BRUNSWICK SCHOOL
MARCH 2014
MONTHLY MAILING Seeming Rather Than Being A Latin phrase that was shared with me once has always stayed in the back of my mind: “esse quam videri,” which translates into “To be, rather than to seem.” Let’s acknowledge the fact that all of us are tired of people who try to be something they aren’t. I hope, in life, each of our boys will work to “be” something they are rather than settle for “seeming to be” something they, in fact, are not. While on the subject of “seeming” (and this is coming from someone born in the 1960s), Facebook, Twitter and SnapChat seem such a waste of time to me. When our youth expose themselves, to too great a degree, to habits like Facebook or Twitter they risk “seeming” rather than “being.” They are trying to present themselves as they wish to be (and be seen) and in doing so are belittling some measure of their own individuality and essence. On Facebook, our egos tempt us to present ourselves as how we would like others to see us, rather than as we really are . . . and on Twitter, we constantly expose ourselves to other people’s mundane thoughts rather than using that time to come up with original thoughts of our own. One of my greatest hopes (as we, in the words of our mission statement, “prepare young men for life”) is that we will allow (and teach) our sons to be comfortable and confident in “BEING” rather than succumbing to “seeming” on their journey ahead. Life is too short to waste time on Facebook and with the sending and reading of Tweets. Life is too meaningful to worry about “seeming” when our boys could better use that time “being.” Esse quam videri.