In high school I had a friend that was society driven. The only time she would hang with me was when her "society" friends were away. I would deliberately talk to her when she was with her other friends because I knew it would piss her off. As I got older I decided I no longer wanted to play the game with her.

I don't know about anyone else, but the older I got, the less tolerant I became of people who actively were opposed to everything I believed in.

Whether you are a believer or not you are still developing bias as a younger person. Most of us believed in a god even if our families were not religious. In time religion develops its bias because it claims you can have all the answers. This, of course, is not true. Younger children play together and do not ask religious types of questions in a serious way. Bias and cognitive dissonance develops later.

My best example from high school is that I do not remember classroom prayer. People I went to school with who are still in church say they do remember school prayer. (Thank the preacher for that.) I do however remember teachers offering on minute of silent prayer for those who wanted to pray. I'm aware that O'Hair put a stop to school prayer to cause this "silent one minute" that was mentioned, but I do not actually remember prayer in schools. People in my classes now claim they do.

Can you imagine this - "Oh, god, I know you like me and you will help me to do good on this test but please do not help Bobby coz I want him to fail." WTF else would prayer in schools be about? I ask you honestly.

Most people (it seems) don't grow and change. When I go to a high school reunion, I never cease to be amazed at how the "good old boys" still have the same attitudes and narrow minds they did when they were young.

We each grow at our own pace and in our own direction. The friendships we had during high school, amplified as they were by adolescent hormones, were about as 'true' as they could have been. It's a rare gift to retain a lifelong friendship from our youth. I count myself lucky to have found my lifetime companion, friend and spouse during high school, and together we have maintained a select few mutual friendships from those days; people we went to school with who share somewhat parallel philosophical journeys to our own.