The following in an extract from the Deputy Headmaster’s Muster Address in response to a student presentation on the recently formed Golden Rule Society.
Thank you, Haseef, for offering a passionate perspective on a combustible global issue. Thank you also for arming yourself with some facts. These sorts of discussions can sometimes rely too much on emotions rather than evidence.
Young men of St Peter’s College, you would have heard the Headmaster talking about the importance of welcoming diverse perspectives in your ‘feed.’ Is the perspective we just heard in your feed?
I am not saying we all need to agree on who the ‘good guys’ and the ‘bad guys’ are in the Middle East (whatever that means) but is the profound humanitarian tragedy of Gaza hitting your screens?
Perhaps you disagree with the perspective you just heard, and you think the Israeli military’s response to the events of October 7 is proportionate and justified. Nevertheless, have you looked up the numbers in Gaza? Do you know what the United Nations and the International Criminal Court say about the conflict? How do you feel about this? How do you feel about our government’s position? Does it reflect your own view?
I understand if this topic is confronting, and Haseef means it to be, no doubt. The violent, untimely death of innocent people should confront us all, no matter who is doing the killing and who is doing the dying.
His message demands some kind of response, though. What should this response be? You may wish to take part in the service opportunities Haseef was discussing. Perhaps you will be inspired to join the Golden Rule Society and engage with issues of justice across the globe. Perhaps you wish to be a moderating, calming voice in this particular conflict, to remind us that the Israeli government does not speak for Jewish people any more than Hamas speaks for all Muslims. Perhaps you think we need to turn a spotlight next to what is unfolding in Ukraine, or Syria, or Yemen.
Perhaps all these tragedies feel overwhelming, and you fear you might be getting compassion fatigue. What is your duty, then, in the middle of all this? You have every opportunity to effect change, after all; you attend one of the grandest schools in the country and live in one of the safest places to ever exist.
I believe the answer is – at least partly – tied up in dialogue: speak to Haseef, speak to your mentor, speak to your teacher, speak to your friends and family. Ask them what they think about all of this. Seek out conflicting views and hold them in tension, as the Headmaster says, and watch your brain grow.
No matter what, we all have a duty to do our best to engage with what is happening around the world, to have an informed opinion on it and to seek out different perspectives even when we don’t agree with them.
So, finally, how do you know if these perspectives measure up? My advice is to do your best to filter these perspectives through a moral framework that makes sense to you, like the Golden Rule itself, or our values of truth, respect and service, or our dual masculine impulse to be both strong and lovely. How do the perspectives on your feed measure up against those frameworks? How about Haseef’s?
This process, I think, is what it really means to be a reflection upon society, not a reflection of society. And that difference of preposition means everything.
Nick Carter
Deputy Headmaster – Teaching and Learning