8 minute read
From the Principal
The Space to Choose
DR LINDA EVANS, PRINCIPAL
In speaking of places and spaces in between, Viktor Frankl, holocaust survivor, psychiatrist and Christian, is attributed as saying:
Whether or not Frankl said these precise words, matters little. What matters is that he gained insight through enduring difficulty. His was suffering at its most extreme, yet in its midst, he found hope through what he termed 'the space the choose one's own way'. In the following words, he illustrates this beautifully –
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts, comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
It is easy for us to view 2020 as having been a year of enormous struggle, to talk of it as a disaster, or of the things we missed out on. It was an extraordinary year. We were all held captive in some way by the power of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was difficult for everyone and amid this difficulty; we were called to have perspective. Frankl, as an Auschwitz survivor, gives clear perspective; he also reminds us that we have the freedom to choose [our] attitude in any given set of circumstances; to choose [our] own way. From moment of stimulus to moment of response there is a space for contemplation.
This pandemic entered our collective consciousness in ways we couldn’t have imagined, can’t imagine or haven’t imagined; our global and local responses were and are varied and interesting.
• In Bangalore, India, a restaurant Desi Masala fed more than 10,000 vulnerable people every day. • British Army Captain, the late Tom Moore, aged 100, set out to raise money for the Health Services by walking back and forth in his garden – he raised over $32 million British pounds. • People in Naples, Italy left solidarity baskets for those struggling … 'Put in, if you can, take out, if you can’t.’
More locally at Fairholme – when staff stand-downs appeared imminent – administration staff responded by offering to reduce their working hours to allow others to continue to work, the swim staff became bathroom cleaners just to allow the pool to reopen, and our Day families opened their homes to our Boarders, to enable them to return to face-to-face learning. Even
in our grimmest moments ‘we can hold despair in one hand and hope in the other.’ That was the COVID silver lining, the distillation of what really matters.
We can choose to see silver linings, and we can create them through our choices. Author and Peak Performance Researcher, Dr Adam Fraser, has investigated this space in between stimulus and response – he refers to it in his same-titled book, as The Third Space. His fascination with this began when he worked with soldiers returning from military service in Iraq. Not surprisingly, they brought the stress and trauma of being a soldier into their homes. Fraser observed that they needed significant focus and support within this transition period, within the third space.
Australian Steve Hooker finished 28th in the world in pole vault at the Athens Olympics. Four years later at the Beijing Olympics he won gold. In between time he focused meticulously on getting the small things right in the transition space between defeat and success. Another researcher studied the world’s top tennis players – Nadal, Federer, Serena Williams, for example. He discovered that what separated them from other players were their rituals in the time between points, not in playing the points themselves.
Perhaps this attention to detail, to maintaining the rituals of College life and College culture, was at the heart of the Fairholme response to COVID-19 imposed change. This was evident in the elaborate take-home learning packs devised by Junior School staff; high level of engagement through Schoolbox – the College’s learning management system; the continued Assemblies and Chapel services online; the high participation rates in the COVID Cup Cross Country; ZOOM Smoko meetings with Boarders; House and Holme Group activities and the regularity of personal contact that took priority on a daily basis. For me, the essence of the individuality of care was best evidenced on the day the boarding staff wrote the name of each Boarder in chalk on the brick wall adjacent to Mrs Sutton’s room. Silver linings.
On the day I shared the news that the Year 12 Formal could not go ahead, I had a carpark conversation with Piano Teacher, Mrs Lebsanft, who said: ‘These Year 12 girls are remarkable, there have been unprecedented changes in their lives but they will wear 2020 as a badge of honour into the future.’ And they will. Enduring difficulty provides perspective. For staff and students, 2020 provided a metaphoric badge of honour worth so much more than any certificate or accolade; it is an indelible stamp of resilience and adaptability. Our Senior Leaders of 2020 rewarded us over and over again with their inventiveness and their willingness to do things differently, so apparent in: • Shave for a Cure online • Flourish – the magazine • Their high participation in the COVID Cup Cross Country • They way they led and embraced the opening ceremony at the Athletics Carnival, and • The Senior Common Room mural.
Ultimately, the choices we make in the transitional gap between stimulus and response matters. Despite the disruption of COVID, despite the complexities posed by living with and through a pandemic, there is still choice: choice about our responses. Our Seniors of 2020 have entered their diverse, promise-laden, shiny new worlds; perhaps they can think of Roger Federer who, in the mere seconds in between points in a tennis match, takes the time to plot his response – here he demonstrates the pinnacle use of the third space. We always have the space to choose – as we embrace 2021, may we choose wisely and well.
Frankl reminds us that no matter what, the last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, and to choose one’s own way.
Christian Education
MS CATH BUTLER, HEAD OF MINISTRY AND MISSION
Theodore Roosevelt said these famous words in 1910: It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming … if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Throughout 2020, there were many ‘arena moments’ – moments of riding high on the waves of victory one moment and then in the next moment, floundering in the doldrums of defeat. It has been a year of extremes.
Yet, it’s worth pausing to acknowledge that there was a communal and courageous daring greatly in an arena not of our choosing. We faced defeat feeling disappointment when events were cancelled, celebrations postponed, or when we could no longer go on that ‘trip of a lifetime’. Stretched to the very edge of ourselves at times, and perhaps to the edge of our mental health, we carried on, woke up the next day and did it all again. People remained compassionate, thought of others, expressed gratitude for what they did have, worked hard, learned new skills or new ways of doing things in a short space of time. There is much to give thanks for.
COVID-19 affected us all. However, it did not stop ministry at Fairholme; rather, it opened opportunities for more girls to connect with Christian faith throughout 2020. Chapel services moved online for Boarders and all sub-schools, and these forums prompted lovely moments for reflection within these smaller groups. Through platforms such as the Fairholme Ministry page on Instagram or the FairSongs playlist on Spotify, students were able to remain connected and encouraged in their faith. myFairholme (the school’s e-learning platform) has the capacity for groups to be created and so, through the Ministry@Fairholme group page, a Thought for the week, along with the Song of the Week and the Bible Verse for the week was posted. This page also holds a plethora
of resources for girls to access that can assist them to grow in their trust of, and faith in, Jesus. Students also continued having Christian Education classes from Prep through to Year 12 and Mrs Jenny Sutton ran Bible Studies for the girls in Boarding throughout the week, whenever that was possible. And so, whilst the arena we lived in and the battles we all faced were significant, and not of our choosing, we didn’t crumble. We were courageous. We dared greatly. We pressed on.
Jesus promised in this world that we would have trouble. That tribulation would come. That we would know adversity. But he encouraged people to ‘be of good cheer’ because of the confidence that knowing Jesus has overcome the world brings. (John 16:33)
As we continue to enter the arena day after day, into an uncertain future, may we do so with confident courage and hope, because Jesus’ death and resurrection has proven that not the darkest evil (nor even the most insidious virus) is capable of separating us from God’s love or the Spirit’s presence. … We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. - Romans 8:37-39
