Salvation

For as long as people have been living, parents have always taught

their children the ways of religion and life. One problem with this is getting

the important points across to a child without causing any confusion. A child

is very likely to take literally a warning or story an adult tells them. This was

the case for 13 year old Langston Hughes as described in his essay

"Salvation". Hughes was practically forced to do something that would

please everyone around and the experience dissatisfied and harmed him.

It all started when on one night when Langston went to his Auntie

Reed's church revival to get "saved" by Jesus. Langston was told by his

Auntie Reed and other old people that "when you were saved you saw a

light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life!

And God was with you from then on!" (Hughes 10).

English:

English: "Today I sang a concert of Langston Hughe...

English: Santa Claus with a little girl Esperanto:...

She also went on to tell

Langston that he would be able to hear and feel Jesus in his soul. He

believed her. Langston saw the other kids around him at the church doing

the same thing as him, waiting to be saved by Jesus. The preachers

preached rhythmical sermons and songs as he sat there (Hughes 10).

Some girls jumped up and were saved by Jesus but most of the other

children just sat there. Finally all of the other kids got up one by one and

Langston ended up being the last one there. He writes: "Still I kept waiting

to see Jesus" (Hughes, 11). As time went on Langston became ashamed at

the fact that he had not seen Jesus yet. Langston decided to just get up and

act as if he were saved because of the pressure he was feeling with

everyone around him waiting...