There is so much good news happening all over Gilroy that even
if I could write a column each day, I would not be able to tell it
all.
There is so much good news happening all over Gilroy that even if I could write a column each day, I would not be able to tell it all. I am reminded of my days in high school as I watch teens all around me preparing for graduation and making summer plans.
Before he heads for UC Berkeley next fall, 16-year-old GHS graduate Josh will join the first out-of-the-country High School Youth Team sent by the California/Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church. He will work in Macedonia from June 24 to July 8 on a construction mission project with other youth from throughout northern California and Nevada.
Last Sunday about 80 energetic teens and brave parents filled the gym at St. Mary’s for the Spring Jam, a benefit concert to raise funds for a June trip to Mexico. I say ”brave” parents because not all parents possess the aural stamina for the electrified music of AC/DC songs like ”TNT,” if you know what I mean.
There were also some vocal and acoustic piano pieces, such as ”Angela,” the theme from ”Taxi.” The final two songs of the evening were definitely the biggest hits with both young and old: ”Brown-Eyed Girl” and ”Johnny B. Goode.”
Michelle Adams, volunteer coordinator of Youth Services for St. Mary’s, tells me that this is the third year the kids have taken this mission trip down south to build houses. Last year the teens built three homes, but this year they will build five homes in three and a half days. And that’s all by hand – no power tools.
The first year, 31 youngsters took the trip, the second year it grew to include 52, and this year it will be 75.
”It keeps growing,” Adams said. ”And we don’t want to turn anybody away.”
Hearing about these upcoming trips takes me back to my days in Mexico when I experienced firsthand what it means to live without all the luxuries we take for granted. I had always assumed that everyone lived the way I did, or better.
My youth leader took four of us high school students to a little village outside Ensenada, Mexico, to help distribute donations to the poor, dig a well and get to know some of the people.
We slept on dirt floors in houses with no locks on the doors and no running water. We brushed our teeth outdoors and used a small cup of bottled water for rinsing. Children followed us all day, begging for food.
At home, my friends seemed to have better homes and more spending money than I did. There were times as a kid when I would lie awake at night, wrestling with feelings of self-pity and envy, and anger that my parents didn’t make more money.
But after my trip to Mexico, I never wasted another night in envy of others. I came home and saw everything with a fresh appreciation. My eyes were opened to a profoundly different way of looking at the world, as will happen for those Gilroy teens fortunate enough to experience such summer adventures.
I hope we won’t let the bad actions of a few teenagers like the ones who recently called 9-1-1 to threaten a GHS teacher overshadow the good work of so many others.
Let’s tell the stories of the unsung heroes in our lives and remind people of all there is in our community in which we can take pride, including these young people. If you know someone you think others should hear about, please write to me about that person.
