Sounds wise to me

“A cold coming we had of it…” so begins the opening line of TS Eliot’s Journey of the Magi, so too did we begin the start of the new term a couple of weeks ago. January 6th marks the feast of the Epiphany which describes the arrival of the Magi to visit the newborn Christ. I noted to the children that the various gospels give the recognition of this event to three itinerant travellers from the East. In a world where immigrants are viewed with suspicion, the Christian message preaches from the outset a notion of hope coming from foreigners, from difference, from the most unlikely sources. You will recall reader (well Monty Python fans will in any case) the famous line that three Magi or wise men coming from the East following a star doesn’t sound very wise, but the juxta positioning of what we get and what we might expect is a familiar theme.

I touched on this in our end of term assembly in December. Looking ahead to Christmas, I suggested the children think hard about what the season would bring and what their gifts meant. It is not the object that passes hands that is significant regardless of how expensive or rare but the thought someone gave to getting it, wrapping it and handing it over. That thoughtfulness is a mark of love and consideration which speaks to an idea of value.
 
You might know the story reader, of the tourist and the fisherman? While on holiday a tourist noticed a fisherman returning with his catch and watched as he unloaded the catch and sent the fresh fish to market. The fisherman than pulled out a deck chair and sat to watch the boats coming and going. The tourist ambled over to him and asked why he didn’t get his boat ready and go out again to catch more fish. The man didn’t understand what the tourist meant. The tourist explained that he should go back out, the better to land a bigger catch and earn more money. “What would I do with it?” asked the fisherman. “Buy a bigger boat to allow you to catch more fish,” replied the tourist. “What would I do then?” asked the fisherman. “Well you could buy another boat and with three boats sell even more fish,” came the reply. “And then what?” asked the fisherman, “You could build a factory and process your own fish while still more of your boats caught a larger catch of fish.” The fisherman looked on somewhat puzzled, “What?” he asked, “should I do then after all the boats and the factory and the fish sales?” “Well,” replied the tourist, “you could then pull out a deck chair and watch the other boats go by.” …You see the issue?
 
I invited the children to consider what they value. More is not necessarily better and chasing it is likely to lose you something of greater value than you think. I invited the children to ponder the giver not the gift, but to consider their own significance as well. In all the world there has never been nor will there ever by another ‘you’. We are completely unique, chasing after what others have or do is redundant and a foolish running away from authenticity. Theodore Adorno wrote of the ‘culture industry’ that fills the paradigm of the young and not so young with notions of what is appropriate and acceptable; wear this, think that, look like this or talk like that. To what extent is this chasing after fashion and valuing the ephemeral the ultimate folly? Have we forgotten where to look to find value and meaning? Everyone has unique and intrinsic value for no other reason than they exist, they are intrinsically loveable for no other reason than they exist, the Christian view is that they are made in the image and likeness of God. 
 
Having that real and grounded sense of our own worth, and the worth and value of others, empowers children to make choices that are real and authentic. Not following the crowd, being their own person, questioning perceived or received norms of what is acceptable and expected. It is the still small voice from within that whispers wisdom in a storm of voices that confuse.
 
Embley curates a compass of enterprise that over time allows children to orient themselves towards what is worthwhile and fulfilling, what is authentic and lasting, what is enduring and of value. Empowered by their own sense of their worth, they navigate a changing and challenging world as magi in their own right; open to the various epiphanies that life will bring. Sounds pretty wise to me.