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For those who haven’t read Alexander Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo, I recommend putting it on your reading list. Though it was written almost 200 years ago, it still outshines the best pulp fiction available today (I’m in the final chapters, so hold off discussing / spoilers with me for one more week, please and thank you!). The story follows protagonist Edmond Dante through his friends’ betrayals of him, his subsequent travails, his rise to power, and his orchestrated revenge on those who wronged him. There is philosophy contained as well, and much deliberation around the nature of happiness. In Chapter 49 (aptly entitled ‘Ideology’), Dumas has Dante relate; “...I wish to be Providence myself, for I feel that the most beautiful, noblest, most sublime thing in the world, is to recompense and punish.”
While I don’t agree with the ‘punish’ part of the statement (Dante is pretty much Batman), there’s something to be said for the sublimity of giving back and the tangible feeling of awesome that accompanies it. It feels good to pass on a goodness (received directly or indirectly) to another, and if it didn’t, I guarantee you that we’d have a lot less career educators. We’d also have far fewer parents, and that’s a thought to think about for the next time your toddler is screaming at 3 in the morning for a ‘buh-nah-naa’. Hypothetically speaking.
Within our school community alone, there are many opportunities to give back. Three from the many that stood out this week include (i) volunteers Mrs. Tinlin & Mrs. Middleton assisting in procuring books for our new library, (ii) Art & Latin teacher Mrs. Powell bringing cookies in for the rest of the staff, and (iii) the efforts of our PTO organization at our PTC night. All of these are fine examples of individuals who understand the ‘high’ of giving back.
Homework for the week: Identify the way/manner by which you feel the most satisfaction in giving back, whatever the sphere. Then engage in it, and ensure that your child(ren) physically observes you performing that activity. It can be something small, such as picking up a piece of trash on the sidewalk, but the most important thing is that your child(ren) sees you doing it. That way, (i) you model for your child(ren) how to acquire that ‘good feeling’ of giving back, and (ii) you solidify yourself in your child (ren)’s mind as one who does good.
Wishing you a ‘recompense-filled’ weekend,
Sam Weisbrod
Headmaster
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