Reflection 9 September 2021 Valour For the benefit of those who are new to the School, we use assemblies to deliver a Reflection, a short address on the topic of the week presented by senior boys or by staff; I always have the privilege of giving the first Reflection of a school year. This week our theme has been valour, which is defined as bravery or courage, but particularly during conflict. It is courage when faced with the potential for personal harm. I spoke during Monday’s assembly of my expectations of you all as we face a new school year. There will be times when each of us needs to show personal courage and do things that may require us to speak out, to put our heads above the parapet, to make ourselves feel uncomfortable. Very often it is the people you least expect who show the most exceptional courage. I read Science at university but, being a musician, I also played in the university orchestra and made many friends amongst the music fraternity there. I always remember one music student, Graham, a very unremarkable man in so many ways, he was quiet, reserved, slightly eccentric and, I think, deliberately inconspicuous. He was legendary for having failed his driving test twenty times; the last test, he was in stationary traffic for ten minutes before the examiner had to inform him that he was waiting behind a row of parked cars. Anyway, that’s not the reason why I am talking to you about Graham. Graham wouldn’t say boo to a goose, he was content to let others take the limelight both musically and personally. But he did a remarkable thing which I still remember to this day and which, in my opinion, marked him out as a man of real character. The university orchestra was being conducted by a guest conductor, a very famous and eminent Professor from America. At the first rehearsal everyone was slightly in awe of his reputation and his charismatic personality. The rehearsal progressed and it transpired that he was a real stickler for detail: everything had to be performed his way and he would not accept anything less than his interpretation of the music. OK, that was fair enough. The trouble came when, halfway through the rehearsal he used a really inappropriate and abusive word out of the blue. It was considered inappropriate then, back in the 1980s, it would be considered deeply offensive in this day and age. The first time he used this term I don’t think people could believe their ears, it was a case of, ‘Did he really say that?’ – people were genuinely shocked. A few minutes later he used the same term again, at which point our unremarkable Graham got to his feet. ‘Professor,’ he said, ‘I find that word utterly offensive, as I am sure do most of my friends here. Please would you not use such language again.’ Complete silence. And then he said ‘Thank you’, and sat back down again. The
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