This Little Light of Mine

"Our culture and art do not speak to America alone. Today, as always, art knows no national boundaries. Behind the storm of daily conflict and crisis, the poet, the artist, the musician, continues the quiet work of centuries, building bridges of experience between peoples, reminding man of the universality of his feelings and desires and despairs, and reminding him that the forces that unite are deeper than those that divide."

--John F. Kennedy

Find the full transcript online at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=9033&st=national+cultural&st1=

But I've left out the personal part of my story.

It's the early 1960s, I'm in Catholic school, and there's a little Catholic girl in the Whitehouse. I can relate. My family is still intact, and my Mom and Dad can afford to rent a beach shack for spring vacation, right on the sand, where we find colored eggs on Easter morning. We paddle out on inflatable surf matts and pound over the falls to come in. We lie in the hot sand.  On a cloudy day I write a letter to Caroline, illustrated in crayon. I have a big box, with all the colors. I feel fantastic about the world, it is bliss. I am nine. Maybe ten.

This little light of mine.

Check out how Catholic girls do these days - Mercy Hight School Statement of Support for Immigrants Refugees and Muslims  at http://www.mercyhs.org/news/statement-of-support-for-immigrants-refugees-and-muslims. This is how I was raised.