That e-mail gave me pause as I realized we were headed toward the conclusion of the 2010s and into the 2020s.
This realization leads me to reflect beyond 2019 as a year, part of my annual custom on this blog, to pondering the whole decade of the 2010s.
Granted, there's so much I could say about the entire decade, and as tends to happen, I could publish this post, and then think of 10 more things to include. But I hope to cover much ground even setting a limit on writing this blog post.
One of the first things that comes to mind is the socio-political situation, particularly in the United States.
There was a lot of shifting around on the socio-political spectrum. 2010 began with President Obama a year into his presidential administration.
Later that year, the midterm election results gave the Republicans control of the US House, after a shift to Democratic control that began in 2006. President Obama was reelected in 2012. Republicans made steady gains, especially in 2014, which included capturing several state governorships, including Illinois. Pat Quinn had taken office after the removal of Rod Blagojevich as governor. Mr. Blagojevich went to prison in 2012 after being convicted in a second mistrial. Pat Quinn won election in his own right with a close margin of victory. But then, in 2015, Republican Bruce Rauner was inaugurated Governor of Illinois. He sought to "Shake up Springfield," and "Bring Back Illinois", but then got mired in a budget impasse that was broken after only two years. That may have certainly been a significant contributing factor to JB Pritzker's victory in the 2018 election. He made many significant moves to the sociopolitical left during his first year in office. Right before his inauguration in January 2019, Illinois marked its Bicentennial as a state, one of multiple state centennials and bicentennials that occurred throughout this decade.
There was controversy throughout the decade over healthcare. President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010. But the controversy continued because of opposition to how the ACA put so much government control on healthcare, and didn't spread the benefits evenly to all people. Republicans in Congress continued efforts to undo the legislation, starting when they took control of a majority of seats in the US House in the 2010 midterm elections, which in some ways reflected a significant shift two years after President Obama's election.
The socio-political discourse continued to decline throughout the decade as divisions in the United States intensified over many issues. The swift movement toward legalization of homosexual marriage accelerated as more states passed laws, including Illinois in 2013, which was also the year that the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in the case US vs. Windsor.
Then, in 2015, the Supreme Court handed down the Obergefell vs. Hodges decision, which struck down all state bans on homosexual marriage throughout the United States. Yet there were people who still held out, like Kim Davis, a county official in Kentucky, who refused to offer marriage licenses to homosexual couples, and went to jail for a short time.
But after that decision, visibility began to increase for transgender individuals, and controversy erupted over access to washrooms and other similar facilities so that people could use what corresponds with the gender with which they identify, rather than the gender of their birth.
Many of these issues took on a different scope when President Trump started his presidency, which was a reflection of the fickle nature of politics in the country, especially considering his unexpected victory over Hillary Clinton in the electoral college vote, and not the popular vote.
He started shifting things toward the sociopolitical right, particularly with his Supreme Court appointees. The battle was particularly fierce for Brett Kavanaugh. Much of the problem was related to the debate on abortion, with concerns he could help the court overturn the Roe vs. Wade decision. That led to some states passing laws to provide protection for abortion in the event Roe vs. Wade would be overturned, and then some states passed laws to restrict abortion.
Gun control constantly came to people's attention because of a string of several mass shootings. One of the first in the decade happened in Tucson, AZ, at a Congress on Your Corner Event with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. That incident troubled me in a deep way because I value the opportunity to have face time with government officials, as did those who came out for that event and became part of that tragedy.
A little more than a year later, I read Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope, the memoir that Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords wrote about their lives and the shooting. Throughout this decade, I enjoyed reading many memoirs, gaining insights into the lives of people who make news headlines, but getting it straight from them, rather than the lens of the media.
One of the first memoirs I read during this decade was Highest Duty, by Chesley Sullenberger, the USAirways pilot who landed a plane in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. That was part of my summer reading after my first year of college.
Among other prominent people who made news headlines in the 2010s was Pope Francis. He came to office after Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope in nearly 600 years to abdicate, which was quite a shocker for me to read when I opened my e-mail inbox on the morning of Monday, February 11, and saw multiple messages about it right before starting a class during my final semester of college.
It worked out that I was on Spring Break the day Pope Francis was elected. I spent 2 hours in front of the TV watching his introduction. Pope Francis really shook things up by taking the church in a different direction, bringing attention to the plight of the needy. Some criticized him for not doing enough to uphold sound doctrine and speak against abortion, although the media seemed to really obsess over certain aspects of Pope Francis that really colored their coverage of him.
I thought about that in September 2014, when Pope Francis named Blase Cupich as Cardinal George's successor as Archbishop of Chicago. Cardinal George's cancer was growing steadily worse, and he requested the Vatican expedite the process of securing his successor. At the press conference, many reporters asked Blase Cupich what kind of message Pope Francis was sending with his appointment. Bishop Cupich replied that the Pope sent a pastor, not a message.
Pope Francis published several important documents on evangelism, youth, and care for creation. In September 2015, he visited Cuba and the United States. It was so meaningful for me to follow the coverage of his US visit, especially for when he became the first Pope to address a joint session of Congress. I also followed his visit to Mexico a few months later in February 2016. And then I got up close to him in January 2019 when I joined the masses gathered in Panama City for World Youth Day.
Despite all the division in society, it was amazing to see how people came together as one when the solar eclipse happened on August 21, 2017. There's no doubt that the hype over the event was intense, but for good reason, because those who witnessed the eclipse saw something pretty amazing. Even though I was not in the path of its totality, it was still pretty cool to see the moon take out a chunk of the sun, and to see people thronging out in the streets of downtown Chicago.
Social media certainly had a role in giving hype to this event, just as it has for other events. So many social media outlets have arise in the past decade and have become ingrained into our way of life. And so has technology, particularly the smartphone.
When I started college, smartphones were around, but I didn't see them become widespread until the end of my time in college. Even so, when I collaborated with my parents to get a new cell phone during break in December 2012, I got a flip phone, which I continued to use even as smartphones really took off and became commonplace in society.
I was somewhat hesitant to get a smartphone, because of concerns that it would be hard to maintain discipline with not overusing it because of its functions, so I continued holding off, and staying with my old school technology. But things started shifting. I feel it began when my carrier Virgin Mobile offered me a new plan with unlimited minutes and 500 incoming and outgoing text messages for one monthly fee. I actually sent my first text message ever on October 30, 2017, while awaiting the start of a panel discussion for the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's 95 Theses.
And then there was my trip to World Youth Day in Panama in 2019. The leader of our pilgrimage group set up a group chat with Whatsapp so we could communicate with each other, using a platform that was easy to use with Wifi. Mom gave me her old phone so I could join the group chat, and my trip to World Youth Day was a great opportunity for me to use a smartphone for more useful purposes, and not just get hung up in the elaborate gadgets of it.
Then my Dad got a smartphone since he needed to replace his flip phone, and he got a good deal. When my parents offered to get me a new phone as a gift, I finally decided to make the switch, on June 19, 2019, toward the of the decade in which smartphones became a commonly-used tool. Despite comments people made when I told them about my new smartphone, like, "The end is near", I've managed to stay rather disciplined, and make the right use of the phone as a handy tool.
Over the course of this decade, I think about the new additions in my family. My cousin Greg and his wife Melissa welcomed three children into their lives, Ava, Emma, and Micah.
My brother got married and now he and his wife have a dog, Weasley, the closest I've come to having a nephew.
In my own life, I think about how I've grown. I pursued studies for my undergraduate degree in the early part of the decade, studied for my graduate degree in the middle of the decade, and then got settled into full-time work in the latter part of the decade, with a variety of jobs in the middle part of the decade.
While studying meteorology, I became more in tune with significant weather events like October 2010 bomb storm, which caused a tornado near Valparaiso. A few months later was the major 2011 Chicagoland snowstorm. There were major tornadic events in 2011, with a widespread outbreak in the Southeast US in late April 2011. Notably, I was doing a group project in which we examined severe weather conditions for the Southeast US, and that outbreak happened the day before our presentation in class. A month later, while out on a storm chasing trip, Joplin was devastated by a violent tornado. The summer of 2012 brought an intense heat wave, with triple digit heat in the first few days of July. In October 2012, the tropical system Sandy struck the East Coast, and then turned into a major midlatitude system that was so large, we experienced strong winds in the Great Lakes region. I actually went with a group from ValpU up to Lake Michigan to feel the powerful force of the winds.
My time at ValpU helped me embrace a deeper understanding of vocation and calling in my life, which has come to influence the way I live life. It was certainly at work in the process of when I decided to attend graduate school.
Those years at ValpU helped attune me to that reflective, introspective part of me, which has helped me embrace what has made me who I am, and what has made me to be who I am, with this blog being a channel for many of my reflections. The recent celebration of the Bicentennial of Illinois helped solidify in me a sense of this place I call home, especially as I traveled about Illinois.
Travels are always life-changing in some way, and the 2010s gave me numerous opportunities to take in what other places beyond home have to offer. One trip that stands out is going to Philadelphia to see where the United States started in those pivotal days of 1776. It had been a dream of mine since middle school to visit Independence Hall, and it was an exhilarating moment when I finally set foot inside that storied building at approximately 6 PM on June 11, 2016.
My trip to World Youth Day is also an experience that stands out, because it was unlike anything I had ever done before in my life. In fact, when it came time to head to O'Hare Airport for that trip, I requested Dad to drive by Julian Middle School on his way to taking me there, so that I could be in touch with that experience that spurred me on in faith as I embarked on a faith-filled experienced. As I passed by, I could see the Percy Julian mural, to which I contributed financially, on the outside of the building, with words from a poem, reading, "Take Heart. Go Farther." Those words embody how I have gone farther and enhanced who I am by going new places to gain new perspectives, whether physically, or going new places in a less tangible way as I probe deeply through reflection so that I gain deeper understanding.
It's in that spirit of reflection in a spiritual sense that I've come to see my life's work as part of the bigger picture of God's plan for this world, and it's something I truly marvel at when I stop to ponder the amazing opportunity I have to be a good influence in the world as I fulfill God's specific purpose for my life that fits in just right with His overarching plan for this world.
That's a large part of why I got so involved in various ministries at my home parish after graduating from college. Teaching Religious Education (RE) has been particularly special for me, because it brings together the most significant aspects of my life. Through my students, I reconnect with my middle school years, when I first came to embrace faith with passion. And I hand on the faith to my students, inspired by the zeal for faith I attained during my time at ValpU. This work as a catechist aligns very well with what I do as a librarian, helping people attain information they need and use it meaningfully for their lives.
So as the past circumstances of my life come together with the present work I do in teaching RE, I also marvel at how the future is already taking shape as the students in my charge embrace an understanding of faith for themselves. As a catechist, it's exciting for me to see their potential, and see how it manifests itself, just as Pope Francis said in his homily at the 2019 World Youth Day Closing Mass, that the youth of the church "are not the future of God, but the now of God".
Indeed, teaching RE gives me a joyful sense of hope about the new things God is doing even now, and how He has a way of topping each amazing experience with something even better, which I can certainly see in those mountaintop experiences I've had throughout this decade, particularly pertaining to my faith.
I stand at the beginning of a new decade, and while I can make guesses about what's to come, there's much I can't yet solidly anticipate about what will happen over the course of the next 10 years, much as I couldn't have fully anticipated all that happened in the 2010s when I started that decade.
Yet as my experience has shown me, there's a progression that's constantly happening, as old things pass and new things arise. One song I've come to really embrace is "The Circle of Life" from The Lion King. It's a majestic song that speaks of the progression of life. And it's an example of how as a catechist, I see religion and faith everywhere: The progression of life moves us along, "through despair and hope, through faith and love". Faith helps us grow in relationship with God, Who we can count on in all times, because He remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. He always abides with us, and abiding in Him, we find purpose in all times and seasons through a constant encounter with His presence.
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| On the last day of 2019, I went to the Newberry Library to view an exhibit with artifacts speaking to the question of what the Midwest is. Mom and I went together and she got this photo of me posing next to a map of the Illinois Central Railroad network. I couldn't help but notice paths shown on the map for routes to Panama. |
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| On Epiphany Sunday, January 5, 2020, following Mass at Ascension Parish, I went to view a display of Nativity Scenes from different countries. Celine Woznica got this photo of me, posing by a Nativity Scene from Mexico, made from corn husks, which reminds me of my family's Navideño tamale tradition. |
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