BRUNSWICK SCHOOL
SEPTEMBER 2011
MONTHLY MAILING A MESSAGE FROM THE HEADMASTER A “To Do” List for The New School Year As is no doubt true for many, I have a “to do” list on my desk every day. I add to it and cross things off over the course of the day and at the end of each day I measure my progress by how many items I have left on it yet to do. Late last spring, at our Senior Awards Ceremony, I offered up to our Seniors a “to do” list of sorts for their lives ahead. As we begin a new school year, it occurred to me that much of what I had on my “to do” list for them applies to our current students as well. What follows is a “to do” list for our boys for the year ahead: 1) As much as we seek in life to be comfortable, too much comfort for too long a time tends to corrupt. Always be sure to seek ways to challenge yourself. If you are too comfortable for too long, it probably means that there are more or different things that you could be doing that, in pursuing, would foster your growth and add to your experience. Push yourself. 2) Life has referees . . . teachers, coaches, bosses, police, the IRS, SEC, get used to it. Don’t blame the referees in life . . .play by the rules, even it on occasion you suspect others are not. Eventually, those who break rules are usually caught and those who follow them are rewarded. 3) These days with the internet, news and opinions are everywhere. Try to keep reasonably current and informed about the world around you but be wary of those who make predictions about how today’s events will affect the future. They are almost always wrong in one way or another. 4) Always try to be early rather than late in life. When you graduate from college and get a job, if your job starts at 8:00am each day, get to work at 7:30am. If work starts at 7:30am, get there at 7:00am. As a student, if school starts at 7:45am, get there at 7:35am. Use the extra time to get settled and ready for your day ahead. You’ll only gain by being early in life. You’ll never gain by being late. 5) Believe in something greater than yourself . . . God, Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, Mother-Earth, your country, your school, something. If you don’t, you risk thinking that you are the most important thing in this world and you aren’t. 6) Be respectful of everyone and the work they do/contributions they make. The world needs cooks, plumbers and tolltakers, nurses and waiters probably to a greater extent than it needs investment bankers or lawyers. 7) Always be nice to your parents. Make time for them now and in the future. They’ve been nice to you and made lots of time for you. Without their love and support you wouldn’t be where you are, doing what you are doing today. 8) And finally, as we start a new school year, let’s, all of us - students, parents and faculty alike - commit to making the very most of the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. In doing so, we better ourselves and our school. Well, that’s it. Remember Courage, Honor and Truth always and keep those eight pieces of advice at the top of your “to do” list.