on June 20, 2013 at the CanadInns Regent.
Dear Friends,
This is such an unexpected, overwhelming honour. My deepest thanks to the Board of the Osvita
Foundation – Vicky Adams, Marusia Haluk, Ken Romaniuk, for the nomination. And apologies for messing up your schedule. When Vicky called, she said the date was June
6. I replied that I was going to be in
Australia. Deep silence on the other
end. They had to scramble to find
another date and location. Also, my
thanks to Susan Zuk and Natalia Sovinska of MPUE.
This morning when I logged on – it said -- on the
calendar: you have no events scheduled
today Thu Jun 20, 2013 (I guess I was getting ready for Australia)
I’m not sure that I should be up here. Over the years, I
have contributed to Ukrainian education and information – but it’s for ulterior
motives – selfish ones. The research and
the writing has been for me. If I could share it, that’s a benefit, but
primarily I do this for myself. Ever
since I can remember, I have wondered about why we Ukrainians do what we
do. Why this custom, why this food, why
this ritual on this holy day, what does this song mean? The reply from my parents was – bo tak, bo
tak maye buty, bo tak vse robyly --- because, because that is how it is
supposed to be, because it has always been this way. Bo tak.
