I would like to specifically address why I was deeply offended by what Fr. Butler said. You cannot claim to love everybody and then discriminate in how you give your love and who you give your love to. Jesus asks us to love unconditionally, without discrimination, and with special care for the most vulnerable. Matthew 25:40 makes this clear: “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

The Ode of Remembrance is a verse I have committed to memory since I was at least 6 years old. And as I sit and write this, mere moments from the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, it is echoing in my mind.

"There would be no complaining, self-pity, nor worry. It was time for these athletes to go to work, time for them to change the world."