Recently I grabbed a cab at the Juneau Airport to conclude a business trip. Kathy was the driver and I asked how the tourist season was treating her. She indicated that she thought it was a bit slow. In overseeing the work at the Shrine of St. Therese, I am aware that the number of visitors has increased. In light of this, I asked if she had taken people to the shrine. She paused and then proceeded to tell me of one gentleman who jumped into her cab at the airport a couple of weeks ago. It had been 30 years since he had been in Juneau.

Now that we are almost midway into June, many of us are either taking some time off or planning on doing so this summer. Our vacation may not be much longer than an extended weekend spent at home in the garden or out on the water or it may be for several weeks or even months traveling across the globe. But whatever particular form it takes, we need to take time off from our daily routine of work in order to be fully human.

It amazes me that this fall we will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Like many people, I recall how the day unfolded. At that time I was serving in Washington, D.C. and I could see from my office window smoke rising from the attack at the Pentagon. Since that day, our outlook on travel, world politics and religion have changed.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Pope John Paul II called for peace between Christians and Muslims.

It was the fall semester of my senior year in high school and I was starting the day in my assigned homeroom. We had already said the Pledge of Allegiance, offered our moment of silent prayer and we were listening to the morning announcements. The principal came on the public address system to announce the title of the senior class musical. Mr. Taggart announced that the 1975 senior class play would be “The Music Man.”