After receiving favourable feedback after giving this “Morning Wisdom” at our school assembly – I thought I would share it as a blog post.
It is important to put students in the best possible position in order to allow them the opportunity to make decisions
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As all of you know – yesterday marked a significant moment in the healing process of the country. It was a day marked with sadness, tears, memories of where people were and where they remember their loved ones being, and one that changed the lives of each and every person who witnessed the tragedies, whether there in person or on television.
What it also gave us though was a look into the spirit of a lot of people that morning. We not only saw men and women from various police and fire departments rush into buildings that were unstable, but also the spirit and heroism of thousands of others each in their own way. So many people who could have simply cared about their own safety found ways to give back, pick up others or fall themselves while trying to do good.
Now I’m not asking you to put your life in harm’s way this morning but I do think that each of us in this room can aspire to be heroic. Romain Rolland, a French Noble Prize winning writer, once said “A hero is a man (or woman) who does what he can.” And that got me to thinking about what each and every one of us is called to do every day here at Nativity Prep.
We are called every day to be heroes. To do what we can seems like such a simple task and quite honestly it is. Whether it be students or faculty, we each can do what we can for each other here at school and others outside our brick walls. It is not too much to ask the most of your brothers in your classes and to know that you are getting the very best from each of your teachers. Instead of laughing and pointing at someone who gave a wrong answer or when someone falls on the basketball courts, let us commit ourselves that he is not left on the ground defeated, or helped up by one caring person, but have every person offer a hand, to picked each other up, as a team, a school and as a family.
Everyone in this room has already taken the first steps towards being heroic. Each person who is here each morning has chosen to be here, part of this community. Now is the time of the year that we should not only be thinking about what a successful school year will look like individually, but in the context of the bigger picture, for everyone we encounter. No one else can make those internal choices – only you. Are your decisions putting you in the best possible position to achieve amazing results every day, and are you making each day matter in your life, using it to create good among others and feeling inspired to accomplish the goals that we see in our future.
So let us start this week and this academic year, by each being heroic.