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Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees
Many months ago, Nicole, a 1987 graduate of Caritas High School,
phoned to see if I would help her find teachers and students for a 20-
year reunion of her class. Quickly she decided to invite all the
graduates of the school's six graduations. Together with Rena from
Timmins, Ontario - oh the marvels of today's communications! - they
managed to contact over 128 students and staff. Half of these were
able to attend, in many cases with their parents and their children.
Any of you who have organized such an event will know all the work
and frustrations still involves.
The founder and first Director of Caritas, Sister Anne Lemire,
arrived on Thursday evening. I installed her in our air-conditioned
guest room. The weekend promised record-high temperatures. She woke
up on Friday morning feeling ill. That's when I realized not having a
car has some disadvantages. We took a taxi four blocks to take her
blood pressure - it was very high. The pharmacist recommended a
clinic and we went directly there. In vain, I looked for a pay phone
- that old piece of technology has disappeared. When the clinic's
doctor, recommended she go to the emergency department of a major
hospital, I asked the taxi driver to drop me off at home to receive
the reporter I hadn't been able to contact and deliver her to the
emergency. I gave her the phone card I hadn't been able to use so she
could keep me informed. (I cannot help to put in a parenthesis here -
she spent 7 hours at the emergency, had blood tests, received IV, saw
a cardiologist twice and had nothing but praises for the staff of
this very busy department. She also met a former student who is an
ambulance worker! While not given a clean bill of health, she was
able to attend all the events of the weekend.)
The reporter wanted to know two things: Had the school made a
difference in the students' lives and why did it fail? He kept on in
the same vein when he interviewed students the next day at the school
picnic, mercifully held in a well-appointed, air-conditioned building
in the sweltering park. He was there for the moving presentations
students and teachers made. Even the numerous, fun-loving children
kept quiet for these few moments. At the very end of the event he
cornered Sister Anne with the same question: Why celebrate a school
that failed? She had a simple answer: "I think the afternoon you
experienced here is test to that."
All weekend we marveled at the trees and the forest:
Parents so proud of their children and grandchildren, parents who
know that our belief in their children's uniqueness, gifts and
possibilities, made all this possible; parents who are still involved
in community and ministry in retirement years; parents who have
embraced both the sorrows and joys of LIFE.
Students in jobs they love doing, so many in service; students who
are not shy to say that, after over a decade of marriage, they are in
LOVE; students who love being parents just like their own parents did.
Teachers. As a chemistry and physics teacher, I hear many students
say that if it weren't for me they would never have passed. But then
I remember the happy hours when I taught Physics 30 with its dreaded
government exam around a table, the first year three students; the
next four (Andrea reminded me that I had phoned her up when she
stayed home to study for a physics exam, to beg her to come to school
and that I'd make time to help that day). It is gratifying to know
that many of the students worked hard and obtained university degrees
in science. But for me what is most gratifying is that we had fun
even among tears, that the parents were and are my friends, that in
many ways I was able to touch the students (much of this I don't
remember but they do and they say that it changed their life.) I
would like to tell them that they also changed my life; that so often
when I thought I COULD NOT do something, I remembered their Walkabout
presentation, their Work Experience Program, their Community Service,
the Family Ecology Camping Trips, the overnight Nature Program at
Ministik (even if one student thought the best part of the 3 days was
milking a cow), their participation in the three full-length Musicals
put on with participation of the entire student/staff community as
well as a large proportion of the parents.
And the teachers - most are my best friends - Anne, John and his wife
Val, Lucia, Bob, a former student of mine and who came to Caritas as
a fellow teacher! Bob could attend only the evening event which Anne
and I had decided not to attend. So I invited him to come over before
the event. There was no parking around because of an international
soccer game at the stadium two blocks away. So we drove to the
grounds of the legislative buildings, walked by the families
splashing in the fountains. Bob and I were in France with a group of
students when Bob discovered he was in love and decided on a
beautiful beach in St. Malo that he would propose as soon as he
returned to Edmonton. The framed photo of that beach, my wedding
gift, hangs in his office! He so happy to have recently been
appointed to the Msgr Oscar Romero High School in Edmonton!
Sunday we met again for a parish mass. There is no music during the
summer months, so we, teachers, students, parents formed an
improvised choir - we filled the church with our song:
Awake from your slumber!
Arise from your sleep!
A new day is dawning
For all those who weep.
The people in darkness
Have seen a great light,
The Lord of our longing
Has conquered the night.
Let us build the City of God
May our tears be turned into dancing!
For the Lord, our light and our love,
Has turned the night into day!
We are sons of the morning;
We are daughters of day.
The one who has loved us
Has brightened our way.
Let us build the City of God
May our tears be turned into dancing!
For the Lord, our light and our love,
Has turned the night into day!
(Dan Schutte)
Cecily
