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.