August 20,2015: Del Rio News-Herald * OPINION * Letter to the Editor * My summer vacation
Letter to the Editor,
My Summer Vacation
Missy wakes up and dashes to the kitchen where she
finds her mother and father drinking coffee and declares, “I became a saint
this summer!”
Her mother and father look at each other quizzically,
taken aback by their daughter’s remark.
They look at each other, neither one knowing exactly
how to respond.
Missy resolutely continues her elucidation, “That’s
what I’ll write about when my teacher asks the class to write about what we did
during the summer.”
It seems Missy has already thought this through, and
knowing their daughter, there is no stopping her once she has set her mind on
something, and it definitely seems like she has set her mind on this.
Her mother finally inquires, “What do you mean you
became a saint this summer?”
“Well, MamÃ, Mrs. DeLaVida, our Vacation Bible School teacher, taught us that
if we loved God and we did what He told us in the Ten Commandments, then we
would go to Heaven.”
Both her mother and father nod in unison and Missy
continues expounding on her exposition, “and all the people who are in heaven
are saints because they loved God and did what He told us to do in the Ten
Commandments”, and breathlessly she continues “and this summer I made a promise
to always love God and to always follow the Ten Commandments,” and finally she
concludes, “so that means I am a saint who will go to heaven.”
Junior sputters out between mouthfuls of cereal and
exclaims, “I hated Vacation Bible School; it was boring.”
Missy is flabbergasted with her brother’s most
incredulous remark, “It was the best thing about the summer”, Missy
forthrightly defends Vacation Bible School, as any true saint would valiantly
speak up, virtuously defending veracity.
“Besides,” smugly continues her brother, “you can’t
write about God things in school.”
“Yes I can,” staunchly responds Missy without missing
a beat and resolutely continues, “I know my rights and I can so write about God,
saints, heaven and Vacation Bible School.”
“No, you can’t”, barks her brother.
“Yes, I can”, retorts Missy.
“We’ll see”, Junior ends the discussion, wipes the
dripping milk from his chin with a napkin and departs the kitchen. He abruptly
turns around and pulls no punches as he tries to win by deflating his sister’s
ego, “You’re not a saint because you just committed a sin by fighting with me.”
“Well, you’re wrong, because I wasn’t fighting with
you. I was just defending my rights and besides, sinners can so become saints
when they go to Confession and are sorry for their sins.”
Marian Casillas, Ed.D.