November 2000
Dear Brother Knights,
As you are all well aware, the summer months are even
more busy than our Columbian year. We all take advantage of the “free
time” that our months away award us, to do a lot of everything.
We all have stories to relate about the challenges we’ve faced and
conquered in past days. I also have spent the summer being as busy as
anyone else, I’m sure. I’m actually finding it difficult to
get back into things after being somewhat separated from the group. It
seems that I’m no more over-committed now than I was last year,
but having the two months away from the meetings and contacts of the Knights
seems to make for a rough start. And from what I hear, I’m not the
only one who falls victim to this trap. When I finally get my act together
enough to assemble our Squires circle again, one of my objectives will
be to avoid the post holiday drag by having several optional get-togethers
that would serve to keep the wheels turning so that when the new year
begins, it will be at least a walking start. I don’t think it would
be productive to let it go completely with the youth, and try to start
over again each year. Also it seems that from observing other circles,
not only are the two summer months a wash, but that carries over into
at least their first month back.
Another thing that has somewhat been constantly on my mind is the search
for a good topic to write about. Something that is always bigger and better
than before, and profound enough to inspire fresh thought on stale subjects.
But I’m afraid that I am just not nearly that good, and since I
love to hear the sound of my own typing, you will just have to settle
for my version of life.
Being a Deputy Grand Knight is also an adventure of its own, as I’m
sure that some of you must know. But one of the things that I’ve
been lucky enough to be a part of has been the presentation of the bursars
to the high school students. While I represent our council and our organization,
I want to do my best to fully appreciate these things that face me, and
it certainly hits home with me to see these young people (younger than
me even) that have ambition, goals, and the drive to shoot for the best.
It fills me with a sense of great hope to witness the caliber of youth
that will be leading and powering our society one day.
Attending the awards ceremony at Christ The king school only served to
amplify this feeling. I don’t really have a great list of people
in Leduc that I know, but I am certainly proud to say that I witnessed
some people that I have some idea of who they are, and where their parents
sit! I know that sounds silly but for me it was cool! And the awards at
Christ the King H.S. impressed me even more than I can describe. They
handed out the honor roll at the end. The beginning was filled with character
awards that seemed to me to represent something much more than just good
marks, but the flags of good people. Many of the awards were books that
a couple of the teachers had gone out to purchase as they have done before.
I spoke to one of them and that made me realize that this was a gift more
personal than just a plaque on the wall. The people there looked very
happy to be there and equally happy for the recipients.
I left the awards at C.T.K. with a real feeling of joy for the fine examples
of young people that had just been honored by our community. Hope for
the future in the eyes of the youth.
Like falling down the stairs, there s nothing like a dose of reality to
get your head out of the clouds. Shortly afterwards, I was passed by a
truckload of raging hormones with their hats on backwards, honking their
horn and flipping us the bird as I drove my grandmother home from my parents
house. I think it was a case of mistaken identity as the look of surprise
showed on their little faces when they got a good look at grandma. Nonetheless,
as I sat there wondering just what it was that I had done to deserve this
specific attention from those little angels, it occurred to me that being
a kid is tough, even for those in the honor of that night. Kids should
be told often how important they really are. Not just to their parents,
their schools, their friends, or their communities, but as a part of God’s
plan. They will play out their own part, whatever that may be, but as
strong and independent as they seem they still need to know often that
they are welcome members of all of our lives.
They have their own choices to make, as we all have, and their lives may
very well be the lives which mould the path of society in many different
ways. It is easy to say that it cannot be done, but mysterious and frightening
to take the initiative to challenge that way of thought. To stand up for
the right s we would aspire to live by is almost as daunting a task as
standing up for the ones we are losing every day. And dogonnit, I need
them to one day make laws against flipping the bird to my grandma- I mean,
I want them to keep showing the promise that God shows through them.
Vivat Jesus
Chris Carr