TO MY FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES, to liberals, progressives, conservatives, right wing, left wing, centrists — to decline-to-statists — to all of Benicia, this lovely town we share: Happy Easter!

Today is clearly a day for removing the barriers, junking the labels and recriminations and rejoicing together. The excited children are surely uninterested in politics — they are searching for those lovely colored eggs, creating their stashes of jellybeans, eggs and sweets denied them by their guardians on virtually all other days — or so it surely must appear at numerous crucial moments to the aggrieved young! But perhaps this custom has disappeared in all but my memory, and any concern with balancing the health of children’s teeth against the tragedy of sweet-deprivation is entirely unnecessary!

Easter Sunday was, for the Catholic Church in Rockland, Michigan, as for all the churches, a celebratory, breakout moment for the congregation — and surely for the choir! The choir was never more spirited, more blended, more compelling in voice and emotion than at Easter. On that morning they could have starred at Carnegie Hall! And consider — that feat was being duplicated in innumerable churches across the land!

For those heading for church and those wonderfully joyous and beautiful hymns; for those heading for the seashore, the lake, for a swim or boat ride or some tranquil streambank for a relaxing picnic, have a wonderful time. Enjoy a blessed service, a lovely scenic drive, a relaxed time together with those you love and who love you, all or any part of these or any alternate scenarios you devise. Enjoy all of it, and most especially each other!

I have surely had my share of wonderful Easters; a mother who poured her love into making that day so rich and special that its anticipation was almost more than one could contain.

In turn, one remembers that excitement in planning for one’s own children and sharing their joy and excitement.

Easter Sunday for me as a youth and later adult in Rockland, that beautiful village, was a walk down the street on the way to the Catholic Church service, meeting others heading to that service or to the other two denominations, all the ladies having spent considerable time preparing for both the service and the “parade.” Not a contest, really — well, not supposed to be (!), but what are you going to do with human nature? Consider only the song: “Put on your Easter Bonnet, with all the frills upon it, you’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.”

What are you going to do with the contradictions? Of custom and the grievous sin of pride conjoined on this special religious day?

But perhaps those are only the ruminations of a (sort of) aging fellow trapped in the past. Perhaps modern Easter has stripped off all of that prideful behavior; no special dress, hat, shawl — just the basics, no show, just the arrogant pride of an unmatchable humility! Perhaps. But somehow I guess “mine” and “the modern” retain some faint strains of similarity!

And, as I have noted, apart from that “Easter parade” bit, there is the wonderful shared experience for all; the music at service, the swelling joy of the music, the choir inspired, the song so rich and lovely on this celebratory day. I am very certain that this is not different at this time and place than it was for me back then.

I have had many, many Easters in many different places, but none, I feel, with quite the impact and significance for me of Easter Sunday in Rockland. I have written before of Father Linnamin, a very intelligent, sensitive and gentle, deeply feeling man with a halting speaking style that could have been a handicap in conveying his message. His fundamental personal qualities and feelings were, however, compelling. I would visit and talk with him, not often enough, but surely it was a rewarding experience. And for me Father Linnamin and Easter were a perfect fit!

And how could I ever forget that Easter back on that quasi-wilderness farm out of Ewen, Michigan, and the feast my mother created beginning with the two partridges and the snowshoe rabbit that were my contribution! With mashed potatoes — no lumps! — gravy, pumpkin pie, apple pie … et al.! That is surely one of the marvelous gifts of Easter for us all — its rich family memories!

Finally, and on a somewhat different note, I will observe that my last two weeks in the very Christian country of Germany in 1945 included a combination of events that were conjoined in a way that has its own special significance.

It included within that approximate two weeks, Easter, my visit to Nordhausen, a concentration camp, my own abrupt exit from the country via airplane, and that marvelous hospital ward in Wales with my fellow very happy survivors. A strange chain of connections.

In closing, let me wish for each and every one of you a joyous, a happy Easter, filled with an abundance of love and the company of your loved ones.

And for those alone or in pain on this day — and they are many — my deepest, my heartfelt sympathies. My wishes for the resolution of your pain or your loneliness will be of little help, but I feel this nevertheless. May the coming days provide you with some pathways to connection with persons or to resources that will ease your way. This is my most profound wish and hope.

Jerome Page is a Benicia resident.

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