One of my resolutions for the year was to return to my practice of summarizing each month as it came to a close. I'm a few days behind schedule, so I figured that I shouldn't wait any longer. Thus, in no particular order, here are some of the highlights of the past month:

I started the month with a post about some of my favorite movies. Just off the top of my head, I have come up with several more that I didn't include on the list, but it was a good list anyway.

I chaperoned Prom and then helped with its clean up the following day.

I fixed a pipe that had started leaking within one of our walls.

Mera somehow found out my plans to get a new vehicle and has been consistently locking me out in retaliation.

I started looking into and then began planning an educational trip to Rome and Athens for next spring break.

We celebrated the Triduum and began the season of Easter.

I've attended all of Connor's track meets (He had preliminaries for boroughs today, qualifying for the finals this Saturday in all of his races).

I responded to the growing number of posts that attack teachers, and later responded to those who are against student loan forgiveness.

I finally installed the ceiling fan in the last downstairs bedroom.

I watched the excellent opening night of "Arsenic and Old Lace."

Connor got a buzz cut in exchange for $40.

I started DMing a Pool of Radiance campaign.

Our dishwasher broke.

We finished season 4 of Cobra Kai--I really enjoy that show!

On the final day of the month, Janelle and I drove up to Anchorage to make a Costco run, visit friends, and get in a few games of Catan.

I have seen a variety of extreme-right-wing "news" sites riling up people against the idea of student loan forgiveness. The sites like to talk about how people used to pay back their debts, but now expect others to do so for them. It was not a surprise to me that I would then start seeing more of the fear-mongering rhetoric replicated on the social media of my right-wing friends and family. I started a discussion with one person, whom I do not know, who had parroted one of the sound bites. I pointed out that in the past 10 years alone, the cost of college in the U.S. has increased nearly 40%. In the past 40 years, the minimum wage has remained unchanged.

The person replied by talking about how her father supported her family with only a 6th grade education, how her retirement income is not enough to take on someone else's debt, and how she made her own way by working full time and paying for her courses as she went--never taking more classes than she could pay for. She ended by saying, "We need to spend more time helping high school students realize what their options could be."

​My response is as follows:

Meanwhile, I believe that we need to spend more time opening up options for our high school students. Your above argument indicates that you have worked hard to get what you have, but are largely out of touch with what is going on today.
 
First, times have changed. Today, a 6th grade dropout would be hard pressed to find any job, let alone one that would house and feed a family. Your college classes, assuming you took them about 30 years ago like I did, were less than a third of the cost of classes today. What we paid for an entire full-load semester would barely cover a single class. Were you another 10 years removed (1982), your tuition for an entire year would barely match the (inflation adjusted) cost of that one class (2022). Why? Because federal and state money that had been devoted to colleges and universities has been cut substantially. Those classes you paid for yourself were already subsidized by a significant amount--an advantage which today's students do not have.
 
Secondly, you are already paying for this high amount of student debt, more than if the loans were forgiven. For example, our nation is facing a critical shortage of doctors. Becoming a doctor is a grueling, time-consuming, and increasingly costly experience. Many people are choosing more lucrative routes than taking on the debt now required to attain the degree. Those who do avoid working with lower income people or as general practitioners because the salary does not keep pace with the loans and insurance. This has led to an increase in medical costs, especially as a smaller amount of overworked doctors are more likely to make mistakes which lead to even more costly insurance (not to mention less healthy patients). It's a continuing spiral of costs in just this one field that requires advanced degrees, but a sign of a systemic problem which will cost you (and all of us) more and more as time goes on.
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Third, the cost of student loan repayment would not fall on you under any of the current plans (unless you're bringing in over $400,000 a year--in which case, you need to stop whining about how little you have).
 
I understand that propaganda is telling you that people are lazier than they were when you were in school, but that is simply not the case. Student loan forgiveness is a step to returning to a system that you had unknowingly benefited from, perhaps even making it better in a way that encourages those with the capabilities and determination to achieve their dreams, rather than leaving education more and more in the hands of only the wealthy.

John, the Beloved One, is one of the major celebrities of the New Testament. Not only does he have his own Gospel, but Revelations and a few books bearing his name are attributed to him as well. He is the only disciple to stand at the foot of the Cross, and He is able to race ahead of Peter to the empty Tomb. Despite knowing all of this, I found myself surprised when our priest mentioned that John was the youngest of the Apostles in today's homily.

Of course, it now seem obvious in hindsight. This even explains the special care that Jesus takes to place him in His mother's care (and vice versa) before He passed away (Although, I should note that it was likely an awkward moment as John's biological mother was standing right there, too.). It also explains why John was the first to spot Jesus on the shore in today's Bible reading.

To me, this make the fact that Peter is the one to dive off the boat and swim to Jesus that more impressive. John, the writer of this Gospel reading, specifically mentions that he was present (albeit in third person). One would expect him to be the one, full of youthful impetuousness, to jump off the boat and head to Jesus. Instead, he reports that it is Peter who had that rash energy and complete devotion. John beat Peter to the tomb, but Peter beats them all in greeting Jesus on the shore.

​John could have easily written himself into that part; that he doesn't says something about his character and the integrity of his writings.