December 3rd
As many of you are aware, December 3rd is the Feast of Saint Francis Xavier. As someone who is neither Catholic nor religious for that matter, you may wonder why it is significant enough to me to write about. Well, this year marked 25 years since I put mine on and it saw one of my cousin anointed in to this “clan”. As such, Doreen and I took time to watch some of the live stream of the ceremony.
This led us through an interesting conversation. First of all, I will admit I did not watch the whole thing but I will say it is such a different ceremony to the one I attended 25 years ago.
Although the president’s opening remarks that bordered on mocking the tradition rubbed Doreen and I a bit the wrong way, I instead want to focus on what I have always seen as one of the most important aspects of the x-ring. The sense of community and friendship.
When I received my x-ring, the only ceremony attendees were those receiving their rings. It was not the spectacle that you see today including parents, family and friends. We left the spectacle making to later in the evening at the Golden X Inn. It was about us, as students, our connection to one another and the symbol that we were part of this large Xavieran family.
The guest speaker at this year’s ceremony spoke of this connection. She said that convocation was the celebration of our academic achievement but that X-ring was a celebration of our student life, of the time spent making friendships that would last a lifetime. I have to say I could not agree more. My FB feed that day was full of posts that reinforced this as well. I realize that some of those friendships exist and survive due to social media, but they are still there. Others are such strong bonds that I could not imagine life without them. These people whom, after 25 years still cheer-lead for one another.
My parents, particularly our mom, was so supportive of our academic journey. She knew that it would give both Doreen and I opportunity. The kind, which she herself did not enjoy, but she also knew that we would build and/or cement friendships that would last a lifetime. Her time working for Marine Atlantic had a dorm like element to it, shared living quarters, cafeteria food and friendship. So she cherished the idea that we would experience the bonds formed.
This is not a new topic here on the blog; friendship is one of the pillars of our conversation. To our mother, family was paramount but she showed us that that family could also be of your making not just your birth. So to the family we have chosen, Hail and Health.
