Post 12: Sunrise
Mother Teresa
“The problem with the world is that we draw the circle of our family too small.” Mother Teresa
The Fan Club and Barry’s music took me through three difficult and turbulent years of high school. However, as high school drew to a close, I was clueless in terms of what to do or what vocation to follow. I timidly expressed my interest in writing, so the good sisters at my high school sent me to do a luncheon interview at Notre Dame College where a visiting nun from India was giving a speech. The project was doomed from the start. I got lost driving to East Euclid, Ohio. I discovered, too late, I had brought a non-working tape recorder. I remember snippets from the mass and lunch. Then the nun spoke of her work with the poor and dying in India. When she spoke she radiated peace.
Then bam! – it was like being right back in the sanctuary of St. Colman’s, mysterium tremendum, that song was calling me all over again, whispering, “Follow me, follow me.” The professional journalists were launching questions like: “do you believe in abortion?” and “What do you think about the woman’s role in the church?” Something overcame me and I raised my hand and some untapped part of me asked, “How do you become holy?” Another huge silence like I just asked what brand of deodorant she uses. I had pissed off the Politburo to no end.
“Damn it! Can’t we take you out in public for once?” The red alert sounded, curtains were called, but before oblivion hit, I remembered the beginning of her answer:
“You begin with prayer.” The rest is lost. So that about sums up my journalism career. You can guess now that the visiting Indian nun was known worldwide as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, founder of the Missionaries of Charity, and would go on in 1979 to win a Nobel Peace Prize.
So there you have it, these are my high school guides who would plot the course for my future. Barry, meet Mother T.; Mother T. meet Barry. They bookmark my adolescence. Like a Moses and Miriam of sorts, leading me out of Egypt and enslavement to a Promised Land overflowing with zinfandel and chocolate. I know, this image is way too sacrilegious. Which is why I like it.
Creativity, meet your passion. Isn’t that what it is about? It just took me so freaking long to figure all this out.
Notes:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/838305.Mother_Teresa?page=8
Give the gift of music to the next generation through donations to:
The Manilow Music Project
8295 South La Cienega Boulevard
Inglewood, CA 90301
[email protected]
Click here to go to the next post or click here to return to the previous post.
The Fan Club and Barry’s music took me through three difficult and turbulent years of high school. However, as high school drew to a close, I was clueless in terms of what to do or what vocation to follow. I timidly expressed my interest in writing, so the good sisters at my high school sent me to do a luncheon interview at Notre Dame College where a visiting nun from India was giving a speech. The project was doomed from the start. I got lost driving to East Euclid, Ohio. I discovered, too late, I had brought a non-working tape recorder. I remember snippets from the mass and lunch. Then the nun spoke of her work with the poor and dying in India. When she spoke she radiated peace.
Then bam! – it was like being right back in the sanctuary of St. Colman’s, mysterium tremendum, that song was calling me all over again, whispering, “Follow me, follow me.” The professional journalists were launching questions like: “do you believe in abortion?” and “What do you think about the woman’s role in the church?” Something overcame me and I raised my hand and some untapped part of me asked, “How do you become holy?” Another huge silence like I just asked what brand of deodorant she uses. I had pissed off the Politburo to no end.
“Damn it! Can’t we take you out in public for once?” The red alert sounded, curtains were called, but before oblivion hit, I remembered the beginning of her answer:
“You begin with prayer.” The rest is lost. So that about sums up my journalism career. You can guess now that the visiting Indian nun was known worldwide as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, founder of the Missionaries of Charity, and would go on in 1979 to win a Nobel Peace Prize.
So there you have it, these are my high school guides who would plot the course for my future. Barry, meet Mother T.; Mother T. meet Barry. They bookmark my adolescence. Like a Moses and Miriam of sorts, leading me out of Egypt and enslavement to a Promised Land overflowing with zinfandel and chocolate. I know, this image is way too sacrilegious. Which is why I like it.
Creativity, meet your passion. Isn’t that what it is about? It just took me so freaking long to figure all this out.
Notes:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/838305.Mother_Teresa?page=8
Give the gift of music to the next generation through donations to:
The Manilow Music Project
8295 South La Cienega Boulevard
Inglewood, CA 90301
[email protected]
Click here to go to the next post or click here to return to the previous post.
Mother Teresa, Nobel Peace Price, 1979
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Barry Manilow
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