December 2020: Repackaging Our Traditions
Dear Members of the Archmere Community,
I have been wrapping Christmas presents using boxes and bags, tissues and wrapping paper, and curling ribbon. Curling ribbon is interesting in that if you use the edge of your scissors to slide down a length of the ribbon, it suddenly turns into a shorter length of tight curls. If you keep sliding the straight-edge of the scissors on the ribbon, you can straighten it! Remarkable!
I have been wrapping Christmas presents using boxes and bags, tissues and wrapping paper, and curling ribbon. Curling ribbon is interesting in that if you use the edge of your scissors to slide down a length of the ribbon, it suddenly turns into a shorter length of tight curls. If you keep sliding the straight-edge of the scissors on the ribbon, you can straighten it! Remarkable!
As I was working with the ribbon, I was thinking about how “tightly” I am “wound”. Especially during this unusual time, I find that I don’t acknowledge the tension and anxiety I am feeling every day: waiting for something to happen related to the virus, hearing new numbers of positive tests and hospitalizations, and wondering what more can I do to keep our school community safe and my family safe so that people I know and care about are not added to the hospitalization counts. An additional worry with the Christmas holiday upon us is the need to research social tracing for each person we plan to see, and it can be exhausting. For me, these days have been like tightly wound curling ribbon.
Then I consider the “scissors.” They can tighten or loosen the curl on the ribbon. Scissors, for me, are using perspective to be able to relax a tightly-wound situation. If we can think about the context of our daily experience, we can soon realize that, as much as we would like to have a normal, pre-covid day, it is not possible. So we have to draw on our flexibility, patience, comfortability with not knowing and not planning too far in advance, and giving the benefit of the doubt to others who may have “short fuses” when engaging with us. We have to be grateful for what we can do and reframe situations to be positive and “more than” rather than “less than”.
The curling ribbon is strong. It is difficult to pull apart, and it works well to bundle together individual boxes into a gift tower. Some of our habits and traditions are unchangeable and unbreakable. These things hold us together and are fundamental to our being - celebrating our faith, family, and friendships. We just have to repackage ways to do all of these things as we rebuild our gift towers.
The Holy Family is inspirational, especially at this time, considering that nothing was ordinary about the birth of Jesus, which we are about to celebrate. Joseph and Mary had to have tremendous faith to follow God’s plan as it was being revealed to them in dreams and visitations from angels. I dare say that many of us would be challenged to handle these messages from God that would change the course of our lives. Yet, in some way, that is what has been happening to us due to the pandemic. Perhaps, this year more than any other, we might begin to come closer to understanding the extreme sacrifices Joseph and Mary made. To them, it had to be beyond anything they could have imagined. Reframed, it was the most miraculous moment for the world.
I never thought that curling ribbon would allow me to be so introspective about how I am feeling. Still, I am glad to share my thoughts, as I imagine that many other people like me are wrapping Christmas presents, using boxes and bags, tissues and wrapping paper, and curling ribbon.
Sincerely,
Michael A. Marinelli, Ed.D. '76
Headmaster
Archmere Academy is a private, Catholic, college preparatory co-educational academy,
grades 9-12 founded in 1932 by the Norbertine Fathers.
grades 9-12 founded in 1932 by the Norbertine Fathers.
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