Life teaches me

Life teaches me new things each day.

Sometimes, I’m totally surprised to see things I thought I knew from a completely different perspective.

We have our own printing press on St. Joseph’s Indian School’s campus, Tipi Press, and I was giving a visitor a tour and stopped by to see how things were going. Mark showed us the large 4-color press going at full throttle. He had a powerful magnifying glass to show us how different colors are made not by mixing ink, as I supposed, but by printing a blend of small dots (1200 per inch) in four colors that, as you look from a distance, trick the eye into seeing one color. Many things in life, you have to look at carefully to discover how they really are.

I had lots of meetings today, working on revamping our pastoral care programs, going over finances, working on a narrative for the history of Indian boarding schools for our Akta Lakota Museum, reflection time with a summer intern and visiting with donors who stopped by to see our campus and programs their donations make possible.

Scranton Preparatory School from Pennsylvania has been coming to St. Joseph’s each summer for a few years. They are involved in service projects and helping with our Rising Eagle Day Camp.

After a full day of activity with the children who came to camp from Lower Brule Indian reservation, I caught the group in the Ambrose Home around the supper table. None of the students had ever been to South Dakota before, and it was fun to hear their initial impressions of the wide open prairie, the Badlands and Black Hills. I answered lots of questions about the school, students and families we serve, and began to find out a little about each of them.

I noticed a nice spirit and sense of fun and camaraderie among the group. As they raised money to pay for their mission trip, they ran into several friends and family members from their community who have been long time donors to our school. They were generous in helping these young people in their travels, and delighted to facilitate an even more personal impact and concrete difference.

Author: St. Joseph's Indian School

At St. Joseph's Indian School, our privately-funded programs for Lakota (Sioux) children in need have evolved over 90 years of family partnership, experience and education. Because of generous friends who share tax-deductible donations, Native American youth receive a safe, stable home life; individual counseling and guidance; carefully planned curriculum based on Lakota culture and individual student needs and tools to help build confidence, boost self-esteem and improve cultural awareness. All of this helps children to live a bright, productive, possibility-filled future.

0 thoughts on “Life teaches me”

  1. It`s so good to not only see my E-mails from you and the School–but get other info here at Facebook! Many years ago–St. Joe`s was the First NDN School I blessed with some money–and had done so for many years after that–along with several others too! Life now does not provide me with even enough money to live on let alone help “my schools”…But God works in mysterious ways and has come up with Many Others that chip-in to Replace me!! My Heart is Always with My Kids and Schools along with my prayers for them too. May the Great Spirit always bless you all and give you much Happiness Always…Love…RGC…New Jersey!! a-ho!!

  2. Fr. Steve, the printing press taught you a VERY valuable lession about life! I enjoy your blogs so much — thanks for sharing with us out in the rest of the country. Sounds like summer is going great at St. Joseph’s. It was a treat to read the above comment, by the way. May God Bless Mr. Cook!

Leave a Reply to Jean Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *