Kudos to Mount Carmel School
The leadership of Mt. Carmel School deserves the accolades of the local community for embarking on a very thoughtful food gathering project for the needy this Christmas.
I would not have found out about it until one morning my son was collecting canned goods in the kitchen before heading off to morning mass and class. I quizzed him what’s the program about. He replied, “It’s a school project so that we can help the needy this holiday season”.
As he headed out the door, he was beaming with pride and joy, smiling ear to ear, struggling to hold both his school and food bags. What I saw that morning brought memories of abject poverty in the old village. I vividly recall heading home after midnight mass with big little boy’s dream about what Christmas should be for any family, i.e., toys, fruitcake, turkey, ham and a tree surrounded with presents, Santa Claus and reindeer.
But it was only a dream that ended when I reached the front door. It was back to reality of coffee, taro, yam and bananas. If anything, my brothers and I enjoyed every moment of it. We told stories until it was time to call it a night. There were no toys, turkey, ham, presents or Christmas tree. But we slept well quietly building personal resolve not to repeat history. Mom and Dad were there to help us pick-up the pieces in the shattered dreams of youths constantly swimming in the sea of abject poverty.
I stood back in time and saw my mom gracefully accepting two paper bags full of food collected by Mt. Carmel School. Behind the teacher was a little boy smiling happily, if not, innocently, for knowing he has brought some sense of joy to our family. I kept seeing the little boy’s face. It was my son’s whose school mentors have taught him compassion. Congratulations MCS!
When life was simple
Perhaps out of the competing demands of modernity, I often long for the good old days when most families lived humble lifestyles. We went about our daily chores both at home and at the family farm, happy and contented at the end of another well-earned day.
After school, we’d either walk two and-a-half miles each way to pull weeds and feed the animals at the farm at As Perdido. Or if dad comes home early, we’d hop on his jeep for a fun ride to the ranch. Otherwise, we’d walk with kerosene cans filled with sludge to feed the pigs. After walking to and from the farm, our feet would be whiter than snow from dry and fine coral dust. That was our perennial version of snow on an island that’s green.
We’d cut sugar cane and chop them to feed the pigs while we cook breadfruit, taro and banana for Ms. Oink’s next day meal. There’s coconut to grate for chicken feed topped off with about an hour’s weed pulling among tall corn rows. Dad would make fire near the corn field to barbecue freshly harvested sweet corn. We’d munch it during the short trip home.
The old chores are gone! Kids no longer head to the family ranch. It’s either they’re glued to the tube, head to video shops, flicks or some venue to sport the latest rap music and dance. New value systems have invaded traditional filial discipline. How sad the price of our new lifestyle that brings with it its own price of drug use, HIV, teenage pregnancy, an eruption of diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases, etc. Welcome to paradise! This is Modern Day Marianas!
