This is my first blog post as President of Our Lady of Good Counsel High School. My hope is to post at least weekly so I can stay in touch with the greater Good Counsel community and those who wish can read and respond to the various thoughts I have about the life of the school. I encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feed so you'll know when I post.
August 25, 2011
Visitors to Good Counsel don't take long to notice the Xaverian values. They are on the banners outside. They are prominent in the hallways: HUMILITY, TRUST, ZEAL, COMPASSION, and SIMPLICITY.
If their presence draws comments and questions, it's invariably that last one, SIMPLICITY, that attracts the most. Just what does it mean to place a value on simplicity? I'm new enough that for me, it remains to be discovered how that value plays out in action at Good Counsel. While I look forward to witnessing these ideals through the endeavors of our students, faculty and staff, I frequently find myself reflecting on an encounter from earlier in the summer with a life of greater simplicity.
In the week before my July 1 start date, my wife Carol and I took a vacation to the beautifully rugged Caribbean island nation of Dominica (homeland of the family of our Student Government President Craig Vincent). On one of many hiking trips, we climbed almost two hours up through secondary forest on the Perdu Temps Trail until we emerged to a wide open area that seemed like a cross between a working farm and a botanical garden. For 30 years, Dominican native, "Pomme," has lived high up on the mountain. Bit by back-breaking bit, he has crafted a remarkable organic farm. He and his wife have built a simple home where they have raised five children, all without electricity or modern tools. They draw their water from the stream and cook using wood and animal dung. A simple way of life that is a slice of paradise. Mango, soursop, coconut, papaya, oranges, passionfruit, mangosteen, bananas, guava – just pick your own right off the vine or the tree. Hummingbirds everywhere you turn, and a "healing garden" with all kinds of healing plants and natural medicine. The relentless push to gather and consume the next new thing that takes hold of most of us was noticeably absent.
We met with Pomme and two of his sons as they took a break from slinging their hoes and mattocks to break up the roots of the ever-encroaching jungle plants. Our first questions focused on how hard his life must be. How long did it take to clear the field? What crops were they going to plant? Did they sell much of the produce? In turn, Pomme asked only about our families. How many children did we have? How were they doing in school? Weren't they a blessing? He rejoiced in hearing and sharing about sons and daughters. The lesson was not lost on us. His family's genuine welcome and breaking of bread with us made real a summer's worth of musings on how simplicity "frees the heart, the mind and the soul" (words taken from a Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools document Mission, Vision, Values).
The pace and gloss of life in Montgomery County may be remote from the jungle of Dominica, but the lessons from Pomme's Place travel well. Love God. Love your family. Keep it simple.