Dear Parents
Today we observed Remembrance Day, being the 11th of November, in ceremonies across the school mirroring in many ways similar ceremonies in countries across the Western World as well as services in the Anglican Church. Marking the end of the First World War at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, it is a day at Bishops where we honour those Bishops boys who died in the two World Wars of the last century. 256 white crosses have been placed on the Chapel lawns commemorating the 256 Bishops men who died in the two wars.
This year though we have added a plaque to the memorial tablet outside the Chapel, extending our honouring to all those who have died in any conflicts at any other time.
In our short service this morning we remembered and honoured those who died for something greater than themselves. The reading was from Micah 4, words of hope and promise, written thousands of years ago:
“They will hammer their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will no longer fight against nation
nor train for war anymore.”
And, of course, wars continue around us all the time. Sometimes there is justice in the conflict, but mostly they are about ego, power, domination and greed. We always try to bring any universal issue down to the individual and the boys and us adults ourselves – what can we do? How do we handle disagreement and conflict? Is it a fight to be victorious, do we find middle ground, reach consensus, try to understand each other, find the truth and act for what is right? We all know that this is not as easy as it sounds, so many of us want to win and always be right – how much do we see that in leaders around the world today – but we try with our boys and in our lives in the hope that, by acting and thinking differently, we can make the world a better place.
Enjoy the weekend.
Kind regards
GREG BROWN
HEADMASTER
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