THEME: PEOPLE ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT
vs PROFIT MAKING MENTALITY
The VII B students of St. Dominic Savio High School, guided by Mrs. Valeri Mascarenhas their class teacher, placed before the students values of being 'people oriented' rather than just grow to have a profit making mentality.
They spoke of the rapid changes taking place in the city with massive constructions such as the Bandra-Worli sea link, the metro-line, fly-overs and sky-scrapers being built all over the city but with no concern to the common man. In this development each one seems to be making a quick buck to fill his or her own pocket. Though there seems to be development on the one hand poverty is still a major issue in India and many people still live below the poverty line. As long as we think of ourselves and remain selfish, the country will not prosper.
A beautiful example cited by the students was the River Jordan; As the waters of the Jordan flow down they first open into the lake called the Sea of Galilee. This lake is life giving, it is full of fish and its waters irrigate the neighboring lands. The waters from here flow on along the Jordan to finally end in the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is 395m below sea level and hence it does not allow the water to flow on and so salt levels rise high. So high that aquatic plants and fish die!
The youngsters took us around the continent showing us the various calamities that have occurred in the recent past with the destruction caused by the Tsunami, the plight of the farmers in Maharashtra, doctors in Gujarat involved in a scam selling used syringes etc.
Every bit of news seemed so negative that they had to STOP this negative flow of news and focused on something more positive. They took a trip around the campus of St. Dominic Savio where youngsters seem to reach out to one another in many ways, and where the good and the betterment of the youngster is always considered. Dominic Savio's has many youngsters of all ages who come to make use of its spacious grounds, area, sports, and get involved in various extra curricular activities. These are open to not just the kids of the school but to youth and to children and youngsters from the surrounding bastis.
The compere ended with the words of our Father, Mahatma Gandhi: “The earth has enough to satisfy mans need but not enough to satisfy his greed.
Fr. Rector in his concluding words spoke about the River Jordan and that we need to be life-giving and share what we have so that not only we benefit but all those around us also benefit. If we try and accumulate and have a selfish attitude by trying to horde and store things for ourselves, like the Dead Sea we will slowly saturate and stagnate and died to ourselves - we no more become life-giving.
There were a few prizes given away after the presentation of the class. The Under-14 were awarded their medal for having secured the third place in the Football tournament.
Awards were also given to the classes who had collected the most for the Poor Boys Deserving fund; for Discipline; and Studies.
