Finding Light in Times of Darkness

Well, it has been quite a year. Over the last 16 months, we walked through the beginning of a pandemic that led to a shut-down and stay at home orders, an entire quarter of remote learning, an uncertain summer, a school year of masks, physical distancing, hand-washing, and weekly COVD testing, a reckoning on racial justice following the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbury, and Breonna Taylor, a presidential election where the results were uncertain for days and where the peaceful transition of power that has been part of our democracy for generations was called into question, and on January 6, an insurrection at the Capitol. There were days it felt like a never-ending night. Dark, without light, and as if we were climbing up a hill.

 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.” And, for me, even in the darkest days of the last 16 months, there was always light. The light of my children for one, and the light of this place. Our school. Our community. Brimmer and May. Every day, I got to come to this place and be with all of you – our incredible, hard-working students who embraced “the new normal” of school with ease, kindness, and a positive attitude. I watched as you tried new things, made new friends, and achieved in your academic classes. I got to work my incredible colleagues, your teachers and administrators, who worked hard to ensure you moved forward in your learning, whether it was in person or on Zoom, and who ensured our School operated despite what was swirling around us. We learned things that we will take with us and make all of us, and our school, the better for it.

 

There was light outside our school, too. The vaccine, which front-line workers began to receive in December and is now widely available, has brought the end of this pandemic in sight thanks to modern science. We witnessed heroism from our frontline workers who, even when the pandemic was at its worse, went to work every day to help others. Although we have a long way to go for true justice and equity to be a reality for many in our nation, it has been inspiring to watch our country and our community engage in necessary, albeit difficult conversations as we strive to create a more just and equitable world. Our democracy, despite the efforts of some, stood strong and we did, after all, have a transition of power and the inauguration of a new president. And through it all, we found new ways to connect and be together despite being distanced. 

 

It is so easy to focus on the darkness of these last 16 months, but as we head into summer, I hope you too will be able to take some time to reflect on the light you experienced during this challenging year. And as you do, remember, as Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman expressed in her poem The Hill We Climb at the inauguration in January, that…