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Courage

"The best way out is always through."
—Robert Frost

As I write, a February blizzard is barreling up the coast, burying streets and sidewalks under piles of snow. We needed this. It points to eliciting good from bad, courage from fear, resilience.

We have been dealing with the adversity of Covid-19 for a year now. It has not been an easy journey for any of us, but I am grateful for the way the Saint David’s community has come together and risen to the challenge. The exceptional professionalism of the faculty and staff, the unwavering support of our parent body, and the optimism of our boys exemplify the courage that times like these demand. 

 

We are in the middle of that marathon I mentioned at the beginning of the school year—the end is somewhat in sight but now our muscles ache, we feel thirsty and tired, it’s painful, and even though we see the end it still feels a long way off. Wouldn’t it just be easier to quit now? Call it a day? . . . No, never. The only way out is always through. When you’re going through hell, Churchill said, keep going. It’s not the place you want to stop. We will arrive at the finish line, safely, even if it takes longer than any of us might have wished or hoped. As shared here in the Journal of the American Medical Association, schools can be open and are not significant sources of transmission when proper precautions are taken. We are committed to those precautions and to keeping Saint David’s open, in person, for as long as it’s safe.

Our school-year theme of resilience ties into this notion of courage. In living through this pandemic, we are actively experiencing resilience as a shared, collective experience. It’s easy to be resilient when everything is going our way, when all the moons are aligned. Real resilience is forged when presented with hardship and challenge. This is where character is forged, too.

We may feel overwhelmed and anxious, like we are failing at school, work, or home. At times like this we all need to be easier on ourselves, take care of ourselves mentally, physically, spiritually. Our boys don’t learn by listening to what we say. They learn by watching what we do; and right now they are watching how we navigate an exceptionally challenging time. They are learning in real time—especially from their teachers—what courage actually looks like. It can be important to release our internal pressure valves and remain confident that we are teaching our boys something essential: how to navigate life—not when it’s easy, when it’s hard. We are teaching them the value of relationships: with their teachers, each other, their families.

Ut viri boni sint. 

 



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