Principal's Blog
2019 Term 4
End of Year Speech
The Normanby Avenue play was A Christmas Carol. This Charles Dickens story is one of my favourites, and has a very special place in my heart.
I first read A Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve of 1989. I was studying at Hangzhou University in China at that time. In 1989, living in China I was completely disconnected from home: the internet and mobile phones were yet to be invented, and news of friends and family took a while to arrive. Our four-level dormitory had one phone, and it was only good for local calls. Letters were the main form of communication, with their accompanying delay. When I walked the streets, I was an uncommon sort of alien, keenly observed and pointed at. I felt like I was living in another world.
Back to Christmas Eve. I had just spent a few days in Shanghai, where I had purchased the book, A Christmas Carol. The only books available in English were the classics and as a result I have read a good many of them. I have no idea what prompted me to buy A Christmas Carol, but I remember being on the train back to Hangzhou, reading it with tears streaming down my face; feeling the loneliness of Scrooge and also the power of hope. I clearly remember feelings of isolation, and thinking that I was probably the only person on this train who knew it was Christmas. I remember feeling unbridled joy at the transformation of Scrooge, and I remember urging him on. I was touched by this story, and still am today. A Christmas Carol grabs at our hearts, as we have all experienced sadness, separation, failure, loss, and misstep, and we all carry the scars of these with us. We are all burdened by the unwanted distance of failed connections. Scrooge gives us hope – if a miserable, grumpy, mean miser like Scrooge can change, and in doing so, resurrect broken relationships and forge a better tomorrow – then we can too!
The transformation of Scrooge captures us: we want him to succeed, we want him to re-connect with his family and to learn to love his fellow men. Perhaps we intimately wish these for ourselves – we want to re-connect with those we’ve left behind; we want to re-build relationships with those we’ve moved away from; and we also want to be sources of happiness rather than fear or misery. The journey of Scrooge entices us as we see ourselves in him: we have all walked past a beggar, turned away from strangers or friends, and done less than our best. We all know sadness and hold hope for the possibility of redemption or re-connection. Dickens is actively willing us all to be better, and to be happier. You can feel him crying with frustration at the inadequate care we offer, and the distances we build between ourselves and others. He is imploring us to avoid a lonely life.
When Charles Dickens sat down to write the work that eventually became A Christmas Carol, he was actually planning to write a political pamphlet admonishing the wealthy for their lack of care for the less fortunate. The original intent was to dish out a good scolding to those who in Dickens’ view were living unethically, with the intent of shaming them into changing their ways. However, what he produced in the end was a work of fiction, a story in which the plot line involves ghosts and time-travel. Instead of a telling off, Dickens decided to appeal to our better selves, our innate desire to do, and be, good. In A Christmas Carol, Dickens plants a seed of hope: the redemption of Scrooge inspires us to do better, to be better, to forgive and to care. Instead of producing a pamphlet instructing us on how we should act and documenting our missteps and failures, Dickens instead captivates and entrances us. We share Scrooge’s journey; we are frustrated by Scrooge’s initial resistance to change, and, in my case I cry with joy as Scrooge slowly learns the value of connection and friendship. As the story unfolds, we end up joining Scrooge’s cheer squad, begging him to change and do better. Is there any chance we would still be reading, performing and celebrating his contribution if Dickens had instead continued with his admonishing pamphlet? More importantly, is this shift in Dickens’ approach instructive for us today? Perhaps shaming and finger pointing, irrespective of the worthiness of our cause, simply alienates others – even when our goal is to promote a more caring outcome?
I am frequently saddened at our society’s easy willingness to shame and criticise others, to dismiss or disrespect our fellow people: do you vote liberal, drive to work, not have a hen, go to church, wash your car (or the driveway), fly on planes, use plastic bags? Dickens chose not to criticise or shame or engage in an endeavour that would polarise. Instead, he tells a very human story, one we can all identify with. Dickens’ choice to write A Christmas Carol offers us an example through which to navigate the things that all too often separate us from others.
In my leadership of our school, my approach is founded upon building connections and promoting and embedding a spirit of hope. I believe that positive and inclusive relationships are behind the deep bond our students and graduates feel towards our school. I cannot claim this as an original contribution; in this I am simply replicating the ethos established by Faye and Phillip, and reflected in the school’s motto: ‘people before things’. I have always taken ‘things’ here to mean anything that hinders our connection with others, including various forms of ideology: politics, food, religion, identity and the environment, being just a short list of those I all too frequently encounter. Scrooge declares when he rises from his death-bed that he will live the spirit of Christmas every day, a necessarily ideologically free position. I don’t think that Scrooge’s commitment to putting his fellows first through living the Christmas spirit is all that different from the intent of our motto: ‘people before things’ – a motto that similarly challenges us to put our connection with others first. May we all daily live the Spirit of Christmas.
Timothy Berryman (Principal)