Next week we pause the school year to celebrate Thanksgiving. Derivative of the harvest festivals of old, forged in the crucible of civil war, our date is meant to slow us down, if only for awhile. We do so that we might reflect not on what we lack in our lives, but on its abundance: our children, family and friends, and the good fortune of this beautiful place and amazing culture. I wish you a wonderful week full of love and rest and introspection.
Many of us grew up on a Thanksgiving narrative that sanitized and pasteurized the real complexity of antithetical cultures clashing over territorial claims in a true life or death struggle for legitimacy, cultural priority, agency, and self-determination. The echoes of decisions made by those people in that space reverberate still. The same is true of the drama that continues to unfold across the Atlantic in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. If you are traveling, I pray you stay safe. May peace prevail in our world, in spite of us all and the mighty weight of history.
I am so very thankful for our Baldwin community. Each day my load is lightened by the laughter of our children, by their spirit and kindness. I am thankful to our parents, not only for choosing Baldwin, but for entrusting us with your precious children. I am thankful for my colleagues, who do serious work joyfully each and every day; who commit themselves wholly to their task. Above all, I am thankful for the opportunity to spend a part of my life in such a wondrous place with my best friend and wife of more than a quarter century. (I'll probably get in trouble for the quarter century part!)
May your week be full of laughter. May you make many deep and meaningful memories. May you be awash in the hugs of children and the spirit of friendship and kinship. May you stop after thirds. The turkeys asked me to put in a plug for chicken this year, for which they would be eternally thankful. On behalf of a very thankful Baldwin School, Happy Thanksgiving.
See you around campus.