Graduation Address 2011
It is all about the dogs
By Will Graham, Head of School
What are we going to do without Louie, Dottie, or Bree next year? They have no chapel Boards, but like the class of 2011, we will miss them and notice their absence just the same. Each student dog has a unique strength, and like their owners they sometimes lose focus and ignore voice commands. One travels to BG’s back door in the early morning light to leave a surprise. Another is a celebrity on the school’s library web site, but snores so loudly that the library is rarely a place for quiet study. No beast so small ever snored so big. Our dogs make admission’s visitors dance, or retreat back to their cars for a quick getaway, and they all like to get attention by disrupting an all-school assembly with a grand entrance. There is at least one owner who sees me watching, and she is known to whisper in their canine’s ear that, “the big, scary bald man …is really mean, and he will send you home if you stick your nose where it does not belong.” I do hope that Marco, Bubba, and Lulu are listening.
In spite of their paws and flaws, the truth is that they will be missed at check in by the ninth and eleventh grade girls, and by those that love to watch and listen to Dottie curl up and snore, loudly but peacefully, by a warm fire on a cold day. They remind us that no matter how our days have gone, no matter how strong and confident, or sad, lost, restless and lonely, curling up to sleep and snore is a beautiful thing; eating is always better than going hungry, and slurping water always tastes good when we are really thirsty.
Like sophomore boys, campus dogs rarely walk because it is more fun to run when you are chasing something smaller than yourself. Every day is a new day for running, exploring, wagging, meeting, greeting, adventuring, seeing, and sniffing. They howl at the bell and greet us each day with an undying confidence in life’s daily goodness and the goodness of people to treat them well and do the right thing.
Maybe dogs are allowed at Midland because founder, Paul Squibb knew that if all the adults failed to teach and reach a student, a child is obligated under natural law to pay attention to a dog. A dog can teach a person to focus on the simple things… the important things…to care for and love something other than ourselves, to pick up a mess that we did not make, and to play. They reassure us, keep us from being restless, help us be practical and grounded, and make us smile. They teach us to see what is right before our eyes and sometimes they save us from ourselves. After all, Dog spelled backwards is God…What else do we need to know?
Well after establishing the school in 1932 Paul Squibb wrote:
For generations, it has been the ideal of American parents to spare their children any concern about practical matters of shelter, food, clothing, warmth, water, and disposal of wastes. The result has been an enormously wasteful nation, whose “comeuppance” is rushing upon us fast. Much of the restlessness of today’s younger generation probably arises from the ease with which the primary benefits of life flow their way. No effort, and not even any concern, is demanded of prosperous young people. Freed from practical wants, children of reasonably prosperous parents are constantly seeking new amusements and new thrills. They react predictably to the carelessness of care freeness that is thrust upon them.
What goes around comes around. Midland remains intentional and not careless in its approach to teaching and learning. All the genuine effort a student makes in a day reflects the curriculum. Josh Schimmel, the Director of Environmental Programs at USCB and a Midland Environmental Advisory Board member, says that Midland is not just about developing an environmental ethic, changing light bulbs or being green, it is about paying attention to a human ethic. Midland ancestors knew that what is good for the environment, animals and people is also good for the soul; a belief found in Midland’s DNA. We strengthen and develop our inner resources while we come to understand our relationship to the natural resources that surround us.
The class of 2011 led with dogged determination, kept their noses to the ground, and remained focused on the important things before their eyes. They tried to communicate honestly, rejoice together, mourn together, and to have fun. They developed deep and significant relationships with each other and with adults, and they spent their time well on the field, the court, the property, and in the classroom. They are dependable and fair leaders who care about Midland and who took the initiative to do the job.
The seniors learned that respect is earned by being responsible, showing up each day, and not abusing the power or authority of rank, title, or privilege to intimidate or humiliate others. They led younger students who are often less skilled, who know less, do less, and sometimes care less. Their legacy is lasting, they leave us with momentum for next year; they are ready and prepared to move forward to college and on with their lives.
As the old 1970’s day-glow- black- light poster once said, “today is not the end…and it is not the beginning…but perhaps it is the end of the beginning”…and at this moment, we are most certainly, right where we want to be.