The Welcome Blog

 

Welcome 

    I haven't officially given an introductory blog so I figured I'd give one now. Some of you may know me some of you may not. I'm John Morgan Pabon Lee, I'm currently a student at Christendom College majoring in History. I love talking, comedy, art of all sorts from videography, photography, literature and music. I also own a YouTube channel along with this blog.

Who I am

I am originally from the evergreen state of Washington where I was born on September 22nd 2006 in Gig Harbor Washington. When I was little I would play in the trails close by my house which would honestly despite how simple playing in the woods would seem have such a profound impact on me.

The trail pictured here is said trail. I regard it sacredly so I'm not going to reveal its location besides that it's in Gig Harbor. As many have hopefully seen in both my work on YouTube and will hopefully see in my work in Literature that I view nature as a core and essential part of our being. I've always found a certain peace when going outside and walking through the various trails. There is something beautiful about knowing that in our joys in life and in our sorrows that you can find a certain peace knowing that nature will always be there in our surroundings. It has stood the test of time of history seeing many nations rise and fall and many wars occur some known some unknown to us. 

About my faith:

Abbot Marion and I after I was confirmed

I was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church on April 15th, 2007. I am a cradle Catholic, and my faith has and will always be a core part of my identity. Through the many things in life, I have fortunately or unfortunately experienced the church has always been there. I see the beauty in God sending his only begotten son to die for our sins which are many so that we might be saved. I've always felt the presence of God in adoration and in communion since my confirmation in 2022. I was confirmed by Abbot Marion who is the Abbot of the Benedictines at Saint Martin's Abbey which is connected to Saint Martin's University. I have recieved all my Sacraments except for whatever my vocation may be at Saint Nicholas of Tolentino Catholic Church in Gig Harbor. So even though I have moved around a lot since then Saint Nicholas will always be my home parish to me. For confirmation I chose Saint John The Baptist as my confirmation saint since not only was I named after him, but he holds a special place for French Canadians since he is our patron saint. I chose him because I could and can relate to him standing for truth especially in times where the world becomes so hollow and empty because of its lack of faith. I'm not Catholic because of my heritage or because of my baptism I made a choice to be confirmed and knew that I am called to profess the faith. There are many beauties to the faith that even I am still learning despite all that I do know and have learned. Now I will admit there have definitely been some low points in my faith, but I have never outright rejected God. I knew even when I wished for things to be different that God was there in my struggles. I still always find peace in the presence of God in Adoration. I will admit in times of grace it is peaceful and in times when I know I'm in a state of mortal sin I have felt the judgement so even though it is a great gift from God it comes with its burdens but I see these burdens as a nice thing to have. When I was choosing a college to go to and applying, I knew I wanted to still be able to practice the faith since many people my age end up losing the faith. So, I applied to 7 colleges and universities and ended up only getting 2 acceptances which was Saint Martin's University and Christendom College. It was a very tough choice since I was confirmed by Abbot Marion and even though I did not know it yet there had started to be a profound impact the benedictines have had on my faith as well as how I live and practice it. 

I ultimately chose Christendom College because it had a better community on campus both in culture and practice. I have read some spiritual literature such as the Imitation of Christ, Rule of Saint Benidict, Saint John Henry Newman's Stations of the Cross and last but not least the Bible. I tend to read more Old Testament literature since it speaks to me in a certain way besides the passion of Christ in the gospels. These books include Sirach, Song of Solomon, and Tobit. Sirach speaks to me a lot about friendship and marriage same with Song of Solomon. My favorite verses are from each respectively Sirach 6:14-16 A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: he that has found one has found a treasure. There is nothing so precious as a faithful friend, and no scales can measure his excellence. A faithful friend is an elixir of life; and those who fear the lord will find him. This passage is probably my favorite because of how serious it treats friendship and I live by it. Faithfulness to one's friends, and significant others is up most important and show fear in the lord. When we break friendships for invalid reasons and breach each other's trust we are making an affront to God. 

My favorite verse from Song of Solomon is only part of a verse but it is Song of Solomon 6:3

I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine I love this part of the verse because it speaks to me about the vocation of marriage which I know I am naturally called to. The beauty of marriage is the fact that both spouses give themselves up to each other in their entirety in a simaler way Christ gave himself up to us in his entirety. I often think about the day I hopefully give myself up entirely to a woman and she gives herself up entirely to me. Not in a selfish way but in a selfless way in which glorifies God. Nonetheless as you can see I take my faith very seriously and it is a core part of my life as well as my identity.

My Education and Adolescence

I went to the public school system from pre-K to 12th grade. I graduated from Sequim High School. Even though elementary and middle school were important the only important thing to note is my love of History came from my 6th grade social studies class with Mr. Mathew Hicks at Kopachuck Middle School and Mr. Green at Goodman Middle School since I transferred schools in 7th grade. Other than that it was only high school and college so far that has profoundly impacted me. My love for history continued in high school when I took AP World History my sophomore year with Mr. Corcoran, I began to understand cause and effect and that everything is connected and has significance. I saw how awesome history was in its fullness and seriousness and this ignited my love for history like a forest fire. I did take AP US History and as much as I love American history especially from colonialism to the Civil War I love World History because it's on a global scale and is by far in my opinion more interesting to look at with some exceptions such as Washington State History which on the surface seems dry and boring until you dig into the nitty gritty. 

Me after graduation with my Dad (Left)
my mom (right) and my Uncle Kevin Dad's side
(Far Right)

My love for literature began at a young age I grew up reading Beatrix Potter books when I was little and it was the book Johnny Townmouse that spoke to me the most and as silly as it may sound it still shapes my worldview. I read it again when I was in 3rd grade for class and the teacher asked us if we would rather live in the country in the peace and quiet or be like Johnny Townmouse and live in fear with lots of money. During this time my parents were continuing their war over me in a custody battle which I had no say so. If it was and had been up to me when they divorced when I was 4 I would of much rather lived at one of my uncles or had them stay together. Now I know many people even some friends of mine will say "well you were to young to make a decision" now while yes I was too young to vote, drive a car, open up a bank account etc... I knew what was right and wrong plus I was always treated older than I was. I love my dad but his house at the time did not feel like peace for me. It is a known fact I don't get along with his current wife. That's all I'm going to say about that. I will say that both my mom and dad made literature important to me. My mom would read to me and with me. My dad would make sure that I knew how to read, and I was for at a time pretty advance in my reading comprehension which I did feel stagnate once I was in 11th grade. Another two pieces of literature that I read in high school outside of class was Thomas Payne's Common Sense and Prince by Machievelli. These two works would undoubtedly shape the way in which I carry myself, but I did not know of complexities until my Senior year of high school when I took AP Literature with Mr. Sean Omera. I liked reading when I did it on my own, but I often found in class that I didn't like it with some exceptions like The Sun Does Shine my junior year. Mr. Omera did a phenomenal job he brought literature to life I began to actually love Shakespeare and found a deep and personal connection the play Hamlet, he taught us to embrace the complexities not only in literature but, in life. It made me actually love literature like I did when I was in elementary school. 

Mr. Omera (Right) with me at Graduation

It was in Mr. Omera's class that the seeds for my literary journey would be planted. I had picked up journaling my junior year of High School but it was Mr. Omera who took my understanding of literature and reading and refined it like a raw cut diamond where it became refined. I still email him from time to time and I will most likely email him this article but there was honestly no other teacher that made me love literature more than Mr. Omera. He had attended Saint Martin's University but he strongly incouraged me to go to Christendom College where I am studying now. Also, he's definitely part of the reason why I want to be a teacher. He made me see that teachers with the exception of my mom were real people. They weren't supper perfect in studying in high school. I was able to relate to him because of that and I hope that I can become the Mr. Omera of teaching Social Studies/History when I become a teacher. When I got to college, we began to read classics that were not Shakespeare such as the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, and Beowulf. However, it was not until reading Dante's Divine Comedy that I had not known what love is and my professor Dr. Alex Taylor brought it to life much like Mr. Omera but in a different way. He made it spiritual and tied in a lot of Theology and Philosophy. It was embracing the complexities of literature and brining it into the beatific vision which is what the Divine Comedy ultimately aims for. This would also be the time the seeds were planted for To Love Perfectly. It was also my philosophy 102 class that made me understand true love, joy, happiness and completion. Although I do disagree with happiness being the end of completion. Rather I see it as the means towards completion. Completion is the final end and you find that through the means of happiness which you find through love. It was at that time I came up with that thought.

Me at Mt. Rushmore

Other Info About Me:

    I have driven across the country; this was on part because of my decision to go to Christendom College. I started my YouTube channel in 2017 when I was going into 5th grade on August 12th. I originally wanted to be a film director. Then I wanted to be an Architect afterwards I realized that required a lot of math skills I do not have. Then I desired to be a farmer that's why I did Agriculture Science and why my Blogspot profile says I'm in the agriculture industry. In my time in the Agriculture program at Sequim High School I had Mr. McFarlen as a teacher for two classes (Agriculture Science and Food Science and Safety) He was probably the teacher at my high school I grew the closest to. I earned his respect and I loved his class and his insights to life. They were simple but true and earnest. I remember one time I had been rejected by a girl that I had grown obsessed over and I was heartbroken. He told me the story of how he met his wife. He was a cow farmer so he would come to school smelling like manure since he had to feed them before school and that girls weren't to fond of that and that he would often get rejected. He then told me that when he met his wife she wouldn't mind and loved him for who he was. That was the start of my understanding of love towards completion, and it all started because of Mr. McFarlen but came to completion because of Mr. Brown's philosophy 102 class. 

    I was also in Video Production in high school, and I was on the school news for 2 years as sometimes anchor and doing Fit of The Week my junior year to being the guy who did Question of The Week my Senior year. I am currently the film club president since the past film club election at Christendom College which I'm very excited for. I have two birds Comrade Bird, and Joan of Arc. They are Budgerigars more commonly known as Budgies or Parakeets. 

Conclusion

    I'm happy that I have started this blog, and I hope that this introduction has been helpful for readers not only to understand me but the way I write and how I view the world. I hope you enjoy the blogs and publications to come.