The Mystery of the Golden Scarab

This happened last semester, but I think it is still worth sharing... :)

Haven't you ever wanted to entitle something like that? It seems that everyone wants to have some work of a similar name (I just googled "the golden scarab" and came up with everything from music and books to ancient egyptian cults). But, you ask, why would I want the title of this post to be "the mystery of the golden scarab" when the post itself has nothing to do with gold let alone egyptian mythology? Listen my children and you shall hear ... *oops wrong story

Let me just begin with the facts. When one lives in a household where there are multiple people sharing different cars, it can become a bit of a game figuring out who has driven before you. For instance, if the gas tank is full and the seat is as far away from the steering wheel as possible, the last person to drive has indubitably been my father. On the other hand, if the gas tank is nearly empty and the seat is as far away from the steering wheel as possible, the last person to drive was probably me. Just kidding.

Sometimes it can be pretty obvious who was driving. For instance, whenever my mother drives, she closes all the vents and directs the air towards one's feet. I on the other hand prefer the vents completely open, especially during the summer.

And so it happened on the particular day in question, upon plopping myself down in the car, I proceeded to open the air vents.  I drove to classes, arrived without mishap and the day progressed normally.

 After a weary day, I sauntered back to the car while enjoying the beautiful fall  weather. I got in the car and began the fight through traffic to get onto state route 123... After waiting through several long traffic lights, I was finally able to get on the highway. Then something peculiar happened.

As I reached the speed limit, a curious object shot out of the righthand vent and landed on the passenger seat. I was so surprised, it took a second for me to comprehend what had happened. I glanced at the seat to see if I was mistaken (I am legally blind without correction, you know). I wasn't. There on the seat next to me was this:

Yes. My very own golden scarab (i.e. a dead june bug)... that the car saw fit to propel at me through the air vent. I'm beginning to wonder if I should have named the car something other than "the echo"... maybe it wants to be the new "love bug" or something. I don't know.

Thankfully the car hasn't shot any more dead bugs at me, but I am still wary of directing the air vents towards my face just in case.

I know that it's technically ordinary time now, but we still haven't celebrated the the Feast of the Presentation yet!!

So, anyways I figured you might enjoy this short clip:

May God have mercy on us...

Happy Feast of St. Francis de Sales!

Some time ago I had the opportunity to get some quality teaching experience while on the job. Every year we give the kids a "How to Live a Virtuous Life 101" class. My boss is in love with the idea of my taking over as much responsibility as humanly possible so I had the privilege of teaching 3 out of the 4 nights each week. Let's say that it has been as enjoyable as it is eye-opening and frustrating.

Teaching the younger grades (1-4) is always fun because the little kids are always eager to raise their hand, unafraid of speaking (even if the answer is wrong) and trying to think of examples, scenarios, etc. They are, for the most part, eager to listen and learn.

Fifth and Sixth grade is a little bit of a different story. They've started to grasp that idea of "I-get-spoon-fed-at-home-and-school-why-should-I-try-exerting-myself-here?" mentality. So I, as teacher, have to be more proactive and persuade them to use their minds and come to the proper conclusion without my giving away the answer. The first few days were rough but by the last day I had a pretty good handle on it.

The last week, however, was totally and completely different.

Permit me to vent for a few moments about the condition of our poor junior high students. The 7/8th grade seminar topics cover these virtues:

-Respect
-Modesty
-Moderation
-Simplicity
-Friendliness
-Sociability

I won't go into all of them as that would be a REALLY long post but let me give you a sampling of just a few.

Respect is a big area that kids today have no clue about. And it's not really their fault either. No one has taken the time to train them or show them how to respect others or themselves. Today: Respect = toleration. I asked about six kids in the class what the definition of respect was. Answers ranged from everything to "I don't know" to "having respect". When asked if they are allowed to define a word at school by using the same word in the definition, the answer was "yes." Grrr....

Modesty. Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of speaking on this subject when both the boys and girls are together but I had to make the most of it.

Me: What is modesty?
Student: I've never heard that word before.

If anyone has been asking themselves lately why kids dress the way the they do, there is your answer. They have NO CLUE what it means to be modest. They are taught to make a statement about who they are. It's all about expression. But no one ever tells them that they still have to respect themselves and others and stay within the realm of modesty.

The best answer I got for moderation was "being modern". Well, at least he was trying to go for the root word, albeit unsuccessfully.

Of course, not all the students were quite that bad. But really, the experience led me to make to several conclusions.

First, we have a LOT of work to do.

Second, we who know have the responsibilty to educate.

Third, we can only educate others by first forming ourselves.

Fourth, I need to spend more time praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

Today is the Feast of St. Francis de Sales. It wouldn't hurt to start reading Introduction to the Devout Life. Don't have a copy? Check out your local library (haha, I'm sure you'll have to ILL this one) or go to St. John the Evangelist Library in Front Royal, VA.

Can't wait to go to the library? click on this link for an on-line PDF of the entire book: www.franciscan-sfo.org/ap/wosf/devout_life.pdf

Want your own copy? Go to amazon.com and search for it. It's as simple as that.

The Letter - A Short Film

You may have already had the opportunity to see this great short film on youtube but here it is in case you haven't! It is very powerful. We need to share the news that help is out there.

CHOOSE LIFE!

This video was not made in reference to abortion, but it applies nonetheless.

It's been rather dead here for a while, but I hope the hiatus is over now... :)

Did you have a good Christmas? It was wonderful in this neck of the woods. We enjoyed a low-key, joy-filled family gathering here. In recent years, my family has begun the tradition of a white elephant gift exchange with the cousins in lieu of many gifts for each person.

I took hundreds of pictures of our family's Christmas tree this year, but unfortunately when I downloaded them , the files were corrupted. Only this one "survived." Perhaps I'll get some others next Christmas! 

 Not only has this practice simplified everyone's life, but it has also provided much mirth! Each year gifts have ranged from practical (gift cards) to creative ( a "party" in a box complete with root beer, cards, snacks etc.).

The method of distribution has differed over the years as well. The first year, each gift was numbered and people would pick a random number. The next year gifts were distributed hot potato style with the person still holding the "potato" picking a present.

Not quite "Christmas-y." Oh well.  

 This year, we hid Easter eggs each filled with a number which corresponded to the order in which people select presents. This alone would have contributed to general mirth, but the gifts really "took the cake" as it were!

One of the very first presents to be opened was wrapped in a large box that used to house a punching bag. What it contained at the time of the gift exchange was something quite different--much to the chagrin of the young man who selected it. It contained a calendar. But not just any calendar. No, a mere calendar would not have elicited such a response... It was a calendar entitled (pardon the phraseology) "Hot Guys and Baby Animals." It contained just that: shirtless men holding puppies and kittens. No wonder the young man expressed such embarrassed vexation! Needless to say, no one wanted to "steal" his gift!

Another unique gift--of a tamer sort--appeared to be a basket of fruit, but upon further inspection was found to contain not only a dozen or so kiwis, but also the statuette of a kiwi bird made in Australia! The bird blended in quite well among the fruit and gave quite a surprise to the person receiving it.

The last gift I will describe appeared to be quite normal at its outset.  The  woman opening the simple green gift bag looked surprised, but not disbelieving, when she pulled out the first item: a can of pineapple. Her look transitioned into perplexity as she announced the second and third items: two more cans of pineapple. It wasn't until she was advised to open them  that she seemed somewhat disconcerted. She carefully popped open the top of the first can, making sure not to spill any juice, but to her surprise, the can contained a gift card and candy. The second can was opened with less care, and not surprisingly it was filled not with pineapple but with some tea candles. The young woman then reached for the third can, pulled open the top and laughed when she saw the glistening pineapple within.


The other presents in the gift exchange were lovely as well and I think the only one who went home slightly disappointed was the man who ended up with the calendar. What will next Christmas bring? Who knows! I just hope that we can keep up this tradition for many years!