My Mother loved movies . Daddy , not so much . She would take me to movies . The first one I remember was " Shane " . I also liked the Disney movies . When I was 11 , Mother took me to see " Goldfinger " . It was my first James Bond movies . I didn 't understand the humor in it , but I like the action . She liked the movies and the books . She was an avid reader . She had introduced me to Beatles music , and now to James Bond movies . She and I went to every one together until the last one we went to together which was " Live and Let Die " in 1973 . After that , I was on my own . I went to the movies every chance I got . In the summertime , the theatres in Columbia would have special movies for kids . One theatre showed a Tarzan film and invited the actor Jock Mahoney to make a personal appearance . He talked to us kids after the movie and told us that the vines he swung on were actually rope covered with ivy . That revelation was crushing to me as a kid , but I understood later when making movies about illusion . Another theatre showed 10 - cent and 25 - cent movies for kids during the summer . Most of them were westerns . As I grew a little older , I continued to go to the movies as much as I could . The Five Points Theatre had an art film series . They would show movies made mostly in France or Sweden . They were not X - rated in the standard of today , but they did have nudity . As a teenage suffering with puberty , it was an escape . The problem was that you had to be 18 to see these movies , and I was only 13 to 17 . So , I devised a plan . I had an old Army jacket , which I used for stealing stuff . It was a heavy jacket with a Army blanket lining . I had cut the lining out at the top to make a large pocket in between the outer material and the lining . I could put record albums in the lining . I took the jacket and wrote " USC Gamecocks " on the back , thinking it would look more like a college jacket . Looking back on it now , I know it looked stupid , but I just tried to look older . I also took one of my brother 's college ID 's from Furman and taped my school picturI always rode my bike to the theatre . Usually , I would park it in an alley between the theatre and a drug store . Other times , I parked it behind the theatre . When I was 14 , I was coming out of the theatre to get my bike , when I was attacked by 3 black boys . They threw bricks and rocks at me , as I was trying to pedal away . When I asked why , they told me that I had killed Dr . King . I told them I had never been to Memphis . They were attacking me because I was white . As I have said before , this behavior was very foreign to me . But , it didn 't stop me from going to the theatre . On one occasion , I went to see a movie , and the girl at the box office wanted to see some ID . I pulled out my fake ID , and the girl looked at my name and began to smile . She told me that my Mother was her Sunday School teacher . Well , I almost died , but she let me in to the theatre . She told me I looked young to be in college . I told her that everyone says that . I thought she would tell my Mother , but my Mother never said anything about it . Whew . Like I said , I loved going to movies . When I worked in a bank , it was next - door to a theatre . We had two hours for lunch . Just enough time to catch a movie . When I was in college , I would go to every movie playing , sometimes more than once . When I lived in Texas , I also went to a lot of movies , usually three times a week . Then , video came out , and I started watching a lot of movies on tape , and later DVD . It is like a disease , but I love movies . I had just graduated from high school and still 17 years old . We went to a wedding in Alabama , where my father was performing it . My cousin was getting married . That Friday night , they had a rehearsal dinner at the country club in Anniston . I was seated with a bunch of girls , who were a little older than me . They knew that I couldn 't drink wine , so they asked me to get my glass filled , and then they would take my glass and give me the empty one . Then , the waiter would be around and refill my glass . This happened numerous times . The girls were getting drunk . My parents looked over at me , and saw my glass was always empty . They thought I was binging . After the dinner , they asked me about it , and I told them that it wasn 't me . They believed me after seeing the girls . Little did I know that I would be binging in about three years later . My parents wanted me to take lessons from Baldwin 's Driving School . Mr . Baldwin was a nice man , when we started , but I think I gave him a nervous condition , while he was trying to teach me . We went out to Fort Jackson for him to teach me the art of applying the gas and then the brake . I finally got the hang of it . I got pretty good over time , so he took me out on the freeway . That day , we were going down I - 20 near Broad River Rd . , and we got behind a lumber truck that had a board sticking out . It was going slower than we were . I asked Mr . Baldwin if I should pass the truck . I have never forgotten his answer . He said , " If you don 't , we are going to die . " I passed the truck . Sage words on his part . I went to take the driving test and failed the written part . Over the next few weeks , I failed the written test 3 times before passing it on the 4th try . As for the driving test , I failed the first time , because I broke the parallel park barrier . I thought the car was in drive , but it was in reverse . When I stepped on the gas , the car lurched backwards , and I rammed into the back barrier . I looked in the mirror to see a portion of the wooden barrier falling down . I retook the test later and passed it . I think they gave me the license just to get rid of me . Except for being a little careless with speed , I only have gotten one ticket for failure to stop at a stop sign , which I don 't think was justified . It was around 10 : 30 one morning on a school day . It was raining . I was going through a neighborhood and saw a box lying in the road . I thought it would be fun to run over it , so I went around the block to go back to the box . I slowed at a stop sign but didn 't stop . I made the right turn , and the policeman stopped me . He said that kids could have been playing out there at that time . I told the officer that I didn 't think they would be out playing in the rain on a school day . I found out that you are not supposed to reason with the police , because instead of a warning , he gave me a ticket . It took a whole week , before I could muster up enough courage to tell my father . He paid it . I have had only one wreck , and that was in 1977 . I had left work to go back to my dorm , where I was going to school . It was lightly raining , and the roads were slick . I came off of the interstate too fast , and the exit ramp was very short . I put on the brakes , and they locked . I slid into the car in front of me . It did $ 600 of damage to my car , and 50 - cents to the car that I hit . For a long time , I didn 't like to drive in the rain . During my senior year , the pressure was incredible to get into a college . I wanted to go back to New Orleans and go to LSUNO . Or maybe Tulane . So , I took the SAT 's . It was held in our gym with a whole lot of other kids . The year before , one guy got a 1596 out of 1600 , and he questioned the other 4 points . They gave it to him . He went on to MIT and flunked out . So , I thought I had a shot . I just about aced the English portion of the test . After all , I was a writer , and I read a lot . But then , there was the Math . I hate Math . I always have . I did have to teach Math to myself , when I got into business and am pretty good with percentages , but at the time of taking this horrible test , I got my name right on the test , but that was about it . I ended up making a 735 on my SAT 's . Here was this genius guy who didn 't make enough to get into USC on an athletic scholarship , even though I didn 't play sports . There was no way I could get into any school . My father stepped in and made a call to a friend , who was the president of Anderson College . Daddy 's grandfather had been one of the first trustees of that school many years before . It was a Baptist - funded school , so some strings were pulled , and I got into Anderson College . It was a junior college at the time which helped . Otherwise , that guidance counselor of mine , who had said the only thing I could do was to be an auto mechanic , was right . Not to put down auto mechanics , but I had higher goals . AC was coming toward me . When I was around 5 , we were staying at a motel in Oxford , Alabama . It probably was around the time of my grandfather 's funeral . My father and I were in the swimming pool , while my Mother was in the room . I couldn 't swim . The phone rang at the room , and my Mother called out to Daddy to come to the phone . He left me in the pool . I was walking around the shallow end , and then I decided to walk toward the diving board , not knowing there was also a deep end . I slid under the water . A man grabbed me by the hair and pulled me out of the pool . I do not know who the man was , other than I think he was in the military . My parents rushed out of the motel room to find me on the side of the pool . They thanked the man and wanted to give him a reward , but he declined . God knows who he is , and He put the man there that day at that time . After that experience , I was scared the water . Daddy tried to teach me to swim . We would be in a pool , and he would tell me to jump in the water , and he would catch me . I would do what he said , and he would move out of the way to see if I would swim . I wouldn 't . I lost trust in him catching me , so I decided that swimming was not something I could do . When I was 14 , my parents decided to send me to USC to learn how to swim . I took weekly classes one summer at the pool behind Longstreet Theatre on the USC campus . I was the oldest kid in the class . The others were between 6 and 10 . I lied to some kids about my age , because they laughed about me being bigger than anyone else . I learned how to dog paddle , but I couldn 't master the art of turning my head to breathe , so I didn 't go very far in the class . The instructors wanted us to learn how to dive . The low diving board was not a problem , although I wasn 't very keen on doing anything more than just jumping in the water . But then came the high platform . Climbing the ladder was like going to an execution . I was coaxed by the instructors to jump off of the platform . I did and went to the bottom of the pool . The idea was the swim up to the ladder by the pool after going into the water . I got disoriented and couldn 't find the side of the pool . One of the instructors had to dive in and save me . After that experience , I decided that swimming was not important . I have been in the water since then but always on a flotation device like an air mattress . No more deep ends for me . When I was around 14 and 15 , my parents sent me to Camp Greenville , which was a YMCA camp near the SC / NC border in the mountains . Some boys stayed for the whole summer . I just stayed for a week . There was swimming , hiking , camping , sports , and other activities . I couldn 't swim , so I had to do the other stuff . We stayed in huts with tin roofs . When it rained , it sounded like machine guns everywhere . They have one of the tallest waterfalls in North America there , and it was fun to play around it . We went camping overnight there and stayed in tents . I slept very soundly that night . A mountain lion came through the camp and apparently scratched the tent right by my head . I heard nothing . They said the counselor fired a rifle to scare the cat away . I slept right through it . I really can 't tell you that it actually happened , but everyone there swore it did . There was one kid who could throw a baseball from the outfield like a laser and hit the catcher behind home plate . It was amazing . He was from Florida , but I don 't remember his name . He should have played in the majors . The head man there was an old man named Monk . He knew everything . I remember him telling us that if a car runs over a snake , 90 % of the time it will run over the snake 's head . Why ? Because snakes strike at moving objects , so it goes after the tires . So , the car runs over the head . Funny how some things stick with you . I also remember him telling us not to step over a log . Step on top of the log and see what is on the other side before going on . You never know what is on the other side like a snake . The last day of the week for us was Sunday . We went to the camp 's outdoor chapel , which was called " Pretty Place " . And it was . It was built on a cliff which overlooked the valley below with mountains rising up on three sides . We were there around 6am for the service . While we were there , the sun was coming up and fog was in the valley . I saw 3 golden buildings with one in the middle taller than the other two . I thought I was dreaming , so I pinched myself and found I wasn 't dreaming . So , I thought it was a mirage and rubbed my eyes , but it was still there . So , I turned around and then turned back , and it was still there . I did not know of any close by cities that would be reflected by the sun like that , as Brevard was the closest town , and they didn 't have tall buildings . Greenville was in the opposite direction . I realized that I was having a vision of Heaven , which scared me even more , because Daddy and Mother were coming to pick me up that afternoon to take me home down the winding roads of the mountains , and I thought we were going to have a wreck and die . I didn 't tell anyone about what I had seen , but I was in awe . When my parents came to pick me up , I was terrified in the back seat of the car the whole way home , but we got home without any problems . I pulled out a map to see if there was anywhere that could have produced the golden buildings , but there were none . I firmly believe that I had a vision of Heaven . About 5 years later , I had another vision , which I will talk about later . I know there are skeptics about this , but it did happen to me . Things were getting better for me . I had met people who wanted to be my friends , and they were . I had people telling me that I had some talent . Positive reinforcement is amazing . There was a city - wide search for high school students to take college - level drama courses at Columbia College . I applied and was accepted . Only 16 students from the Columbia area were chosen . During the afternoons , we would go to Columbia College , which was an all - girls school , and take classes in Theatre History , Acting , Stagecraft , Costuming , etc . Each student chose a partner in our class and performed a scene . Mine was " Oklahoma " , where I played Jud and died . I had to fall down a lot and developed a deep bruise on my leg . I learned to wear knee pads under my jeans . So , I learned that one could protect himself from injury and still look believable . At the end of the semester , we put on a one - act play called " The Cave Dwellers " . I played the mute boy , and I had to show love for the lead girl with my eyes . It was like doing mime and was very challenging . I also tried method acting , which I didn 't much enjoy , but I wanted to play the part to the hilt . My first scene had to show that I had been chased by a policeman , so he and I ran around downstairs from the stage to get out of breath , and then we came on stage sweating and breathing hard . The others were amazed in our character development . The drama bug bit me that semester . I didn 't know how hard it bit until later . One interesting note from all of this at Columbia College : the directors of the Theatre were the Eakers . Catherine and Gene . About ten years later , I would be asked to perform in a play ( which I will talk about later ) , as well as judging high school students in Speech and Drama . They really started me on my way and saw I had some talent . Thanks , guys . While this was going on at Columbia College , I had gotten a little attention from my peers for being one of 16 area high school kids in this program , so when the announcement at Flora that they were going to have a senior play , it was just natural for me to be in it . They announced the auditions , and I went out for it . I wasn 't cast . It turned out the parts had already been cast before the auditions , but they had to have the auditions to look like they were doing things right . It was clearly wrong , whether I got a part or not . There is one thing about me that has carried me through life - - be fair . During Christmas of 1970 , my church was putting on a Christmas play with the Youth doing the parts . I was cast as a disciple . I was supposed to say one short line , and then James was to speak . I got nervous and proceeded to summarize the entire play while on stage . The other actors looked at me funny , and then I realized what I was doing and stopped and told James to speak . The audience never knew the difference . That bit of improvisation would help me greatly 3 years later . In 1969 , my life was falling apart . I had very few friends . I had been arrested for shoplifting . My peers told me I was no good . My teachers told me the same thing . I had sunk into deep depression . I was failing in some courses . I had gone to a psychiatrist . And , I had tried to kill myself 6 times . There really was no need to go on . At Christmas that year , my parents called a meeting with me and told me that we were joining a new church the first Sunday of 1970 . I was very opposed to this change . After all , the only friends I had were at First Baptist . My parents didn 't know this , but the shoplifting " club " that I was in was out of First Baptist . They knew though ( as parents often do ) that I needed a change . They did make a deal with me that if I didn 't like this new church that I could go back to my old church after 3 months , and nothing more would be said . On January 4th , 1970 , we joined Kilbourne Park Baptist Church . It was about a mile from our house . My father was good friends with the pastor - - Ted Dougherty . They were in seminary together . I knew only one person my age who went to this new church - - Vonda Snipes . Her father worked with my father at the Baptist Building . After the morning service , Vonda came up to me and asked if I would like to go to the youth choir rehearsal that afternoon . I told her I would , because I had been in youth choir at First Baptist and was rather good . ( No ego there , huh ? ) That afternoon , I was introduced into the youth choir . Most of the kids didn 't go to my school , and they didn 't know what I had been going through . They accepted me for who I was - - a new member ; a Bass in the choir ; and a cool guy . I fell in love with those people on that afternoon . They showed me that I had worth . And they saved my life , even though they didn 't know it . God used them to get to me . Had Vonda not invited me , and had I not gone to choir that afternoon , I firmly believe that I would have been dead three months later . I think of January 4th as my second birthday . June 17th is the birthday on my driver 's license . January 4th is MY birthday . Without Pam , Buddy , Sonny , Lawson , Tommy , Craig , Gail , Karen , Ellen , Rodney , Vonda , David , James , Mel , Lelia , and many more , I would not be here today . These people gave me hope . They cared about me . In fact , after that first Sunday with them , I didn 't come back for about a month . I was still conflicted . When I did come back , they asked me where I had been . I just made up an excuse that I had been sick . They told me that they were sorry . No one had been that interested in me before then . We formed a youth group called " The Kiboneers " . We took an old house next to the church and made it into a youth place . We painted it , which was challenging . We had a car wash , where it was my job to take the cars from the curb and bring them to be washed . One man had a straight shift , and I tore up his transmission . The church had to Posted by When I turned 13 , I got acne . I guess it is one of those rights of passage , but I had a particularly bad case . That may be one of the reasons that I was bullied . It is hard to say . However , it was a bad time for me . Girls don 't want to go out with a pizza face . So , my parents did what they could to lessen the disease . They took me to a dermatologist . He was one of the best in his field . I became something of a guinea pig for treatment . I had the sun lamp to peel the skin , and it was very strong . I was given steroids and cortisone . They gave me topical treatments . The worst was something called Pernox . It was a soap that had granules in it that was supposed to scrape the skin . My father was the one who usually applied that on me . One night , he was doing it , when we heard that Martin Luther King had been killed in Memphis . Funny how you remember things with other things . The doctor also sent me to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston for evaluation . And then , he sent me to Duke University to see if they could " cure " me . Nothing really worked too well . I have no idea how much chemicals they pumped into me , and if there were any long - lasting effects . I don 't think anyone knows . They did take some full - body pictures of me for a study . Somewhere , there are nude pictures of me . Clinical pictures . Maybe DHEC has them . When I graduated from high school , the doctor wanted to try something new called a dermabrasion . Apparently , I was the first to have this procedure . I had to stay in a hospital overnight . They explained it to me that they would " sand down " my face in an operating room , and they would take off one or two layers of skin . The result would be that my face would have a scab over it for a couple of weeks . Then , when the scab came off , my face would be red for about six weeks and look like I had a sunburn . Then , that redness would fade and the acne would be gone . Upon leaving the hospital after the surgery , I remember my parents taking me home . We got about a block , and I opened the car door and Posted by I was not the most coordinated kid growing up . I got picked last for all games in school . I would try to do good , and sometimes I would do better than was expected , but I would always be picked last . Even when I did get picked , the looks on the faces of the other players showed disappointment . I have already shared about getting coal in my knee from a fall . I fell a lot . In 4th grade , I was playing football with some of the neighborhood kids . I fell and broke my thumb . It was on a Sunday , and the break was on my right hand . The hand with which I write . So , they took me to the hospital that afternoon . While we were sitting in the hallway to be seen , a man came in covered in blood from head to toe . It seems that he fell into a combine on a farm . It was gross . The doctor set my thumb and put a big cast on my hand . I had to write with my left hand . If people thought I had bad handwriting before , it got a lot worse . Along about Wednesday , my thumb needed to be reset . This time , I would have to have surgery . They gave me something to knock me out , which caused hallucinations . A 4th grader on something akin to LSD . They put me in a room with another kid , and we talked a lot . When I came back from the recovery room , the other kid wasn 't there . When I asked where he was , they told me he was gone . I found out later that he had died during the night . After I got the cast off , my parents tried to keep me from falling again . Things were okay until the day I fell down the front steps of our house . I injured my right elbow . It wasn 't broken , but it was badly bruised . That summer , we went to Lynchburg , VA . Daddy was doing a conference there . I had a sling for my arm , which I just didn 't care for that much . During the week there , I developed an abscess on my arm near the elbow , so they took me to the nearest hospital . It wasn 't much of a hospital . The doctor told me that he could lance the abscess , but he didn 't have any numbing agent , so he gave me a leather belt to bite on . The procedure hurt a lot , and I put teeth marks on the leather . It was like being in the old West . I still have a one - inch scar where the " doctor " worked on me . I think he was a butcher on the side , maybe . In elementary school , one of my teachers told my Mother that I had the 2nd highest IQ to ever come through that school . I don 't know who had the first highest . During the time of the bullying in junior high , my parents sent me to a psychologist . He may have been suggested by the school . I remember the man giving me a test to see about my IQ . I got every question right except one . I didn 't know that Goethe wrote " Faust " . So , he determined I was a genius . That fact didn 't help me with the girls , nor did it stop the bullying , but it was nice to know . Based on his examination , my IQ was around 160 . So , on to high school . I really didn 't care about school . I never studied . All I wanted to do was to go to speech tournaments and have fun . In the 10th grade , things were not going too well . I had been arrested by a store security guard for shoplifting a book . I told him it was the first time , but I had done it many times before . I was in a " club " , where we tried to outdo the other . At one time , a third of my record collection was stolen . I mainly stole stuff like records , books , magazines , and toys . Oh , and cigarettes out of people 's cars . I smoked the half - smoked cigarettes that I found in the student parking lot at the high school . I was slowly losing my conscience . My parents sent me to a psychiatrist for evaluation . I was put into group therapy with other high school students from the city . My diagnosis was a schizoid personality . There were other kids in the group far worse than me . I was also in Boy Scouts at the time , and I felt that Scouting would be better for me than to sit in a room listening to strange stories about bizarre behavior . After 10 months of group therapy , I asked to leave . The psychiatrist told me to take my file to my family doctor , but not to open it . Of course , you don 't tell a kid not to open something , because he will open it , and I did . I saw my evaluation . It was about right . During my senior year of high school , I wrote an article for the school newspaper questioning one 's permanent record . All through school , we had been threatened with the line : " This is going on your permanent record " . But , no one had ever seen their permanent record . After my article ran in the paper , I got a note to see my guidance counselor . She showed me my permanent record . The only thing I saw was that they showed my IQ as 127 . So , somewhere between 160 and 127 is where I stand , I guess . She also told me that , after taking a occupation test , I had the aptitude to be an auto mechanic . I proved her wrong . On my Mother 's side , I was named for her father . Her brother thought I was named for him , since they both share the same first name . My name is Walter Merrill Durst . The Merrill name comes from her family name . My grandfather was named Walter Merrill . He was a judge . My grandmother was named Lilla Jones Merrill . She was first a school teacher , and later became a housewife . My grandfather was married once before , but his first wife died . A story that my Mother told me that my grandmother was the first teacher in Alabama to teach both black and white kids . She would teach the white kids in the morning , and the black kids in the afternoon . The KKK found out about this and shot out the windows of their home . My grandfather , being the county judge , found out who did it and put them in jail . I don 't know if that story is true , but I do know that my grandfather was in the Klan for a while , and he taught his children to treat everyone equally . So , that is how I was taught . My grandmother was named Mother of the Year in Alabama one year . They raised some very successful children . My Uncle Pelham was a high school football coach and later an Alabama Supreme Court Justice . My Uncle Walter was a very prominent attorney in Alabama . My Uncle Carl was also an attorney in Alabama , and later District Attorney . My Uncle Fred worked in higher education in Alabama . My Aunt Clyde married a Baptist minister and they moved to Florida , where he headed the Baptist Convention there . She wrote several books . My grandfather died in 1958 . I didn 't know him that well , except everyone called him " Judge " and he was very strict . My grandmother died in 1969 . She was the strongest person of faith I ever knew . Her death hit my Mother very hard , as they were very much alike . My Mother went down to Alabama after her death and spent about a month closing up her house . My grandmother died very peacefully . She had gotten up that morning ; fixed breakfast ; and gotten dressed . She sat down on the bed to put on her shoes for the day ; leaned back ; and died . On my father 's side , I never knew my grandfather . He died in 1924 , when my father was 13 . There have been conflicting stories on how he died , but the general thought was that he had a brain tumor . He owned the first car dealership in Greenwood , SC . My grandmother raised four boys . She also taught school . Their family was well to do in Greenwood , owning the bank and a lot of the real estate . My Uncle Jim lived in Greenwood and was an avid collector . I guess I get that trait from him . He started The Museum there . My Uncle Bill moved to Atlanta and was in business there . He became very wealthy . My Uncle George became a doctor and moved to Charleston / Sullivan 's Island . He became rather famous in the medical community . My grandmother died in 1986 at 105 . Everyone called her " remarkable " . I guess she was , but when she would come for a visit , she would stay in my room , because I had two beds . She would douse herself with baby powder . I blame her for my breathing problems . She was very hard to get to know and extremely strong . She had to be , having the raise her boys and put them through school . One summer , I went to her house for a week . She made me tomato jello . I know some think it was tomato aspic , but it was jello . It was very gross . I dislike tomatoes today because of that . Also , she had a driveway made of cracked coal . One day , I fell and cut up my knee . The coal got in the cut . My father tried to get it out , but it was too painful . I still have coal in my knee . On my grandmother 's 100th birthday , we had a party for her at her house . She got many phone calls that day . She would always answer the phone with " All Right " instead of " Hello " . One call came from Strom Thurmond . She was related to him through his mother . They talked for a few minutes , and then she hung up . Then , she turned to one of her sons and asked him who that was . " That was the Senator , Mother " was the response . She wasn 't impressed . He was just another one of the callers . Nothing really impressed her much , but she did love her four boys . I went to A . C . Flora High School . It was only 3 blocks from my house , and it was the best school in Columbia at the time . My brother had gone there before me , and we had a lot of the same teachers . Unfortunately , they wanted to compare me to him . It was at Flora that I became socially and politically aware of what was going on around me . In 10th grade , I realized that the Vietnam War was wrong , because I took the negative side in a debate in a History class . I don 't know what would have happened , if I had taken the affirmative position . Anyway , I tried to make good grades , but it wouldn 't be so good . I even had a cousin who was a teacher there , and she almost failed me . One teacher had dated my brother , when they were older , and she almost failed me . We had a substitute English teacher , who only talked about going to nude beaches in Sardinia . But , there were also pluses . I got to meet James Dickey through my Senior English teacher , whose husband taught at USC . And there was Forensics . The National Forensic League sponsored speech tournaments between schools in our area and beyond . Once , we went to Bluefield , WV to go to a debate tournament . My specialty in these tournaments was the Congress portion , where I would be one of several representatives debating issues of the day . I got several awards for winning these Congress events . I started out in debate my Sophomore year . My debate partner and I went to a tournament at Dentsville , and the opponent school asked me a question in the debate if this topic was already inherent in the system . I didn 't know what " inherent " meant , and I looked over at my debate partner , and he shrugged his shoulders . We lost the debate , but I learned from that experience to always be prepared for anything , and carry a dictionary with you . The highlight of every year was the Model U . N . Each school chose a country to represent , and they would send three members of the school to go . The first year , we had Ireland . It wasn 't too exciting to be Ireland , so we tried to declare war on the UK . It made for some interesting debate . The second year , we got Byelorussia . Once again , we were being dominated by the Soviet Union , so we tried to secede from Russia . It didn 't go anywhere , so we walked out . My Senior year was the most fun . We took Albania . You would think that would be the least exciting , but Albania was allied with China at the time , and we caused so much havoc that they wanted us to leave . In fact , the other members voted us out of the U . N . , but we refused to go . We set up our own U . N . within the confines of the General Assembly . We were all hippies back then , so it made sense . We also disliked the guys from Dreher , as they were our archrivals in sports . If they brought up a resolution on world peace , we advocated world war . If they brought up a resolution on health , we advocated genocide . It was brutal . When I graduated from Flora , I went back the next year to participate in the Model U . N . , as once again they had Albania . I had to sneak on campus , because I was no lonPosted by On the day that I was born in New Orleans , I was enrolled in the Cradle Roll Sunday School Department at First Baptist Church . As my father was a minister and my Mother a Sunday School teacher , going to church was a way of life . We would go mornings and evenings on Sundays , and sometimes on Wednesdays . I also went to Vacation Bible School every summer , and Baptist conference centers with Daddy . Our lives were intertwined with church . In 1964 , my father decided that it might be time for me to accept Jesus as my Savior ; join the church ; and be baptized . So , I spent some time reading the Bible , and learning what all of this meant . When I told him that I was ready , I did all of that on Easter Sunday at First Baptist Church in Columbia . That night , Daddy was going to baptize me . The pastor of the church was Archie Ellis , and he was to baptize others on that night . We were in a changing room , putting on robes for baptizing , and waiting for the moment to go down into the water . My father had always worn white underwear . I had always worn white underwear . So , I thought all preachers wore white underwear . When I saw Dr . Ellis changing his clothes into his robe , he was wearing blue underwear . I thought that was a sin . I was shocked that the pastor would sin like that . I never told my father , but I was quite disappointed in our pastor . White was right . Posted by Just a quick note about what happened when I got to high school . The bullying was not as much as junior high . Mainly because there were more people in high school , and some of the bullies were now on the football team or more concerned about partying or passing . There was one guy named Michael , who continued to bully me . He enjoyed throwing me over desks in classrooms . Occasionally , I would be punched in the arm on the way to class , but that didn 't happen much . Thankfully , the lockers were too small to be stuffed into . I will talk more later about my high school experience , but just a follow - up on Michael . He graduated with honors from high school and went on to college . During his first semester , he killed himself . It is said that he did so , because he didn 't have any friends . I went to his funeral , as did one other person from our high school class . Michael was a gentle giant who no one understood . I wish I could have been his friend . Some people tell me that they are amazed about what a good memory I have . It comes from training . When I was training to be an actor , I had to bring up memories to use as character development for plays . I worked long and hard to increase my memory power . Good actors do this all the time . It is called " sense memory " . I say that to say this : I do not remember a lot about my experiences in junior high , because I have blocked most of it out . Much of it is a blur . I remember a few things out of necessity . Why ? I was bullied . I was beat up every day for three years . The key to the bullying was for the bully not to draw blood or for me to have any visible bruises . It was almost like a science . There was the physical abuse , but also the mental abuse . The physical abuse came in many forms : being thrown down steps ; punched ; kicked ; being thrown into bushes ; spat on ; being stuffed into lockers ; and whatever other creative ways they could think of . In my eighth grade annual , I marked all of the kids who had done something to me . Most of the kids were marked . Some of their pictures were blackened out by me . Sometimes , I would tell my teachers about the abuse . The bully would get into trouble , and then I would be beaten worse after school by the bully , so I learned not to tell and just take it . The bullies thought it was funny . I think there were about 6 main bullies that beat me up on a regular basis , but there were a lot more who joined in . Some of them stemmed from the 6th grade scandal , when I told on them for fixing the fight between Tom and me . But , many of the bullies did not know me prior to 7th grade . On one occasion that I remember , I was standing in a line of boys in P . E . class , and the bully behind me started spitting on the back of my legs . He continued to do it , until I could not take anymore , and I turned around and spit on his stomach . The teacher saw what I did , and I was called into his office after class and was paddled by him with a big fraternity paddle . He said , " Bend over and grab your ankles . " So much for responding to the bully . On a Saturday , a friend and I were walking down a road in our neighborhood , when we were confronted by three of the bullies . They told my friend not to do anything , and then they threw me into a rose bush , which cut me up . I went home , and told my Mother . She called the police . The police " investigated " and determined that " boys will be boys " . Oddly , one of those bullies grew up to be a decorated police officer . My parents also learned that they could do nothing . The mental abuse was a bit more . I was told that I was no good . Nobody liked me . I had very few friends . Even one science teacher , during an experiment where I was to report my findings , told me that my findings were wrong , and I could not have seen what I Meanwhile , the bullies continued . In the 9th grade , I got the bright idea to design a robot , which would protect me from the bullies . I drew this robot , which would stand 4 ft . tall and would send out lasers to hurt the bullies . As they were about the beat me up again , I pulled out the drawing of the robot , and explained to them that I would unleash the robot on them . They started to believe me , because they knew I had a high IQ . Of course , the robot didn 't exist . But , I did buy some time from getting beat up . But one day , the bullies called my bluff and wanted to see the robot . Of course , I couldn 't produce it , so the time lost from them not beating me up was added to the beatings , and they got worse . I think I could tell you one or two more stories , but you get the picture . One interesting side note to all of this happened in 2001 . I went to my 30th high school reunion . Mainly on a dare . I saw some of the bullies from junior high there at that party . I didn 't say anything to them , and they didn 't say anything to me . About a week later , I got an email from one who said that he had seen me at the party and was too ashamed to come over and say hello . He had remembered what he and the others had done to me , and he felt remorse . He apologized to me , and asked for forgiveness . I forgave him , and now we are good friends . Time heals some wounds . Posted by Tom Phillips was my best friend in 6th grade . He had a hamster . One day , I went over to his house , and he said that his hamster liked to play in hair . I told him that I was afraid it would use my hair as its bathroom . Tom assured me that the hamster had already done it , so it was safe to have him play in my hair . So , I put the hamster on top of my head , and it went to the bathroom on my head . Tom thought that was funny . I didn 't , but we were still best friends . We both loved " The Man from UNCLE " and would play it every chance we got . One time , his mother was doing something at the Town Theatre , and she took us downtown at night , while she was rehearsing . We had a great time playing spy downtown . Tom 's mother wore pants most of the time . My Mother wore dresses all of the time . The other kids in the class noticed this and tried to get Tom and me to fight for the honor of our mothers . We didn 't want to fight each other , because we were friends , but the pressure mounted . Tom got caught up in the pressure from the other boys in the class , so he started to taunt me about a fight . My Mother would come and pick me up in the afternoon after school , so I would hurry to her car , before the fight would start . This went on for three days . Finally , I said okay , so we planned to fight after school . We actually planned to just run around and slap at one another . So after school , a circle of boys surrounded us , and we started to run around in the circle and slap one another . Dust began to come up from the playground , and a teacher came out and stopped the fight . Tom and I were taken to the principal 's office . The principal knew us , and he knew we would not have done this unless we were coaxed to do it . He asked Tom who had started it , and Tom wouldn 't say . Then , he asked me , and I named names . Pretty much all of the boys in our class except for two . The problem was that we were patrol officers . That was a pretty big position for a 6th grader . We were able to roam the school and look for kids out of class . We were able to stop traffic in front of school to let kids cross the street . To be on patrol was a huge honor . Not all of the kids were chosen . We even had badges . But now , I told on the other patrol officers as being those who started the fight . The principal called them into his office and removed them from patrol duty . The other two boys , who didn 't participate , were given patrol duty . There were normally six patrolmen at any one time . Now , there were only two . The kids , who got in trouble , didn 't speak to me again . In fact , some of them still do not speak to me to this day . It was almost like Watergate for the 6th grade . I had started my drama career in kindergarten , but my first lines came in 4th grade . I was cast as a Wise Man ( again ) in the 4th grade Christmas Pageant . And , I was the only one with lines . Actually , it was only one line , and I can 't tell you what it was , although it was probably something about bringing gifts to the child , but there was an enormous amount of pressure to get it right . I was practicing backstage . I was practicing before entering . When I got onto the stage , I mumbled something , and the play went on . It was not a stellar performance by me , and one I would rather forget . I understood pressure . I learned later how to deal with it . It also started a life long problem with stage fright . I guess my teacher , Mrs . McCuen , saw something in me that warranted those lines . Maybe she " discovered " me . At any rate , it would be years later before the drama bug would bite me . There have been a lot of shark attacks recently , so I wanted to share my shark story . I had an uncle and aunt who lived in Jacksonville , FL . We spent one weekend with them . In fact , that has been the only time I have been to Florida , believe it or not . So , we went down to the beach and saw some commotion . There were 12 baby sharks that had washed up on shore , and they were laid out in a row at the edge of the water . About 100 yards off shore , we could see a full - grown shark swimming back and forth . It was the mother of the babies looking for its young . Very said to see , and you didn 't see any humans going out there either . This was long before " Jaws " , and there were some very smart people with common sense . Don 't go in the water . As mentioned previously , we went to Atlantic City in 1964 . We were first booked into a hotel that had corn shuck mattresses . We couldn 't stay there , so we moved to a nicer hotel . It had a macaw in the lobby and skeet ball for the kids . It was fun to go on the Boardwalk , but I also saw the places the tourists aren 't supposed to see like the rundown apartments . I also wanted to go in the ocean , but it was absolutely freezing in that water in June . But , back to our trip . We first got to Washington , DC . Our nation 's capital . As a kid , I loved the Smithsonian . We also toured the White House and did all of the monuments . We were distantly related to Senator Strom Thurmond , and he got us passes to the Senate . We also got a behind the scenes tour of the Capitol , including a train ride underground between buildings . That was cool . We got to eat in a restaurant underground , and ride an elevator for Senators . When the elevator doors opened , there was Barry Goldwater . My Mother almost fainted . All she could do was shake his hand . She didn 't wash that hand for the rest of the day . After leaving Atlantic City , we went to New York to the World 's Fair . I liked riding the tram and seeing the Pieta , but I couldn 't stand , and still can 't stand , the song " It 's A Small World " . They debuted the song there , and that was a tragedy . We also toured the United Nations and the Empire State Building . As we were driving back home , we stopped at a motel in Silver Spring , MD for the night . I had my teddy bear with me . Teddy was my best friend . I left him at the motel accidentally , when we left the next morning . When we got home , I realized that Teddy was still in Maryland , so I got very upset , and my parents called the motel . The manager said they had not seen Teddy . We figured a maid gave it to their child , so I hope Teddy had a good time in Maryland and still cheers up a child somewhere . In the summer of 1963 , my parents and I were at Ridgecrest Conference Center in NC , where my father was leading a conference on Sunday School work . My Mother and I were there , because it was kind of like our vacation . One afternoon , the phone rang at our room , and it was Billy Graham . Billy lived in Montreat , which was only a few miles from Ridgecrest . He asked my father if he wanted to come over for dinner that night and to bring the family . My father knew Billy Graham from his work . Daddy said no thank you , because he explained he was leading this conference . My Mother and I were furious at Daddy , but what could we do ? The next summer , we went to Atlantic City NJ for the Southern Baptist Convention . Billy Graham was the keynote speaker . After his speech , my father took me up front , and I met Billy Graham . He looked to be a giant of a man . As I was shaking his hand , Daddy explained to him that this meeting got him out of the dog house for passing up on the dinner the year before . Billy and Daddy had a good laugh over that . I got very emotional , because I had just met Billy Graham . Posted by