Rerun of a blog from the past

After catching up on my blogging, I decided to look back at some of my blogs from the past.  I was a little shocked that I had a blog labeled "political."  My politics is kept close to the vest and I do not like talking about them, with anyone.  However, I looked over the post and forgot about this one from many many years ago.  It is amazing how relevant it still is today.  Hope you enjoy this blast from the past.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=u6H63CD7uQA

The above link is of a cartoon created in 1948.  Today might be the only time you see me blog about something and put a political label on it, as you might recall from my blog a few weeks ago.

In today's society, it is hard not to get caught up in the politics of the world.  The Democrats hate this and the Republicans hate that.  The political speeches are about on my last nerve.  So, I must say, when I saw this cartoon, I was pleasantly reminded of the way our country was built.  Yes, a cartoon.  Maybe this cartoon is saying that I have the mind of a child, or maybe it is saying, that as adults, we have complicated things to much.  Either way, it is very relevant to the world today.

This cartoon was made in 1948!!!!  It is scary to see how far we have come in such a short period of time.  It is horrifying that in just 60 years, how quickly we have been led astray.  I especially like the speech by the character, John Q. Public.  It is a reminder that, yes, we live in a capitalistic society, and, believe it or not, it is not perfect.  But even though it is not perfect, we are still one of the most successful countries in the world.

This might be my only venture in anything real political, but I am not sure a definition of what a Capitalistic society is, is either Democrat or Republican.  We cannot drink any magic elixir or potion to cure all of our woes.  We must work hard, have faith, and treat each other with respect.

I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer:  This is the first video I have ever posted to a blog.  I did it without the help of the person that not only encouraged me to blog, but help set me up.  He taught me to post pictures, but videos, not so much.  So, if you click the link and a video does not start playing, so sorry.  Try coping cutting and pasting into your browser.  If that does not work, go to YouTube and search "Make Mine Freedom Cartoon." 

What about the other nine?

Below is the weekly note I shared with the school community a couple of weeks ago(10/17).  I just now realized I did not post it to the blog.  My apologies.

This week the reflection is from the Gospel of Luke, last Sunday.  It was the story of Jesus entering a village and being met by ten lepers.   They met Jesus from afar because, in those times, leprosy was considered a contagious disease and lepers were often banished to their own community.  Jesus simply told these men to go and show themselves to the priest.  On the way, they were healed and one of the ten had the wherewithal to go back and fall at the feet of Jesus in thanksgiving.  Jesus then questioned the man asking, where were the other nine? 

Every time I hear this story, I, like Jesus, think about the other nine.  Not that I am like Jesus, but I often wonder what happened to the other nine.  Did they go and show themselves to the priest?  Because they did not realize what happened to them, like the one Samaritan did, were they cleansed of their leprosy?  The story definitely gives us the impression that all ten were cleansed.  

Jesus did some amazing things, with just his words.  My most favorite words in the Bible are, "Your faith has saved (healed) you."  Jesus never touched the man who came through the ceiling of the over-crowded church. He just told the man to "rise up and carry your mat."  So here are ten lepers, shouting to Jesus, from afar, and he gives them directions.  Next thing you know, they are healed. 

While today, there is almost no leprosy, I often times find myself acting as the nine.  I often come to God in my prayers when I am sick, injured, frustrated, and afraid.  I shout from afar, begging Him to heal whatever ails me and, often times, my fears, frustration, or whatever ails me goes away.   However, more than not, I am one of the nine, and I forget to go back and thank Him for the blessings I have received. 

Never once, after receiving a blessing from God, when I act like one of the nine, has He removed my blessing.  It is not like He gets mad and calls takebacks.  Many of us depend on God to help us through our struggles.  It is time for me to start living like the one, to bow down before Him, in Thanksgiving.

 

It is time for me to give back to Him my prayers of Thanksgiving, for all the blessings He has bestowed on me.  In this world today, being humble and thankful is almost unique, much like the one that returned to praise Jesus.  It might just be time for us to focus on being more like the one, than the nine.  Imagine what that would look like... 

Who is Picking These Things

“Live in such a way that if someone spoke badly of you, no one would believe it.”

 

For those of you that follow the school twitter account(@SPX7200), the above quote was posted first thing Wednesday morning.  For those that want to know my secret, each week I google “inspirational quotes” and randomly pick five quotes, one per day, for the following week.  I really have no order or rhyme or reason as to why I pick my quotes, other than to say, I find them helpful to our mission or truly inspirational.  The first quote I pick is Mondays, the second one I pick is Tuesdays, see the pattern.

 

I share Wednesday’s quote with you, because I am not sure, but pretty sure(the quandary I am in) this quote picked me and Wednesday.  I say this because I really believe I have no rhyme or reason to the quote I picked, but I am pretty sure God does.  Let me explain.

 

Each day, the Catholic Church picks a saint to honor.  This Wednesday we celebrated the life of St. Matthew, the tax collector.  Fr. Hunter had a beautiful homily explaining how Jesus simply went to Matthew and said “Follow Me,” and without hesitation, Matthew did exactly that.  From that point on, Matthew lived his life, following Jesus, and living in such a way that those that had bad things to say about him, people did not believe it.  Matthew then became a Saint and an example for us all. 

 

Fr. Hunter talked with the children about how we can change our lives, just like Matthew.  He explained how our children could be leaders by forgiving those that make us mad.  He said that IT is never too late to show mercy and to change our lives like St. Matthew changed his.

 

I share both the quote and the summary of Fr. Hunter’s homily, because they are both essentially telling us the same thing.  While I am pretty sure I have not lived my entire life in such a way that no one would speak badly of me, I, like St. Matthew, can change my life and follow Him.  It is never too late to change our ways. 

 

When we change our ways, it changes our heart.  When we forgive someone for wronging us, or offending us, it changes our heart.  When we are forgiven, by others, for wronging them, it changes our hearts.  The more we forgive, the more mercy we show and the more mercy will be given to us.  Pope Frances recently tweeted, “Mercy can truly contribute to the building up of a more humane world.”  Forgiveness is one of the many ways we can show Mercy.

 

As you can see, a randomly selected quote, and the message of the weekly Mass coincided.  What was clearly random for me, certainly was not random for God.

I Need His Help

Two weeks ago, I wrote about how the gospel story of getting into Heaven through the narrow gate and how it reminded me of the traffic jam I was in.  If you recall, I started assessing the "traffic jams" in my life that might prevent me from traveling the straight and narrow path to Heaven, instead giving me a winding, curvy, hilly road.  The longer I was in the traffic jam, the longer the list got. 

I am a list maker.  I like lists.  I like their order and organization.  If I put something on a list, there is a much more likely chance I will accomplish said task.  Don't get me wrong, I do not list everything I do, and there are some days that I can get by without one.  But when the days start to get overwhelming, it is best that I put things on the list, so I can cross them off as I complete them. 

So over the last two weeks, I thought it might be best that I add to my list some things that will allow me to straighten out my path and narrow my road.  I had all sorts of things planned and calendared to allow me to "Sharpen my Saw," as a father, husband, and administrator.  The items on the list are not that important, but there were plenty of things to do, that were going to allow me to not work so much, play ball with my son, have dinner with my wife, etc.  But as you can imagine, I did none of the things on the list.  Yes I said it, NONE OF THEM.  

Thanks to God putting this thought of the narrow gate into my head, I have come up with every conceivable option to make this work.  I planned on changing this, or doing that.  I even put some things on my calendar, just so they would act as reminders to me and I would knock some of the things off the list.  Yet no matter what I did, I changed nothing. 

Nothing changed, because I forgot to the most important thing, and that is to invite God into the decision.  I was trying to do it all by myself.  Go figure!!!  God gives me the idea, then I come up with ways to make it work.  I do it all on my own.  I am listing things to help me fix my problem, yet nothing changed.  I listened to God long enough to understand the problem, but never did I listen for a solution, for I thought it was a pretty easy fix. 

Sometimes God allows us to solve our own problems, He trust us to handle certain situations.  Sometimes we can only solve certain problems, when we ask for His guidance, only when we invite Him to be part of our life, and yes, sometimes, when we give it to Him, in prayer, for Him to handle.  Sometimes we just need to accept the fact that we cannot do things on our own, and we need Him to show us the way.  I promise you, I would not have had anything to write in the weekly note this week, if I did not ask Him for help.

Retreat talk to the parents

 

 

Last night I had the pleasure to visit our 8^th graders on their retreat.  I was there for Mass, Dinner and then gave a talk about effective parenting.  As many of you know, most speeches I give are written out and read.  This talk, though, was not.  It was definitely outside my comfort zone to talk using an outline, instead of a written speech.  Now I am writing my thoughts for the weekly note. 

When you Google “books on Effective Parenting,” there are 2, 180,000 choices.  When you watch talk shows that give advice about parenting, they give strategies to help parents with their “defiant children,” or vice versa.  So there is probably not that much I can say that hasn’t been heard before.  I am definitely not inventing Effective Parenting.

What experience do I have to talk about effective parenting?  Well, I am a father of an 11yr old girl and a 9ry old boy, neither of which came with a “how to” manual when they were born.  I have been in the education field for the last 23 years, as a teacher or administrator.  I am also the child of two very effective parents, Gus and Ruth Mayer.

All that said, I still have my faults.  I am NOT the perfect parent.  My lovely wife, while a much better parent than me, is NOT a perfect parent.  My wife is raising the children like she was raised, and I am raising the children like I was raised.  Together, we have combined our ways of being raised and even though it is hard sometimes, we are raising our children as best we know how.

There is a myth out there about students losing touch with their faith in college.  Unfortunately, that is not true.  It has been proven that college enhances their faith, based on where they were before entering college.  So whatever their faith before college, will grow while they are there.  Middle school and High school is the most important time to plant and cultivate the seed of faith.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that parents are the first and most important teacher of faith to children.  One of my most favorite quotes says, “If we do not teach our children to love Christ, the world will teach them not to.”  Where does the breakdown occur? 

There is a fast food restaurant on just about every corner, because we are busier than ever before.  Our children reach middle school, and the business of their life seems to grow exponentially.  We want our children to be in everything for reach of missing something.  Families are busier than ever, but the amount of time in a day never changes.  Something has to be cut out of the calendar to make time for everything.  What can we do as parents?

Our children need us now more than ever.  We are fighting the reality television and social media world, a world that has changed rapidly since I was a teenager.   Thinking back to my childhood, my mother had one mandatory family dinner a week.  It did not matter if we had a practice, study group, or a work schedule, you never missed mom’s mandatory dinner.  Yes my mother calendared family time.  In this ever increasing busy world, calendars are becoming the only way to make sure we get to where we need to be.

I always said, anything I need to know I learned on the school bus.  While our children do not ride the bus, we take them to and from school.  If it is a 5 minute drive, or longer, children are trapped in the car.  Spend that time talking to them about your day.  You are the preverbal bus driver, make the ride to and from school a no cellphone ride.  Even if you car pool, listen to the children as they talk amongst themselves.  Be there for them and coach them in the right direction on how to behave, speak, or resolve a problem.

This evening, you gave your children the most important lesson in faith, you attended Mass with them.  Later you will have a couple of other opportunities to show your children the importance of your faith.  There will be an opportunity to be in the presence of Jesus Christ, for we will be having Eucharistic Adoration.  Spending time with Jesus, shows children that it is not just a bland wafer, it shows your true belief in the presence of the Lord.  Also, you will have the opportunity to attend the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  The more we receive forgiveness for our sins, the more likely we are to forgive others.  Think of all the arguments, fusses, and fights, that could quickly be defused when our children get better at forgiveness.

At last, take time to talk with your children.  Share your faith journey with them.  Ask them what you can do to help them in their faith life.  Draw up a contract listing your expectation, listing the ways you will help them to understand their faith.  Yes, a written, signed contract, and hold your children to the contract, and do not be upset when they hold you to your end of the contract.

Bottle Neck and the Narrow Gate

Each week I write a small reflection and share it in my school's weekly note.  Below is the post for this week.

 

 

Last Sunday's Gospel has been on my mind for quite some time.  It seems that every time I get a free moment, the story of entering through the "narrow gate" popped into my head.  I have had pictures come to mind showing a long line of people trying to get into a gate that has room enough for only one person.  The vision came very clear when I was stuck in a bottle neck traffic jam, on my way home Wednesday.

As I was sitting in this traffic jam, and this image came to my mind, it made me curious as to why the "line" was so long to get through town.  Surely there was a wreck or construction traffic, and as I suspected a car stalled which led to a 4 car bumper tapping accident.  Well, as you can imagine, with emergency vehicles, and rubber-neckers, the line kept getting longer and traffic was barely a crawl. Can you imagine the line to enter into the "narrow gate of Heaven" looking something like this? 

This led me to think, what are the traffic jams of my life?  What are the things that would put me in the long line to enter into the narrow gate?  Do I often place work ahead of my family?  Do I forgo having a family dinner so my children can participate in every possible afterschool activity, just to keep them busy? I must say, the longer I waited in the traffic jam, I was a little disappointed in how long my list was getting.

It never ceases to amaze me how many times God puts a thought in my head and how many times I ignore the thought, or say to myself, I am too busy to do anything about it.  If I ignore Him long enough, it is amazing how He puts me into a situation, such as the traffic jam, to bring the point home.

So, now it is time for me to assess things and unclutter my traffic jam.  If I want the straight path to the narrow gate, I have to assess the things that control me and take me down the winding road, or completely break me down on the side of the road, and learn how to straighten them out.  Am I working too many hours?  Am I too tired when I get home to play catch with my son?  Am I creating balance between my family and doing the things I like to do?  My path needs a lot of work.

Bob might be on to something here

The following is a post from Scott Levy's LinkedIn page.  Scott is a good friend of mine, I met 8 years ago, through his wife Susan, a terrific 4th grade teacher at my last job. 

I loved this post.  I think Bob might just be on to something here.

Listen I know this is not Facebook and so I am always careful about what I post or like on LinkedIn. Last night I was sitting by a very wise 87 year old gentleman (Bob) that I play poker with once a week. He has served his country in the military, fought cancer, has had 6 bypass surgeries, had a career as a teacher, and has plenty of stories. Last night he handed me a slip of paper saying this is how he lives his life. As I sat reading what he handed to me I was struck by the depth of content and touching words to live by.

I thought to myself, what a wonderful gift this guy had just given to me. I consider Bob a “seasoned” guy not an old or elderly guy. I don’t like the term elderly or old I think it is disrespectful. This folks are “seasoned” from time, tears, blood, sweat, and have plenty they can teach all of us if we will take time to listen. I think so many times we miss or don’t take the opportunity to sit down with a grandparent or a seasoned individual and just listen to them talk. The amazing experiences and stories they can share are priceless. They can both inspire and remind us of how lucky we are today. To think about the things we take for granted today versus 50 years ago, amazing!

Sitting talking with Bob last night gave me pause to be thankful for what I have and also take time to listen to my seasoned friends. I would suggest to anybody who reads this to take time to sit down and just have a chat with a “seasoned” person. The things we can learn, the wisdom they can share is priceless. What a shame to let their special stories and experiences be lost never to be passed along to somebody else. As the father of two wonderful daughters I tell friends that as a parent I feel it is my duty and responsibility to create memories for my children. I do hope that you all will take time to listen to somebody older than you. Have them pass along one of their memories so that you can share it with the next generation.