Eagle's Edge
May 20 - May 24, 2024
1. Our Lost and Found is literally overflowing. As we do at the end of every school year, we will soon wash the clothes and other items, and donate them to charity. There are dozens and dozens of expensive jackets, hats, shoes, uniform clothes, lunch boxes. You know those nice Hydroflask water bottles that we spend far too much on for our kids to take to school? This is where they end up! Come take a look. This could also be a great way to get your Fair Share hours, if you would like to help in the cleaning and sorting process. Don't say we didn't warn you, that on June 14th, those items will be donated. Come find those Nike hoodies, uniform pants and other things you've bought for your kiddos!
2. One of our main, and most consistent fundraisers for the school is returning cans and bottles to the BottleDrop locations. Thank you to everyone who has helped us out by donating those. Now, we need help returning them! There are many, many cans and bottles already in the green bags. When you drop off or pick kids up, grab one or more, and drop them off for us. Easy Fair Share hours! Ask the office if you have any questions.
Please and thank you!
Memorial Day is a federal holiday to commemorate the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice while serving in our nation's military, those who have died to defend our rights. Some of that meaning can get lost through time and what it can mean to Americans in terms of seasons and capitalism: the beginning of summer, the NBA playoffs, baseball games, camping, beer ads, and slip n slides at Costco.
That is all well and good, and I too am looking forward to some backyard time with my kids this weekend. It's too easy though, for us to take our most fundamental freedoms for granted because we are fortunate to live in this country. No matter where one lands on the political spectrum, or who they will vote for in the presidential election this year, honoring those who came before us and died for our country is important. It's non partisan. Whether Catholic or Buddhist, republican or democrat, skin color, favorite flavor of ice cream, star sign, money in the bank, short or tall...we should all be grateful to be here, literally, here on American soil, for one reason that should unite us all. Our freedom.
St. Therese is a microcosm of our country, in a way, with our diverse cultures and backgrounds. Unless one is of indigenous descent, we are all immigrants somewhere along the line. What I love about St. Therese, which Father Gabriele spoke about in his homily last week for Sunday's Pentecost mass and celebration, is how we are all so different, but united. We had students, parishioners, parents and neighbors joining in the mass, speaking their native languages, or the native languages of their parents or grandparents, but we were and are united in our Catholic faith and our membership in this community. It was beautiful. Those elements are what drew me to St. Therese, and why I love it here.
It's essential that we all take a moment to realize how lucky we are to be able to do that. Yes we are Catholic and that is indeed integral to our community and our identity, certainly a common bond across those many cultures and differences in background and experience. But there are Catholics throughout the world who don't have the freedom to go to mass. In more places than we realize, one could be disappeared, or worse, for intermingling with people from another culture, let alone inviting them into their house of worship.
It is sort of an existential conundrum perhaps, to be so grateful that we, and our children are able to take that for granted. Yet we want them to understand history, where their parents came from and why. We can go to mass as we please, our neighbors can go to the mosque, synagogue or temple and also worship as they please. We can go out on our front porches and profess our distrust in politicians or our fervor for the candidate of our choice. Our daughters, wives, mothers, and grandmothers can worship alongside us without fear of retribution. Many people in numerous other places in the world cannot.
I am so thankful to be able to take my kids to mass, and celebrate the Eucharist with a diverse crowd of people. I hate to sound like I'm on a soapbox, especially because the more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know about history, and the rest of the world. I have learned more about the world and history through my own travels overseas, and through conversations with people from different places, the sons and daughters of immigrants, than I ever got out of a history textbook (don't tell our social studies teachers I said so).
I would only encourage us all to talk to our children, and grandparents and parents, the aunt or uncle who served in the military, in order to get a better appreciation of why these freedoms are so profound. Without the sacrifices of the men and women in the military, there may well not be a St. Therese School as wonderful and diverse as it is today. It took me a long time to think about what my grandfathers gave up, what the black and white photos on the mantle really meant, let alone how other family members were affected by the losses of their husbands, brothers, and dads (in that generation it was primarily men serving in the military). At the very least, it's worth a pause.
To all of the fallen men and women, thank you. We may never understand the real consequences of their sacrifices, personally and for their family members. We pray that nobody else has to experience that profound loss first hand. But the least we can do is to stop for a moment on this long weekend, and in our own ways, express our gratitude to those people, to realize that our freedoms and privileges rest on what they gave up, for our country.
Have a safe and restful weekend. See you on Tuesday, if not at mass. God bless.
