Practice Ways of Giving
Before Christmas, Mrs. Kingstone presented us with a challenge—to practice ways of giving. Here is what she said:
Often times, we are presented with opportunities to practice things. We practice so that when the "real" time comes along, we will have some sense of what to do, how to behave. We have practice earth quake drills. Practice exams. Sports and play practices. We practice how to do things, when and where. Practicing helps us to get the feel for something without the accompanying consequence of not getting it quite right.
Today, if you are taking the vow of silence, in a way you are practicing what it might feel like or how you might manage if, in order to get through your day, to survive, you had to remain silent or you were not permitted to speak. Of course, there's little likelihood that any of us will have to write this test.
I do hope that in addition to thinking about the children who are silenced across the world, you also recognize the ways, even here in our own community, we might silence each other by our attitudes, the things we might say or do, the things we don't say or don't do that prevent someone else from speaking or being heard.
In addition to gaining awareness through today's vow, I would encourage you to take the necessary next step which is to practice ways of giving others a voice--this can be done simply by recognizing someone else's situation and then doing something to help.
Here's a tiny project for five students: The School is giving you twenty dollars and you must use the money as a gift. You can divide it up so that you have many gifts or use it as one. You can use it simply as money, or you can buy something with it to use as the gift or gifts. You must give something to someone you wouldn't normally give a gift to; it might even be someone you don't know. It might be completely random. It must be someone who needs a gift. And, you must be prepared to return after the holiday to tell your story to us in Chapel of what you did with the money. You must explain your gift and your practice of giving voice to others.
Here are stories of giving so far: