Offense, Forgiveness and Self Control

From the Principal’s Desk 2.4

Have you ever been offended?  Ever been royally mistreated and found your sense of righteous indignation rise up like a volcano?  The sense of justice mixed with revenge, can be a powerful emotion.  Like all things however it needs to be controlled.  There are times when we must, in the cause of what is right, stand our ground; conversely there are times when we, in the cause of what is right, must allow the injustice, and like our Savior, humbly bear the indignity.   In any case we must exercise self-control.   This particular virtue often times saves our lives and the lack of it often endangers our lives.  Coming home last weekend I watched a motorcyclist nearly be hit by a car, and then watched the motorcyclist antagonize the driver of the car for the next 15 miles creating a hazard for the biker and everyone else.  The biker was aggrieved but lacking self-control created a hazard for everyone else. 

As parents we can model the correct way to react to injury and insult and the way we react will teach our own children.  A case in point, several years ago I was a farmer and I was struggling to unstick a spring, the spring came loose with an enormous amount of energy, most of which hit my knuckle.  In the split second we have between your body being injured and our reaction I looked at the 5 or 6 little kids, my neighbors children and my own, who had come to watch me work and maybe get a ride on the hay wagon and realized that should I say something inopportune it would be repeated endlessly in the neighborhood, so I kept my mouth shut.  It was hard but worth it.  

Finally, the Homecoming dance is coming up and we have a few guidelines for the clothes.  The idea behind the guidelines is to allow everyone who comes to the dance to have a good time and not be distracted.  I have asked that all the boys show up with shirt and tie and appropriate footwear, and for the young ladies to wear dresses that rise no higher than 4 inches from the top of the knee and fit  appropriately and modestly across the top.  These dances are meant to be higher class than others and we want to dress and act accordingly.   Should someone inadvertently  come to the dance in a manner not in keeping with these requests, I will ask them to wait in the office and contact their parents.   Should you have any questions about this or anything else please feel free to contact me.

Character Counts

From the Principal’s Desk 2.5

Dear Friends,

The most important indicator of eventual success for a child is not intellect, good looks, athletic ability or health.  The single most important indicator of eventual success is character.  A person with strong character, who does the right thing because it is the right thing, who tells the truth because it is the truth, who only hands in their own work, because it is theirs, who treats members of the opposite sex properly because it is the right thing to do; these persons go onto to be truly successful.  In this I mean they go on to be great fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, priest and nuns, brothers and sisters and they go on to become great employees and employers, scholars and most important of all, go on to be saints.  When they die their life will be regarded as a blessing.

When we see our children it is important to appreciate the many good things they do, the sports, the grades, but it is critical to encourage strong character, that will make the difference.

Forgiveness and Freedom

From the Principal’s Desk 2.3

Dear Parents and Friends,

Forgiveness is a challenge in this world and the events of 9/11 tend to bring this issue clearly into focus.  When someone hurts you there is often nothing you can do about it, but until you forgive you are stilled trapped in that pain.  This is of course the lesson drawn from the Our Father, where we were exhorted to forgive…to be forgiven. 

Because they are larger grievances some things are harder to forgive than others; forgive them we must if we wish to be free.   That is the great challenge and promise of Christianity.  So when our students come home with a complaint, the first thing we need to do is encourage them to forgive the offending party, then we need to address the problem.  This is the path to life that our Master taught us.   

And for the souls of all who perished on 9/11 and in the subsequent wars that flowed from that day, may perpetual light shine upon them, and may they, and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.