I sent the following text to my friends and family via email this Christmas. Call it cheap, but call it thoughtful. Here it is:
Family and Friends,
This year was spectacular indeed. I felt the need to share some of it with you, so I have included over 80 photos (with captions) this year as my Christmas card to you in the Kodak Photo Gallery. You should have received an email for it – look in your junk mail folder if you can’t find it!
As I reflect on 2005, I can only say I am thankful every day for the blessings God has given me, for the places I have traveled to and the incredible people I have had the opportunity to meet. Sure, this year, I met Sean Hannity, Senator Rick Santorum, Attorney General John Ashcroft, and probably some other famous people I can’t recall at the moment. But, more incredibly, all the people I work with – from the staff at my job, to the students and faculty on campuses across the country, are the really incredible people, people I have enjoyed meeting and working with the most this year. They are doing great things and are committed to acts of purpose and it has been inspiring to have the opportunity to meet them and get to know them. Working for a non-profit organization gives you only a modest salary, but you can’t buy some of these experiences.
In 2006, I have traveled to Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, DC, West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachussetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, California, Oregon, Washington, Niagra Falls, and Toronto, Canada. Did I miss any? Some of it was just for fun, but most of it was as the “ISI missionary.” (which is also fun) I have now been to over 30 states in our country and I have to say, it is a beautiful country with spectacular people. How on earth all these different people in places thousands of miles away from each other, in different climates, all call themselves “Americans,” and live peaceably among one another, is a miracle indeed.
When you travel this much and meet this many people and have the privilege to work at such a fine organization like ISI, you learn many things. So, here’s a few things I’ve learned this year. For more on my life, you can stay up to date by visiting my blog at: http://fgonzalez78.blogspot.com
So, this year, I can say a few things I have learned about:
1. Love. A delicate topic, but through the works of CS Lewis, my participation and attendance at the Harvard Veritas Forum (whose theme this year was “True Love”), and my conversations with friends and family, I have finally come to understand what love is all about. It’s not about sex and it’s not about what you desire, in fact it’s about the opposite – it’s about the kind of love Jesus taught us when he said, “Love thy neighbor,” and when he took up the cross and died for something we did to Him. Love is doing something for others without expecting anything in return, and sometimes you have to make sacrifices to do it. My parents surely live this example for each other and for their children. And, yes, tell the ladies I’m still single.
2. Materialism. It’s gotta go. If our nation (and our culture) ever fails, it will be because of materialism. I love capitalism and the free market, but it has to be used wisely. A bigger TV doesn’t make you happy, it only makes you want a bigger plasma TV. Bono and the “Live 8” concert this year is one example of revealing to those of us living in the most prosperous country in the world that there are hundreds of millions of people living in extreme poverty around the world. We’ll never end poverty, but as Bono said, we can help curtail it and we can certainly get most people out of extreme poverty – but it takes acts of “one” to do that. Heroes are among us, showing us it can be done.My friend Rick Buhrman traveled to Uganda this year on a religious mission to work with the poor. ISI’s Simon Fellowship winner, George Srour, a student who just graduated from college has raised over $50,000 and won another $40,000 from ISI to continue to build schools in Uganda. I’d encourage you to check out his website at: http://www.buildingtomorrow.org/. My friend Corey joined the Peace CORPS and is helping the people in Bolivia help themselves. Each of these guys took the opportunity God gave them and performed acts of one. Their example should make each of us (myself included) ask, “What acts of one are we doing to help others less fortunate and to use the opportunities given to us?” Perhaps this will give us something to ponder as 2006 approaches.
3. Sacrifice. The hundreds of thousands of soldiers in our armed forces are performing sacrifices every day. Over 2,200 have lost their lives since 9/11 in order to prevent attacks on their fellow citizens and to spread liberty around the world. One student I work with via ISI, who goes to an Ivy League school (Penn) and is the state chairman of the College Republicans for the entire state of Pennsylvania, Nick Micarelli, recently put this idea of “sacrifice” in the forefront of my thinking when he told me he was just called up to serve in Iraq. He is in the Army National Guard and he wasn’t expected to go to Iraq, but 3 other guys in his unit were killed this year, so they need him. He leaves for Ramadi in January for a 6-month tour of duty. While part of him is scared, the other part of him is brave and ready to serve – he believes that all of us have a duty to perform for our country and he is certainly doing his. I can’t say he “wants to go” as he has a lot going for him here and he’s already served in Kosovo. But he is proud to go and believes he is doing the right thing. Duty and sacrifice are virtues that many of us have lost sight of today, and perhaps the “materialism” we enjoy living in the most prosperous country in the world has blocked our perception of these virtues. Please keep Nick and the other American soldiers in your prayers tonight and through all of 2006. They are allowing us to bask in our freedom and enjoy our way of life – a way of life very few in history have had the privilege to enjoy.
I should probably cut the email there… but I have one last thing to say. I have decided I am not going to say “Merry Christmas” anymore. I know a lot of people are saying “Happy Holidays.” Well, I’m not going to say that either. I’ve decided “Merry Christmas” is too secular and has watered down the true meaning of this season anyway. So, I have decided (via the blessing bestowed on me by one student this season), that instead, I will say, “Have a Blessed Feast of Christ’s Nativity.” Please do think and reflect on what this time of year is really all about.
It’s about God breaking into history as a human being, to show us all how to live. As C.S. Lewis has said, Jesus’ perfect life is God’s way of showing us how He thinks of us. God really believes that we can be like Jesus and that is perhaps the greatest compliment our Creator can give to us. Jesus was brought into this world to show us an example of how to live. God gave us each free will and we have all, at some point, turned against Him with that free will. So, He performed the ultimate sacrifice and died for what we did to Him. The greatest love ever shown is what we celebrate this Christmas season. Please stop, reflect, and open the scriptures this Christmas to remember and to learn about how we can each grow closer to this loving example. As 2006 approaches, we can use this New Year to grow further in our faith and grow closer with one another. That’s my Christmas card to each of you. Have a blessed feast of Christ’s nativity!
Yours,
Francisco