From Mennonite To Freedom

Introduction

Sometimes the beliefs one develops from their family stay with them. Sometimes those beliefs diminish as one gets older and starts to experience life. The old saying goes “With age comes wisdom. Acknowledgment of one’s true self then becomes apparent.”This paper shows how acknowledging one's self-leads to self-discovery.

From Mennonite to Freedom as an individual The first time I met Charles Marc Masoner, we both were in the army reclassing to be a medic in San Antonio. I was walking on the sidewalk; I remember this soldier walking with a twitch in his step. Mark, that’s what everyone calls him, approaches me proceeds with flamboyance in his voice tells me how pretty I was and that his friend wanted my number. I looked at Mark

Having grown up in the Mennonite church, Mark had the belief system of a man is supposed to be with a woman. The man provides for his family while the woman stayed home and took care of the household. Women were considered to be child bearers and were not to have an education past the 8th grade. Hence, being an Eastern Mennonite, he had no other choice than to hold this as his belief system. Mark attended church daily and listened to the elders preach. While Marc was concentrating on being a good Mennonite, he also had a secret. Holding this secret since he was a little boy, that in fact, he did not hold the view of a man being with a woman. What if he believed a man could be with another man? How would the view of a nice Mennonite boy being gay look to the elders? Mark thought for a second and held this secret a little bit longer. When Mark was eight years old, his father left him on the side of the road in Washington state. His father left him because he thought Mark was a “faggot.” and that no son of his was going to be gay. At eight years old his own family abandoned him emotionally, he was sent to live with another Mennonite