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Reaching for the Moon


 "My barn having burned down, I can now see the Moon.”*

Last week, I met with the Class of 2021—gathered together in Otto-Bernstein Theater for the first time this year as a whole class—to commend them for their incredible resilience, their scholarship, sportsmanship, creativity, and faith, before introducing a special upcoming “Adventures in New York” week we have planned for them.

I opened my remarks with the quote above, fitting because Michael Collins’ passing was announced earlier in the morning. Collins was the third of three NASA astronauts who crewed the first Moon landing in 1969, and the only one who couldn’t step on the lunar surface. He was charged with orbiting it instead, ensuring the safety of his fellow astronauts. How he must have felt after a lifetime of preparation to be so close and yet so far. Not being able to walk the Moon had to be a disappointment, but Collins knew what his mission was and he did it. Today, his descriptions of Earth as a “fragile” blue dot in the vastness of space, remain a poignant message.

There is a lesson in his story and in the Japanese samurai’s quote. When things don’t go as we would have planned or preferred, we can either remain stuck in what was, or what we think should still be—holding on to what no longer exists—or, we can look for opportunity, see what couldn't be seen before, adjust, and move in a new, potentially more exciting direction. Since the spring of last year, our boys, our teachers, and our families all have done exactly that. In our eagerness to return to “normal,” let’s remain disciplined, vigilant, and safe.

We are grateful to the Class of 2021 for leading us through this pandemic with style and grace. We thank them for being resilient, optimistic, and for leading by example. They stayed focused on their studies, applied to high school, and supported each other. In sum, they got the job done. We thank them for their creativity, sportsmanship, scholarship, and faith, all of which helped our student body work through this challenging year. 

During these final six weeks, as conditions continue to improve, we will pursue more opportunities to bring the graduating boys together safely as an entire class, including Outside Commons, Recess, and Sports. In addition, as we monitor the situation, we will look to gradually open up other grade levels and classes, and increase interaction across pods and cohorts.

Thank you, Class of 2021. Thank you, Saint David’s community. With vigilance and optimism, let’s continue to push through the last few miles of this marathon and reach for the Moon.


*Mizuta Masahide (17th century Japanese samurai)

www.saintdavids.org

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