Intellectual Adventure

As a child, I dreaded Sunday mornings. I never looked forward to Sunday school, but it didn’t matter - my parents always forced me to go. Every Sunday morning, I scrambled through my closet looking for the hideous black skirt, white blouse, and colored boy scout-looking scarf. I purposely took my time getting ready, even though I knew my mom hated when we were late. No matter how hard I tried, I could never stall long enough; we were always on time. The Sunday school program was run in a way that was similar to that of a militaristic program. In between sessions, all of the students would unwillingly trudge back to the meeting hall where we responded to the leader's commands to line up with our sections. More often than not, the leaders would “reward” us with games, but these games never seemed like games. They seemed like a measurement of character, skill, and intelligence.

One day though, it all changed. The leaders were still the same, the program was still the same, the customs were still the same, but what changed was my perspective. I was scrolling through one of my social media accounts when I came across a picture of two men - one had on a military uniform, while the other was wearing professional attire. These men were grown, but what caught my eye was what was in the mirror. In the mirror was a reflection of two boys who were around the age of 18. These two boys were in their Sunday school uniforms - the same uniform that I always dreaded seeing. They had on a white button up, black slacks, and different colored scarves (representative of their rank). The picture was captioned, “No matter what we do, no matter who we are, no matter who we turn out to be, Thiếu Nhi Thánh Thể Việt Nam, The Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Society, will always be within us, just like how God is always within our hearts. Northeast - Queen of Peace @ Malden, Massachusetts.” Up until that point, I didn’t realize how special the program was. Soon enough, the organization's motto became my own: To participate in communion, to pray, to sacrifice, and to be an apostle.

The Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Society (VEYS) started in Vietnam with the intention to educate young children in Catholicism, but over time, they have spread all over the nation. Programs all over the world not only inspire Vietnamese children to grow in their faith, but also in their culture and language. When I visited Australia this past summer, I was able to meet my cousins who are also a part of the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Society. We bonded over our experiences with VEYS and made jokes that no one else would be able to understand. At one point, I also caught myself boasting about how great the community in Hawaii is.

I was not always proud of my ethnicity, but as I grew older, learned from others, and experienced new things, I embraced my culture with pride. Similarly, Coates found ways to find joy in being black and was able to gain more experiences, and more perspectives throughout his life. He enjoyed his time at Howard University, and he enjoyed learning from black people all around the world.