Colored Eggs

Easter is fast approaching. This is the time many people celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the only son of God. Long story short, Jesus spread the word of God, he made blind men see, he turned water into wine, and he walked on water. He had a group of 12 disciples whom he taught and trusted to teach others. One of the disciples, however snitched on him to to the Romans. Jesus was arrested, put on trial, beaten, mocked, whipped, crowned with thorns, and made to carry the cross that he was ultimately nailed to. After Jesus died on the cross, he was placed in a cave which was sealed with a gigantic stone and guarded by soldiers.On the third day, his tomb was opened and he was not there. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father. He died so that all sins may be forgiven.

Easter is a very important time for many people, including myself. It is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In no way am I mocking this so please don't take it as such. It is because this day is a very important religious holiday to many people that there are those who have commercialized this event for profit.(Can you say Christmas?) I could get into how the bunny rabbit, chocolates, and the colored eggs got involved, but that is a lengthy topic and another one altogether. What prompted me to write about this is, yesterday at a grocery store my 2.5 year old girl kept asking me to get the bear. I didn't know what she was talking about and we went back and forth about this. Turns out in the meat section above all the meat, were two shrink wrapped giant Easter baskets each filled with a teddy bear and some toys. In the freezer section the whole isle on both sides had shrink wrapped giant Easter baskets all filled with different toys, balls, princess jewelery, you name it, they had it. Other isles were filled with egg coloring kits, chocolate bunnies and eggs, marshmallow chicks, a gazillion familiar candy brands all bagged in pastel colors with the Easter bunny or cute baby chickens adorning the packaging. None of the packaging though had a cross to represent the real reason we celebrate Easter. I don't think the blame is solely on the merchants, although they are not so innocent either, it is consumer demand that the stores are trying to meet. Many of our government agencies, village mayor's offices, and some businesses are holding Easter egg hunts for the children. Yea right! It's the parents that are picking up all the eggs. One of the biggest egg hunts on Guam happens at the War in the Pacific Memorial Park. It is a sight to see. The start of the hunt is like a scene out of Mel Gibson's movie Braveheart. Just like the character, William Wallace, a commoner who unites the 13th Century Scots in their battle to overthrow English rule, was giving his army a catalyst of inspiration before one of their epic battles, the organizers of the egg hunt try to keep the antsy juvenile seekers of brightly colored prolate ellipsoids at bay while shouting directions and rules. As the countdown to the start reaches zero and the horde is let loose, a metamorphosis occurs as the would be juvenile egg hunters transform into adult no holds barred egg harvesters that use the excuse of gathering the colored boneless chicken encasements for their children. It is an egg collector feeding frenzy. In less than a minute all the eggs that were on the ground were picked up. Except for the ones that were trampled on. It's a phenomenon that happens every year. When my son was two years old seven years ago, I kid you not, just as his hand was 3 inches away from picking up his first official Easter egg, the parent of another kid scooped it out from under him and acted as if she did nothing wrong! At that age, just to have one egg would be fine, but the baskets of the other two year old kids were filled to the brim. Well I think I'm not as dumb as I look however, how two year olds can accomplish such a feat is far beyond me.

My family will celebrate Easter just like everybody else. We'll go to church in Easter clothes, eat
curried eggs (a yummy tradition adopted from my wife's family), have an egg hunt and look for the golden egg, and eat the ears off the chocolate rabbit first. Above all, my wife and I try to instill in our children the real reason for Easter Sunday, and it's not about the rabbit.

Happy Easter everybody