September - St. Augustine Catholic

WINNER OF THE INAUGURAL MSGR. JOSEPH JAMES WRITING SCHOLARSHIP AWARD
H“Hope empties our hands in order that we may work with them.
It shows us that we have something to work for, and teaches us
how to work for it.”
Thomas Merton’s No Man Is an Island was published in 1955, and
51 years later, his words still ring true. Not that this should surprise
anyone; hope is one of humanity’s most fundamental components,
serving as a hallmark of every truly successful life.
In my 14 years of attending Catholic school, I’ve learned a
person’s success can be measured by their hopefulness. To truly
have hope – a belief that things can, will and must continue to get
better – requires so much more than just optimism. You must have
the maturity to keep life in perspective, and the courage to put that
perspective into action!
Something to
by Sara Evans
work for
These virtues roll right off the
tongue, but they are often so
difficult to achieve. Hope is our
most elusive necessity; I once
read a quote by author Graham
Greene in which he opined that
people are prone to sadness
because “secretly, that’s where we
feel we belong.”
At first, the quote shocked me;
but the more I thought about it,
the more I realized its validity.
Certainly, we don’t go through
life thinking, It’s right for me
to be sad all the time. However, as a society, we are conditioned
or we condition ourselves to believe that we could, and should,
always be: better, smarter, thinner, faster or prettier. Our society is
too competitive – and I say that as an admitted adrenaline fan – a
girl who once hectored a teammate during a speed-based review
game in religion class with, “The teacher won’t hear you if you
bang on your book – bang on your desk!”
A healthy competition is all well and good, but attainable
standards set you up for failure, and drain away our world’s most
precious resources: hope, resilience and confidence.
One of my biggest hopes is that my children will grow up in a
world where everyone’s voice is valued and heard. An even bigger
hope? This transformation of our world will come even sooner and
SCOT SMITH
12 St. Augustine Catholic September 2006
that I will have played some role, however small, in its advent.
I have a lot of hopes for my own life. Some are a bit selfish (a
nice home, a corner office), and some are sweet (a husband, lots of
children). Maybe you really can’t “have it all,” but I’d sure like to
try! As long as my children are my absolute priority, I don’t see any
harm in trying to improve the world, one global merger at a time.
I know how much closer a good education will bring me to
these goals, and so I can’t wait to start my career at the College of
William & Mary. Leaving Bishop John J. Snyder High School will
be incredibly difficult, but if there’s one thing I learned in my time
there, it was to hope.
I’d gone nearly 18 years without a nickname, and then I
stumbled upon a few during my senior year. One of them was
“Lucky Sevans” (an expanded
version of the more common
“Sevans,” formed by my first
initial and my last name). During
the big “three days” of graduation
celebrations, I did my fair share
of reflection and realized how
truly lucky I’ve been. I think
that very few people are able to
meet as many strong, intelligent,
faithful people as I have. In terms
of role models, my life’s been
an embarrassment of riches, particularly because of Bishop John
Snyder – my high school’s namesake.
At its very core, my big hope for humanity is that everyone will
have hope. When you have hope – the knowledge that no matter
what your past, you have a future that can still be shaped in any
way desired – you have what you need. You can see your goals,
and you won’t be afraid to work for them; so much of the world’s
unhappiness is caused by fear.
Real hope includes courage, but not arrogance. We don’t
have hope because we’re sure we’ll get our reward. Rather,
we’re a hopeful people because we are, at the end of the day,
an extraordinarily lucky people. We have free will and a world
that is still filled with an awful lot of good – the Good Samaritan
movement is open to all – day or night.
To join, all you have to do is empty your hands, of course. You
have to let go of whatever has shielded you from other people – be
they material things, or maybe a tough attitude – and stretch your
hand out to the world.
It sounds intimidating, but you’re not worried. After all you
know that it’s just a matter of time before someone else empties
their hands and grabs hold of yours.
Sara Evans is a 2006 graduate of Bishop John J. Snyder High School
in Jacksonville. She was one of two winners of the inaugural Msgr. Joseph
James Essay Contest sponsored by the St. Augustine Catholic magazine
and awarded a $1,000 college scholarship. Sarah will attend The College
of William & Mary in the fall and plans to major in Political Science.
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