On Honors and Awards

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Good Morning Parents, HEDCen students, teachers and friends of The Little Farm House!

Of course, this is the day you validate the effort that you have put in, day in and day out to get to this moment when you can say that you have succeeded.

Indeed you have! But do not forget this.  Einstein himself believes that Not Everything that can be counted Counts, and not everything that Counts can be Counted. 

Try to figure an remember what it means.

Are you as good only as the medals you have won or the honors and awards that you have received?

Yes we can count all these!  Others may even say that it is already a habit to come up here on the stage year after year and once the cycle is broken, everything is broken.  One forgets that a person is not made of certificates and awards.  God did not create a child out of these materials.  Look at yourself.  What are you made of?

You are made of your soul, your bones, muscles, tissues, organs.  Your medals do not hold you up and make you walk or think even.  When you are hungry, your medals cannot even be eaten.

So why will anyone cry a river of tears or put up a protesy just because he is not getting any award.

Can your certificates love you?  Cook for you? Bless you? Heal you? 

I just want to remind you that loving your family and friends and making them smile is another way of looking at awards or rewards.  And yes we do not count the good deeds that we have done. 

I am in awe and I have admired the children who put dedication to learning.  And there are different ways to do that. One is to study to learn.   Another is to make mistakes and learn.

I hope that you see and realize the merits of both.  I hope that you don’t hurt yourself and your souls  for a piece of metal or paper.  I hope that you see yourselves beyond these.  I hope that you appreciate yourselves because of the other beautiful and amazing things that  you are and can become.

 The Dalai Lama said that the planet has enough of successful people.  What our planet desperately needs are peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds. 

I hope that your success will lead you to desire to be what our world desperately needs.  

Congratulations students!  And to the parents, May I say that you are the wind beneath your children’s wings.  Congratulations to you too!

 Cheers!! 

 

I have been trying to tell you

There have been many instances when I would catch myself saying the same things over and over for the last 30 years or so.

That gives me the validation that I have firm resolve on principles or ideals that I have lived by in my life as a mother and a teacher.

It is good to know that I have allies and if no one will believe my words, here is Einstein:

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted" 

 "Learning something means coming into contact with a world of which you knew nothing.  In order to learn, you must be humble." -Paulo Coelho

"The planet does not need more successful people.  The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kinds." Dalai Lama

Our planet also needs not only social workers but soul workers.

"Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think."  Albert Einstein

It is learning from one's own experiences not only to benefit the self but to offer these lessons as guideposts to others.

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 Just a few thoughts I have come across that I find might be useful more than the perfunctory "Congratulations!" to the awarrdees in the Recognition Rites tomorrow at HEDCen.  

So many parents look for schools that will give their children awards at the end of the year regardless of the rules of the game.  I find students who have gotten the honors and awards every year and still are empty inside.  Worst is when they get used to it and cannot therefore humbly accept when they lose in the "race".

Life is never a 'race'.  It is the slow trickling of water in an almost dying river or the rush of colors in the sunset.  It is something that one must personally experience and authentically live.  It is setting one's own benchmark in the effort for self-improvement.  Life is breathing the way one breathes not to benefit someone else's lungs.  Life is also about extending one's arms and hands to make a contribution to others.  It is so much more about knowing one's soul, healing one's hurt, getting up to try again and applying the lessons learned from having a life and from making big and small mistakes.  

These awards that I will confer tomorrow do not define the person or the child.  It must not be coveted for the honor and award as the end in itself  but moreso for its significant contribution to learning some life skills.  

I salute the children who have tried in spite of limitations, who have learned to laugh at their silly selves, and who at the end of the day, have a firm grasp of who they are and who they are not, what they did, and what they want to do when the next morning comes.

I love the children who have cried in desperation and have openly grieved for a goal unattained, I love those who have other "important agenda" and are seeking their own venues,  I love those who make me laugh and those who are alive because they are free from the shackles of (wrong) expectations. 

somethings to say to The Little Farm House folks today

Imagine a world without children.
It would be a world without hope.


They give us a reason to wake up early, go to work, go back home.
They give us a reason to dream.


I guess and I believe that we would like the best for them.
The best is not always the most comfortable, the least difficult, and the most expensive that money can buy.

And the best is not the same for everyone.  It is a difficult formula because there is none. 

So we venture into the world of parenting armed with nothing except our best intentions.
God knows that.

And yet if we ask ourselves what these intentions or prayers are, what comes first in the list?

But there is something that we have and for which we do not have to pray for because it is and will always be there.

Our love for our children is more than enough to keep us focused on what we have to do or ought to do.  Your heart is lifted when your child smiles and that is when you start  to see.  How much more when this child begins to talk and entertain us with his wisdom?  This is when we learn to listen.

Our children may not always amaze us but we continue to love them and best if we continue to help them build life skills,  teach them to persevere,  and learn from their mistakes.  

I hope that as you watch your children sing or dance and give their best, that your eyes will not wander around looking for some children to compare with yours.  Watch them with your hearts and without fail, you will love what you will see.

Today, I hope that you also work on creating a peaceful community, a peace-filled world by loving your family.

Today, these children dedicate their best afternoon to you.


 


 

Brian Patten

So Many Different Lengths of Time

by Brian Patten

How long is a man’s life, finally?

Is it a thousand days, or only one?

One week, or few centuries?

How long does a man’s death last?

And what do we mean when we say, ‘gone forever’?

Adrift in such preoccupations, we seek clarification.

We can go to the philosophers,

But they will grow tired of our questions.

We can go to the priests and the rabbis

But they might be too busy with administrations.

So, how long does a man live, finally?

And how much does he live while he lives?

We fret, and ask so many questions

Then when it comes to us

The answer is so simple

A man lives for as long as we carry him inside us,

For as long as we carry the harvest of his dreams,

For as long as we ourselves live,

Holding memories in common, a man lives.

His lover will carry his man’s scent, his touch:

His children will carry the weight of his love.

One friend will carry his argument,

Another will hum his favourite tunes,

Another will still share his terrors.

And the days will pass with baffled faces,

Then the weeks, then the months,

Then there will be a day when no question is asked

And the knots of grief will loosen in the stomach,

And the puffed faces will calm.

And on that day he will not have ceased,

But will have ceased to be separated by death.

How long does a man live, finally?

A man lives so many different lengths of time