At my daughter's public school, we are blessed to have an extraordinary principal. He's a good man who really cares about the school and his community, and manages to continue to contribute even though his wife is terminally ill and requires a significant amount of care.
Every week they send out a newsletter, and he writes a small editorial comment attached to the end of the email.
Here is his communication to us for Thanksgiving:
The Principal's Corner with Mr. B
Ahhhh, Thanksgiving - such a sweet time of year. A time to count your blessings and give thanks. At the risk of getting a little "out there" I want to share my thoughts about what Thanksgiving means to me.
The desert fathers of the 3rd century described seven cardinal sins, one of which was greed. In their struggle for spiritual perfection, these early monks found that one antidote for greed was thanksgiving. More about that later. Many authors have written about greed's effects on humanity. But no author captured the powerful pull of greed more poignantly than Leo Tolstoy in his story "How Much Land Does a Man Need?"
Written in 1886, the story tells of a man named Pahom who complains that he does not own enough land to satisfy him. He sets out to acquire more land but the more he acquires, the more dissatisfied he becomes. Finally he meets the Bashkirs and is told they are simple-minded people who own a huge amount of land. He approaches them to take as much of their land for as low a price as he can negotiate. Their offer is unusual: for a sum of 1,000 rubles, Pahom can walk around as large an area as he wants, starting at daybreak, marking his route with a spade as he goes. If he reaches his starting point by sunset of that day, the entire area he marked out is his. He is delighted believing he can cover a great distance and thinking he has stumbled upon the bargain of a lifetime.
His journey starts well. He covers a great deal of land but he is not satisfied and decides to walk even farther extending his boundaries as he goes. As the sun is setting however, he realizes his error and runs back as fast as he can to the awaiting Bashkirs. He finally arrives at the starting point as the sun sets. The Bashkirs cheer his return saying "Ah, that's a fine fellow. He has gained much land!" Unfortunately, Pahom, exhausted from the run, drops dead. Tolstoy concludes: "His servant picked up his spade and dug a grave long enough for Pahom to lie in, and buried him in it. Six feet from head to his heels was all he needed."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon said the same thing in fewer words when he said: "You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have you would not be satisfied if it were doubled."
And so this Thanksgiving season, I pause to reflect on the much that I have rather than the more that I don't have (and don't need). The much I do have includes a loving wife and family, my faith, good friends, great coworkers, good health, a sound mind (mostly), a sense of humor (usually) and a great place to work. Concerning Taylor, I give thanks every day for the opportunity to work in such a fine school set in stunning surroundings working with great people educating wonderful children.
Like William Shakespeare in Twelfth-Night, I can honestly say:
"I can no other answer make but thanks,
And thanks, and ever thanks!"
Happy Thanksgiving!
Wow, that's great! He sounds like he's got a lot of wisdom - the kids are blessed to be in a school that has a good principal like him. :)
That was great . . . Thank You for posting it.
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By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State