Voice Of The Gold Sage » Photo Gallery » 2013 » Highlight of Cherishing Youth Day
Highlight of Cherishing Youth Day2014-06-24
By: Jenny Tran
This year’s youth day was on Sunday 4/28/13. I was one of the volunteers to provide food, so I came to prepare my food on Saturday (the day before). When I stepped in Golden Sage Monastery, I was amazed by the decorations. It was like Chinese New Year. Back in Vietnam, before the New Year, we always prepared by hanging up decorations and preparing big feast for our family. Same thing happened here at our temple. Everyone was so happy. In the kitchen, volunteers were cutting and washing vegetables. Outside the halls, volunteers were putting up tents and hanging decorations. Everyone worked with a big smile on his/her face. I thought to myself that the youth day would be wonderful.
The next morning I came to the temple around 8am. To my surprise, a lot of volunteers were already there. At around 9am, children came and gathered in the Buddha hall to listen to dharma master’s speech, watch the teaches-students group show, enjoy the children’s song and Buddhist songs. What a magnificent group of children. They all looked very happy. I couldn’t stay and watch the following events because I had to start cooking the food. After the meal offering ceremony, everyone got in line to get food. There were so many different kinds of vegetarian food to choose from. We had BBQ, pizza, sushi, sandwiches, desserts, and more. Everything looked so delicious and smelled so good. I could smell the BBQ from afar.
After lunch, all the children were having fun with the their games and activities. Firstly Allen led everybody joinsinging Buddhist songs, then the outdoor games started. There are total eight game stations, including reciting the Buddha’s name, meditation, arts, turning the Dharma-wheel. These games were all entertaining and meaningful. One of the game stations was hosted by girl scouts, where they taught children to make paper flowers. The flower products will be donated to a nursing home and re-habitation center as Mother’s day gifts. Besides having fun, children were able to serve the community out of kindness. They will earn a stamp for each game they participated in. After collecting enough stamps, they will win prizes. You can hear the happy laughter of the children, and see the satisfying smiles of parents everywhere.
The plan for a whole year starts in Spring. The Venerable Master Hua advocated holding the annual Cherishing Youth Day in the spring, this carries a far-reaching significance. Children are the future pillars of the society. To ensure the stability of society and safety of people, it is necessary to start from education of children. Cherishing Youth Day is just one day, but it has planted roots of goodness in the hearts of the children, which in the future will be able to take root and grow, and lead the children step on the right path.
We are grateful to all the volunteers who worked hard for this festival, and to all the parents who brought their children to come and attend the activity, and especially to all the future masters of society who let everyone have a great day.
