May 7, 2010
Dear Parents,
Just last week I read a disturbing story in the newspaper about a Good Samaritan who came to the assistance of a woman being attacked in New York City. The attacker stabbed the Good Samaritan several times and left him bleeding on the sidewalk. Seven people walked by within an hour of the attack and looked down at the Good Samaritan as he lay bleeding. One passerby even lifted up the dying man, laid him back down and then walked away. The Good Samaritan bled to death before help arrived. All of this was captured on surveillance cameras.
Why would I share this disturbing story with you? The reason is simple – we often forget how fortunate we are. We live in a beautiful part of the State where our children can still enjoy the simple things in life and we have a compassionate, caring and supportive community we live in. This once again came to the forefront last week at the benefit for Maureen Walhberg. The show of support and encouragement was phenomenal! Thirty-three beautiful baskets were raffled off, cakes/pies/cookies sold and a free-will offering taken. While these events were occurring, we were treated to the wonderful music of the Sons of Ireland. All of this was donated by the friends in our community. How different from the opening scenario.
As an educator, I look at this as a “teachable moment.” Here we are as adults/parents/grandparents teaching our children by example how to care for each other. As adults, we all know that an education is important, but there’s more to an education than what we learn from textbooks or cyber-space. We just taught our children, by modeling, how to be caring, considerate and compassionate. How fortunate we are to have a supportive community like Holy Family School and the Norwich community.
Gene


UPCOMING EVENTS

Wednesday, May 12 PTO Meeting 7pm
Thursday, May 13 Ascension Thursday 9am
Mass – 1st Graders
Thursday, May 13 Spring Concert 6pm
Friday, May 14 Ross Park Zoo Mobile
EC – Kindergarten 8:45am
Grades 1 – 3 9:40am
Grades 4 – 7 10:30am
Sunday, May 16 PTO Golf Tournament - Norwich
Friday, May 21 Kindergarten Screening 8am – 3pm
Tuesday, May 25 Science Performance 8:20 – 10am
State Exam
Wednesday, May 26 Father O’Connor Visit – Vocations
Monday, May 31 No School – Memorial Day