Many people see Kenneth as a modern-day hippie †"
My hero is not Gandhi, or Mother Theresa, or Abraham Lincoln; he is not a general, a political figure, or business leader; he didn't win a war, feed the five-thousand, or write a best-seller; but he is trying to change the world one person at a time. As insignificant as Kenneth Peters may seem on a global scale, he is my hero, and, yes, I want to be like him when I grow up.
The easiest way to describe Kenneth Peters is "different." Thirty-something years old, with long hair pulled back in a pony-tail and no formal college education, he quit his job as a youth director at my old church to follow his dream of forming his own Christian band. In many aspects he is a modern-day hippie. Like many great leaders, he goes largely unappreciated and misunderstood in his own time because he has "elected to follow, not the safely marked general highways of the day, but the adventures of the special, dimly audible call that comes to those whose ears are open within as well as without." He follows a calling, different as it may be, and he follows it religiously in whatever situation it leads him to.
His drive, his passion, sets him apart as a role model in my eyes. Gandhi's words, "My life is my message," could easily be Kenneth's mantra. I see him living his faith, not just practicing it, everyday. I am reminded of a section in How Can I Help? where Dass discusses the idea of roles that we play every day, that we in essence enter into, and that in turn limit us unless we are able to exist behind them all and enter into them only when we choose to and only with the continuing consciousness of our unified presence beyond that one role. Kenneth has become a master of this role-playing 'game,' if you will. Youth director, musician, husband, father, friend - he is a child of God first, and everything else follows. To actively and purposefully seek out God is his life's mission, complacency his greatest fear. He has not, however, become a monk, locked away in some monastery isolated from the rest of the world.† Rather, he has always fervently tried to inspire others to live with the same zeal that he lives with every day. I first knew him as a youth director, when he worked with high school kids to get them excited about pursuing their individual faith journeys, and taught them to flee from apathy. As Kenneth says, "flee this moment while your young heart still stirs, flee without a glance back or a nod or a wish for what you thought you deserved, for your Father has paved the less traveled road with the life of his own wild hearted Son, so to the Land of The Holy Wild, Run, Run, Run." The passion with which he taught and counseled me inspired me to teach others. Sharing truth in a fervent and exciting way, whether it's the truths of the Gospel or the truths of geometry, is a high and noble calling.
When Kenneth left the church to form a band, I felt as though he was abandoning that calling. I later realized, however, that he was responding to his calling in a new way by going to help those who most needed to be helped. Just as Martin Luther King Jr. went to the persecuted of the deep South, just as Gandhi went to the oppressed in India, just as the knight went to the damsel in distress, and just as Jesus went to the beggars and sinners - so Kenneth felt called to minister to the needs of people outside of the church who did not regularly hear his message and struggled with the idea of faith. Through his lyrics and the relationships he forms, Kenneth continues to invite others to seek out the truth of Jesus' message for themselves in new and powerful ways.
What makes Kenneth so successful in his teaching, both in the church and out, is his humility. As passionate as he is about his message, he remains firmly grounded in the fact that the message comes from God. By remembering this, he remains more in tune with the dispassionate Witness Dass mentions, and he "finds joy and relief in attuning to the greater Way of All Things…in which [he]…need no longer be driven by the insatiable need to control." With no agenda of his own, he remains "free to simply be" and to respond effectively to his audience. Any time I came to him with a problem, I came away feeling calmer and comforted, yet also more motivated to institute the necessary changes in my own life. If a mind is clouded by attachments and aversions to external opinions and pursuits, then it cannot hope to really hear clearly the needs of others around them, but if it surrenders the illusion of control over any part of the world or one's own life, then it can simply exist - empty and ready to observe and respond to the needs of others. One soul at peace radiates peace, and nothing else is quite so healing.
This inner peace comes from a great confidence both in his faith and in himself. This confidence has led him to do courageous things, to step outside his comfort zone and try to make a difference where other people pass up the opportunity in order to remain 'safe.' Lack of confidence often inhibits me from going against the grain. Even in actions as simple as asking a question in class, I sometimes find myself worrying about what the professor or my peers will think, and in bigger decisions like what to do after high school, I felt lost in a sea of other people's expectations for my life when I should have been paying more attention to what I actually wanted to do, even if it wasn't the normal graduate-then-go-to-college-and-get-a-job plan. Kenneth does not worry nearly as much about external opinions; he acts with an almost reckless abandon no matter what others may think, which leads to a much more authentic life than I feel most people live, including myself at this point. Kenneth decided to leave his job at the church because he hated the politics involved with running it and felt that the real purpose of the church was being twisted and lost. He did not give up altogether on the idea of a church, though, but rather started his own church within his house. Every week a small group meets to worship, read the Bible, and encourage each other in their faith. I would be incredibly scared to start my own group like this: scared of failure, and scared of disapproval from others. I also know, however, that nothing new would ever get started if people didn't take that first step of faith to change the status quo.
Besides starting a church, Kenneth also essentially started an entire business by forming his band. He had to do financing, advertising, networking, and managing in addition to playing his instruments. It has been so much more work to start this band than he ever had to do working at the church, but this has not deterred Kenneth, which once again distinguishes him from many of the people I know. How many people go through life putting off their goals and dreams because of a lack of money, time, or some other excuse? Real leaders do not make these excuses, but rather relentlessly pursue their dreams, inspiring others to follow. † I do not yet have the conviction of a strong leader that enabled Kenneth to start a church or a business, but someday I hope I will so that I could take such an initiative if called to.
Kenneth wouldn't be a hero without his convictions and character; however, practical skills such as reading and writing have also been essential to accomplishing his goals. Although he never graduated from college, he is one of the most intelligent people I know. He reads constantly - the Bible, the classics, the news - everything. Reading broadens his base of knowledge, which he consistently draws from in his work and in his personal life. His reading of the Bible inspired all of his work in the first place, and he retains his motivation by referring back to it daily. This Christian influence greatly affects his music and lyrics †. Through the lyrics he hopes to reach out to people in his audience, overcoming the imaginary barrier of separateness. Through language he connects with both his inner motivation and his outward mission.
For this past year, our class has been honing these language skills, but for what purpose? They will be beneficial in any one job we take, but very few people will be called to a career as a writer or reader. The most powerful skills we have learned in this class have actually not been the writing and reading at all, but the skills of the mind such as critical thinking, tolerance, and compassion. I know that these skills will not only be useful in any job I might take, but also in my growth as an individual throughout my life - I've seen it in Kenneth. He has always challenged me to think for myself and exercise these mind skills. While he was my youth director I never understood why he seemed so fervent about these, but now that I have observed the difference it makes in people's lives - through individuals like Kenneth and through the books we have read this semester - I now desire for myself to be a soul content, but not complacent, † and I know that honing these skills will help me reach that goal. No matter what roles I step into and out of over the course of my life, a strong underlying character will make me successful in each of them. I am not sure what message I have been given to carry, and I do not know where it will lead me, but if I deliver it with the passion of Martin Luther King Jr., the heart of Mother Theresa, and the humility of Gandhi, then I, like Kenneth, can be a hero in my own small way.
Word Count: 1,244
Word Count from DBs: 2,840
Word Count after deletions: 1,195
Word Count with additions: 1,561
Endnotes
† Deleted words from P3A noted by this symbol
1 Joseph Campbell, "Hero of a Thousand Faces," in Composition and Reading in World Literature, ed. by Jerome Bump (Austin: Jenn's, 2006), 4-45, p. 7.
2 "Gndh, Mohands Karamchand" The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Religions. Ed. John Bowker. Oxford University Press, 2000. Oxford Reference Online, in Composition and Reading in World Literature, ed. by Jerome Bump (Austin: Jenn's, 2006), 119.
3 Quoted by Kenneth Peters to Amanda Jones, c. 2004.
4 Dass, Ram and Paul Gorman. How Can I Help? New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2005. 44.
5 Dass, Ram and Paul Gorman. How Can I Help? New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2005. 32.