A Valuable Lesson

I recently closed a post with the statement, “the LYS Nation takes care of its own,” and it triggered a memory.

In my rookie principal year, one of my staff members suffered a tragedy. Her house caught fire and her family lost almost everything. As expected, we started to organize a clothing and furniture drive. I called my supervisor, Celestine Harris, and told her that I wanted to tell everyone in the school district.

She said “No,” which rocked me.

After a moment of silence (CH is a master at the art of saying nothing), she said. “Ms. Jones is one of us. We take care of our own. We do not hand that responsibility to someone else.”

On the surface level (which at the time was all that I understood), I immediately got it. We are different and we are a team. Anybody can talk that when times are easy, but the test is living up to it when times are tough.

As I’ve gotten older I have learned that the hidden context is even more important. If we take care of our own, we have to commit to action and accountability. No matter what life throws at us we are never victims of fate waiting for an outside agency to rescue or abandon us. Instead, as long as we have resources, we are still in the game and so are our team mates.

We take care of our own.

Think. Work. Achieve.

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