant. I don't know how, I don't know when, it went from me being her boss to her being mine (LOL). The one thing that I do know for certain is that she is probably the only person in the world that could ever put up with me, especially for these last 25+ years. My Kids I've got 3 boys (Joshua 33, Algot III 23, and Seth 15 ) and 2 girls (Nichole 25 and Naomi 18). My Job I'm a RETIRED U.P.S. driver in Southern California. Oh, yea. Oh, Yea. For my hobby, I learn Scripture, do puzzles, collect coins, discover VAMs, dabble in writing, and sell guns, part time, at a local outdoors shop. Like Obama said, people like me cling to our guns and religion. My favorite way to relax is writing. That way I can share my thoughts and perspectives to others. Sometimes, it's hard to get started writing, but once I start, it's hard to stop. My dad is my hero. In his weakness he showed what true strength really was. The one person from my past who I'd most like to see again is my dad, because I miss him terribly. What my dad taught me transcends the normal definition of what it means to teach. He couldn't "teach" in the normal sense of the word. He wasn't "smart" as the world counts intelligence. Due to his handicap of physical and mental capabilities, he had no ability as the world defines ability. Because of his lack of these two qualities (physical and mental), he was not afforded po...Expand for more