Why I hate Kairos
It's "spiritual"
Kairos started as a retreat in Jesuit high schools, but when people started it at Kenyon, they decided to drop all that Christianity and make it nonreligious. I hate it when people do that. It�s like when people study Catholic schools to see what they can take from it, �without all that religion stuff�. Kenyon Kairos still gives out the Jerusalem crosses, but they don�t even tell the participants what they are or its history. I heard a few people last year refer to them as �waffle irons�. I hate it when people wear crosses stripped of any knowledge of their symbolism, too.
"Secrecy"
This is supposed to be a secret organization, right? So why do I have to hear them talk about it all the time? Courtney would always go on and on about �I have to go to my secret meeting now� and people keep telling me I have no clue what it�s like because they can�t tell me. Okay, then don�t tell me. Don�t keep telling me it�s a secret.
People hate me when they get back
When I was a sophomore, I was in a tight knit group of four people that did everything together. Then Courtney went on this retreat and all she would talk about was Kairos (and this cute boy who was one of the leaders) she�d play the treacly retreat songs in our room all the time. Court is generally oblivious, so I don�t think she really realized how much she was ditching us, but still. Then last year my boyfriend went on it. The first time I saw him after was at a speech, and he didn�t even come over to say hi, he was too busy talking to Kairos people. Then next day he broke up with me. But Amy went on it last year, knowing how I was afraid I�d lose her too, and called me as soon as she got back to promise me she wouldn�t ditch me for the Kairos folk. She�s the only one who didn�t become a pod person. I don�t know why everyone doesn�t like me when they get back from this-maybe its just because they are in a clique and I�m out of it.
They pressure me to go
My ex-boyfriend is a Jehovah�s Witness; he goes door-to-door every other Saturday. But it wasn�t the JWs he tried to get me to join, it was Kairos. In fact, he told me that his goal this year was to get me to go. When I told him I had panic attacks just from the icebreakers at RA training and Kairos sounded ten times worse for people pumping you for very personal information he finally stopped. They pressure other people to go too. I was so down when I thought Robbie was going on it this year, because I thought I wouldn�t have anyone to eat lunch with anymore. But he decided not to, because he never signed up for it, he was signed up for it by his roommate. Pretty much everyone who goes to Kairos at Kenyon is a friend of one of the leaders.
They talk about me
Now, usually I�m not so paranoid or self-centered to think that people are talking about me, but I know they have weekly meetings where they talk freely about anything and anyone in their lives. I have no faith that it�s really kept secret among the Kairos people. Kenyon is such a gossip mill anyway, I really wish my ex, my ex roommate, my best friend, Liz (my ex�s ex-girlfriend), and many other acquaintances weren�t in this group. I�m intensely personal about certain aspects of my life, and I hate that this group knows things about me thanks to certain loudmouths in my life.
They�re a clique
I told James about Kairos. �Oh, that elite clique� he said. This group was at his high school, and apparently people acted the same way there, so it�s not just a Kenyon thing. And I�m friends with people in other cliques, newspaper, debate, etc. This one is so much worse. They can�t stop talking about it, and most people wear those huge �waffle irons� every day.
Now, I know that all these people like Kairos and claim it made a big difference in their life. I can only judge by how they treat me when they get back, and usually it's for the worse. Or rather, there's no change except they have new friends. The bitches are still bitches, the nice people still nice. Well, that's two "rage" entries in a row. I hope I'll feel nicer tomorrow.
