Every Choice Matters...

What a whirlwind the last few days have been! For those who have not heard Tobias Lyon's name let me share the story in brief. Tobias Lyons, 25 asked a 14 year old girl for sex and another for nude pictures. He worked for Tree of Life Preventative Maintenance Inc. in Fort Smith, Arkansas. They just so happened to have a program called Reality Check that also "taught" abstinence. Tree of Life is a faith based organization which even added great value to the media. Such headlines came out as, "Man who Preached Abstinence Arrested for Sexual Indecency" (italics added by me). Tobias, according to research was just married in June 2009. Now, let's look at the people impacted by one persons decisions. The young girls, their parents, his family, his young wife, the schools, Reality Check Inc. in Lowell that is in no way even tied to them, our schools, the entire river valley community, our community, the church has even taken a hit because of the tie of a faith based incorporation, and not to mention the thousands of students who may now not hear our message because of his stupidity. You tell me every choice doesn't matter? I tell the students in every class that I teach it's not just your future you could be ruining by bad choices but hundreds and maybe even thousands of others. Here is a prime example. I am in no way defending Tree of Life Preventative Maintenance Inc. because this isn't the first bad choice they have made either but I do stand strong in defense of what we here at Reality Check Inc. in Lowell, Arkansas do within our public schools. We teach abstinence as one part of our program along with the ability to set goals, boundaries, that you have worth and value, and know that you have someone that believes in you. Here's the skinny, what we do is changing the lives of hundreds and thousands here in Northwest Arkansas. I fully believe that most people don't have ANY problem with what we teach but merely that we teach abstinence. I feel strong that it's more of a "word association" problem too. It's not that they aren't intelligent (for the large majority) enough to understand that you are not going to get a STD/STI or pregnancy if you aren't having sex or using drugs, it's that they are afraid of a "christian" message. Let's be honest, "christians" or not the truth is the truth. 2+2=4 will always be true, believer or not. Our message isn't do this or burn, or do this and we "guarantee" you this. Our message is about a choice, your choice, and yes, every choice matters because it's your future.