Duxbury made a wonderful presentation in Chapel on Saturday. They invited all of the past House Directors, and each gave a short speech on one of the four pillars of the House: Honesty, Respect, Perseverance and Integrity. An amazing musical performance came from a grade 10 boy and, later, all of the boys sang their House Hymn. The boys also wished to express their respect for their siblings at the School and invited them all up so that they could say a few words about each. This was a heart-warming tribute. Thank you to Duxbury for a wonderful morning in Chapel.

 

The Head of Duxbury described respect in his in words as follows:

Good morning,

I’m pleased to speak on behalf of Duxbury. Last spring, when I was thinking about running for Head of House I needed to decide whether I would be the right person, and also how much work it would be, as grade 12 is a busy year. In the end, I wanted to give it a chance because I thought it would be a great experience and I could bring some leadership to Duxbury. When I found out from Mr. Olson that I was Head of House, I was flattered and excited. I have to admit though I did have some mixed emotions; mainly, I was a bit nervous that the head of house was going to represent his House in chapel. Especially because our last House presentation did not even come close to meeting the standards that Shawinigan expects from its students. Quite frankly, I don’t think we presented in a way that respected the process that has been an important part of this School for many decades. However, that is in the past and I have learned from this, I know the boys of Duxbury have learned from this and Mr. Robertson and others would say that if there is one thing we could take away from Shawnigan it’s that we’ve learned to be better people by these experiences. Which brings me to our theme for today’s house presentation, which is respect.

We have heard from four men this morning who have been very important to the boys of Duxbury for many years. As Mr. Olson did, I want to talk about respect through the eyes of a seventeen year old. These gentleman represent various generations and I think with something like respect, people will sometimes look at it differently and their expectations for respect of themselves and others may be different depending on the generation they come from. For instance, I remember when I was about six, and my brother Mitch was about eight, and we got in trouble while our mom and dad were talking to us. One of us apparently rolled our eyes and the other talked back. And the first thing my dad said was, “Don’t be so disrespectful,” and he said that when he was that age, if he done done that, he would have been spanked with a wooden spoon and would have been grounded for two weeks. He said, "I’m not going to spank you and I’m not going to ground you for two weeks, but even when you don’t like a decision, you need to show respect for your mom and dad."

I think if I interviewed 20 people between the ages of fifty and eighty that weren’t a part of Shawnigan, and asked them, "Do young people today show enough respect for themselves and others?" I think many of them would say, "No I don’t believe they do.”

I believe that many people in generations above me may say there’s been a deterioration in the level of respect people pay to each other with each passing generation. They may be right. However, I can say as a young person who’s been at Shawnigan for four years, I don’t think all young people should be painted with the same brush.

I believe the expectations for the level of respect we show each other are high at Shawnigan, and I believe we should be proud of this. This is something that has to be worked on and reinforced on a regular basis, otherwise this very important pillar at Shawnigan may well deteriorate. As young people, we need to demonstrate and earn respect if we are going to be respected. It is a two way street. This is the same whether we are in a classroom, the sports field, socializing or applying for a job. Examples of showing respect may vary depending on one’s culture and background. There are many cultures represented at Shawnigan. Someone from Japan may bow slightly to show respect, whereas saying, "Thank you," is a common way of demonstrating respect in many western cultures. When my family was in Viet Nam, it was common to see people entering a temple, kneeling and bowing until their forehead touched the ground. Although there are many different ways of showing respect, as young people, we need to constantly remind ourselves that showing respect to ourselves and those around us, regardless of our individual culture, ethnicity, backgrounds or differences will help define us now and in the future. I would like to close with a quote from writer Jeremy Aldana, which I think is relevant considering the crowd here today:

“It’s not so much the journey that’s important; as is the way that we treat those we encounter and those around us, along the way.”