All Saints Day

Waking up this morning, my first thought was "Today is All Saints Day". Why? I have no clue, but my mind shot instantly to my second year in grammar school on this very day and what was a custom for Long Beach Catholic School. Every year, the second graders would choose a saint to do a report on and dress up for in a ceremony of sorts in the church next door. I was Saint Genevieve. Please don’t even ask me anything about that particular saint or why I chose her - all I remember though is the proud look on my parents' faces as I walked into the church wearing "saint-like" attire that my grandmother made out of some old white sheets. You could never tell that what I wore into the church that day was on my grandmother's bed just a month beforehand. (smile)

When I think about it today, I am filled with pride. I grew up poor and since we didn’t have much money, we had to make do with what we had, and, ironically enough, it was more than perfect. Today, however, I often loose sight of where I came from and forget how things are worth so much more when they are done yourself. We, as a society, look for the easy way out of things and therefore do not those things we have. We either buy stuff we don’t need or easily hand over our checkbook to some company to come in and do things for us. This, my friends, is a relinquishment of self power. These actions will not greet us one morning, some time in the far future, and bring a smile to our faces - such as my day as Saint Genevieve.