:: The Freewheelin' Reader ::

:: 20.5.15 ::

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A continuation of what we talked about today in class. 

http://ojibweresources.weebly.com/ojibwe-teachings--the-7-grandfathers.html

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I think of this blogsite all the time. I wish I had more to say to make it worth checking it out.

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I don't think I have any use for this site any more. I don't think I have anything to say that can't be conveyed in fb. I post links of what I'm thinking instead of thinking of them. Huh.

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Woop

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Journal Reflections

#1
One natural object that describes me is a rolling stone that has gathered some moss. I like to believe that I’m a bit of a freewheeling spirit but I have come to understand that one must have a focus, a centering force in life. People move from situation to situation but they take their previous experiences with them and it is the knowledge gleaned from these experiences that enables us to make wise and hopefully compassionate decisions later in life. People complain every year that they are getting older, some completely stop keeping track of their birthdays. Over the last few years I’ve tried to nurture the belief that one should celebrate getting older and better. What is the point of going through life without some analysis and development. This is the moss. You can roll with the punches, as they say, or roll from one situation to the next, but if you don’t take some stock of where you have been, what’s the point?

#2
Prayer to me is a celebration of our union with our loved ones in God. This is the reason why we gather together in mass. One can and should pray independently but fundamentally we should gather as a community of Catholics to profess our joyous belief in a greater being that is beyond our understanding. One element of prayer that must be maintained though is the centering, meditative aspect of it. Often times, at school, when students read prayers over the announcements they go either too slow or too quickly. For every prayer there is a cadence that should be followed in order to allow for a deep sense of connection with the Holy Spirit. I always remind students that they should enter a mental space to prepare themselves for mass. At our school we enter the gym quietly and reverently. This allows students (ideally) to be prepared to enter the right physical and mental space. The function of prayer is to connect ourselves with the spirit that surrounds us, and unless we are focused on that aspect of it, we will not achieve that level of understanding.

#3
There is no one event that has effected my faith negatively. It’s more a collection of events that have effected me negatively. Most of these events have to do with negative behaviour by the leaders of our church that I have at times in the past deemed to be an abuse of influence. There are four specific examples that I can think of: 1) I was not allowed to chose my own saint. Name at Confirmation despite the fact that this is the whole point of the activity (to research a St that had some significance to you.) There was no reason given other than that the priest and my teachers thought is was an unacceptable name. The second instance is when a priest in a small farming parish prayed for Thanksgiving that homosexuals may some day be saved. This is offensive in more ways than space allows for here. The third thing that has effected me negatively happened just last year when a Hindu/Christian girl in Grade 7 asked the parish priest if it was okay to believe in Hindu gods and God. The priest told her that she was committing a sin. This priest clearly has no concept of the people (especially this particular girl) in his parish and no global perspective whatsoever. The final element that effects my faith negatively is the outrageous number of priests and others in the church who molest children. In my opinion one cannot claim to be both serving God and molesting children. Human weakness hidden behind a collar is reprehensible and the punishments should be most severe.

#4
My role as a Catholic educator is to encourage students to act and behave in a positive manner towards others in his or her community. I believe actions speak louder than words and so as an educator we should be modeling good behaviour to our students on an on-going basis. One way I model good behaviour in the classroom is by taking an oath with the students every morning which states: "I will try to be a good and decent person today and everyday." I am strict but fair on students who disrespect one another in anyway. I try to ensure that they are able to put themselves sin the other persons shoes. For examples, just today a student through a ball at a bug, attempting to kill it. I had the student think about whether or not that was an appropriate behaviour. To help the student decide I asked the student if he thought I should be able to throw a ball at him. He didn’t think so and was able to transfer his hurt feelings to the bug. Hopefully this has the same sort of lasting effect that the WWJD awards are supposed to have.

#5
I consider myself to be a spiritual person because I believe that there is an essence, a unifying force in the universe that connects us all. I don’t care what any one in any religion calls it, it exists and there are times when you really can feel it. Through prayer we are able to tap into this force and feel it moving through us. We are note able to comprehend this force, but we know that is guides us through our lives.

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Veg News has pusblished its best of issue. Always a good time.

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VegNews founder Joseph Connelly made the following announcement on Thursday, November 17. "It is with great sadness that I convey that Donald Watson, who coined the word 'vegan' and founded the world's first vegan organization in 1944 -- aptly named The Vegan Society -- has died. Watson passed away on Wednesday evening at his north England home after a brief illness. He was 95.

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