Thanksgiving offers all of us a chance to reflect on the many gifts we have received and give thanks. At MCC, we have many reasons to be thankful, and at the top of that list is you. You give your best to our students, and it shows. You have committed to making our College inspiring, and it shows. You believe in our mission, and it shows. You care deeply about the success of our community, and it shows. Your impact is visible in every classroom, office, and hallway; we can see it everywhere we look and follow it beyond MCC into the lives of our students, their academic journeys, and their successful careers.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I share a poem by Alberto Rios, “When Giving Is All We Have,” that, simply and powerfully, captures the reasons we give and how, in giving, we come together to create “something greater.” The gifts you give to our students and our College make something muchgreater.
Thank you.
https://www.monroecc.edu/blogs/2015/11/23/in-the-spirit-of-thanksgiving/
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When Giving Is All We Have
Alberto Ríos
One river gives
Its journey to the next.
We give because someone gave to us.
We give because nobody gave to us.
We give because giving has changed us.
We give because giving could have changed us.
We have been better for it,
We have been wounded by it—
Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet,
Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails.
Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too,
But we read this book, anyway, over and again:
Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand,
Mine to yours, yours to mine.
You gave me blue and I gave you yellow.
Together we are simple green. You gave me
What you did not have, and I gave you
What I had to give—together, we made
Something greater from the difference.
Anne M. Kress
President
11/25/2015 |