Quaker Values in Action
Term 2 Quaker Values in Action
During Term 2, Gatherings across the School have prompted students to think about how we can both listen in and lean in – to our individual inner light and abilities, to the ways we support and encourage one another and build community, and to the actions we take when we listen to what is truly important.
During National Reconciliation Week, we reflected on the importance of listening in to First Nations voices and leaning in to how we might each contribute to reconciliation. Our Annual Giving Day prompted students to reflect on the gifts and opportunities they have been given, and the gifts and opportunities that might open up to us as a community when we welcome students from different backgrounds to our school.
Primary School students heard Faith & Play stories about how we "let our life speak" by living out the Quaker testimonies in the world, and reflected on which testimonies they personally find easy or difficult to live out in their daily lives. Their reflections were thoughtful and deeply honest.
Whether it is a Kinder child or a new Year 5 student speaking for the first time, a Year 3 student who speaks every week about what the stories have meant to them, or a Middle or Senior School student who speaks into the silence knowing they may be the only one, each courageous contribution in a Gathering is evidence of students and staff listening in and leaning in to share something of themselves with their community.
In this way, Quaker values and "Spirit" have flourished in our school Gatherings this Term.
Jess Dundas - Gathering Advisor E-9
Opportunities for Change
The first thing I planted when I moved here from the mainland was a lemon tree. So much compost, fertiliser, and care years later - and exactly two lemons for all my work. What was I doing wrong? I read all the online advice - water regularly, make sure it gets plenty of sunlight. Yes, no problem. Then someone who described himself as ‘an old timer’ posted a comment that sounded too brutal. ‘I’d just belt the trunk of the tree with the back of an axe a couple of times, and next year, the tree would be covered with blossom and a great crop of lemons.’
I’m looking for a gentler remedy, and his experience may have been just a lucky coincidence, but this old gardener’s folk advice is a useful metaphor for the impact trauma can have in our lives.
We live in a risk-averse society, and protect ourselves from having to deal with the unexpected - in our studies, at work, in our sporting, artistic and leisure pursuits. In my own field of literature and the visual arts, will I like this book, this movie or performance? I’d better read all the reviews to make sure that it’s something I’ll enjoy. But why not take a risk and give it a go?
Think about success in sport, in business, in invention - so many fields. Countless memorable developments are the result of ‘having a go’, of not being satisfied with the safe option, but of taking a different direction. Research into the impact of trauma finds that even after the most disruptive events - like the end of a relationship, the death of a loved one, the loss of a job - people report that their lives are better. Trauma turns out to be an opportunity for change.
As we begin to think of the last phrase in this year’s theme, ‘Listen in, lean in…as the way opens’, for me the most powerful word is ‘opens’. When I hear people quote the old saying, ‘If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans’, I don’t think of that as a kind of cynical shrug. To me, it reminds us that life is the challenge of the unexpected. The organic process of change. Yes, there will be sudden shocks, as well as wonderful surprises, but growth means remaining open to possibilities that we haven’t yet seen.
If we really listen in, and then lean in to the opportunities that we feel led to, ways will open that, when we look back on them, will not seem surprising at all, but just right.
Mark Macleod - Quaker Advisor
What are the Quaker testimonies at Friends’?
Parents, guardians and community members are warmly invited to attend a discussion led by our Quaker Gathering Advisor, Jess Dundas, and Quaker Advisor, Mark Macleod, who will share information about the Quaker testimonies: Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Earthcare and Equality (sometimes simplified to “SPICEE”). As part of the session, we will explore how some of these testimonies are expressed in daily life at Friends’ and in the wider world and together we will all brainstorm ideas for how you might encourage discussion and action.
When: Wednesday 12 August | 9am (tea/coffee from 8.45am). There is no cost to attend this event, however for planning and catering, please book here.
Venue: Friends Meeting House - Argyle Street Campus (5 Boa Vista Road)
We look forward to seeing you there.