Dear members of the MLMC community,
Welcome to the 2024 academic year. Welcome to all those who returned to us this week. A special welcome to students who join us for their first year at our College whether that be at Year 7 or any other year level. A special welcome to all the parents who join our community this week.
This week students returned to campus over two days, with Year 7, 11 and 12 students starting on Wednesday and other year levels on Thursday. Each started with a welcome assembly in which I addressed the students.
It was pleasing to see Year 10 start the year in a refurbished Calthorpe building and Year 11 occupy the newly-completed Heath building. It was also pleasing to provide access to the refurbished Campbell building, providing even better facilities to the Visual Arts students. I really look forward to a time when you can all visit and marvel in what our senior campus has become.
My opening address to the students included the following, noting that the stories are not referenced, but I cannot quote their source.
As we start our year together I would like to reflect on success and how we go about achieving it.
So let us start by reflecting on some stories.
First let me tell you the story, and then we can talk about it.
Once upon a time in a land far, far, away, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his work. He always began by walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.
Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”
The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the young boy replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”
The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”
The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”
A second story.
I recently read a second story which happens to be a true story.
In the midst of a disaster. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. Amid the chaos, a young man named Jabbar Gibson emerged as a beacon of hope. With no formal rescue training, Jabbar utilised his personal boat to save over 400 people stranded in flooded neighbourhoods. He did not wait for someone else to take charge; he became the difference his community desperately needed.
Do you remember the story of Malala Yousafzai?
Malala Yousafzai became an international symbol of the fight for girls’ education after she was shot in 2012 for opposing Taliban restrictions on female education in her home country of Pakistan.
In 2009, Malala had begun writing a blog under a pseudonym about the increasing military activity in her home town and about fears that her school would be attacked. After her identity was revealed, Malala and her father Ziauddin continued to speak out for the right to education.
The Taliban’s attack on Malala on 9 October 2012 as she was returning home from school with her friends received worldwide condemnation. In Pakistan, over two million people signed a right to education petition, and the National Assembly ratified Pakistan's first Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill.
In December 2014, she became the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
We all have the opportunity to help create positive change, but if you’re like me, you sometimes find yourself thinking, “I’m already really busy, and how much of a difference can I really make?” I think this is especially true when we’re talking about addressing massive social problems like tackling world hunger or finding a cure for cancer, but it pops up all of the time in our everyday lives, as well. So, when I catch myself thinking that way, it helps to remember stories like these. You might not be able to change the entire world, but at least you can change a small part of it, for someone.
How many starfish are alive because that small boy took the time to throw them back into the water?
How many people have been saved from grieving because Jabbar got in his boat and saved over 400 people?
How many girls have now received an education because Malala spoke out?
You can either concentrate on what you think you cannot do, or you can make a difference and start by doing. One thing at a time.
They say that one of the most common reasons we procrastinate is because we see the challenge before us as overwhelming, and that a good way to counter that is to break the big challenge down into smaller pieces and then take those one at a time–like one starfish at a time. And to that one starfish, it can make a world of difference.
A man named Mahatma Ghandi once said:
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world”
And you must be. One small change at a time.
So be the change. Be the difference.
Big changes come from hundreds of small tiny steps and tiny changes. Success is a series of lots and lots of small changes.
So, you be that change. You must be the difference.
You will start to see that written around our College. You will see and hear it a lot. Be the difference.
And as you start your studies for 2024, realise that it is a long and arduous road and it is a lonely road if you try to travel by yourself.
Use the help that is available to you. Work as a team to support each other and carry each other through difficult times. Ensure that each and every one of you has the opportunity you need to achieve.
You achieve your best when everyone around you achieves their best.
So be the difference and ensure that you all succeed
Involve yourself in everything that you can, but be sure that everyone else is also involved and then you too will achieve as a team. If you see someone who is being excluded, be the difference and invite them in.
Our College theme this year is centered around Respect, which is one of our six Mercy values.
With the scripture, the Bible reference is from Matthew 7:12. The theme for 2024 is: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you.”
So, my wish for you this year, and in fact every year, is that you are respectful in working with and for each other. I hope you respect the individuality of each person to ensure that no member of our community is lost or ever feeling lost.
I hope you respect others in that you will understand that we are not all the same and you will support your peers and not tolerate injustice and you will always stand up for what is right. I hope you will be the difference.
I wish each and every one of you a very successful and happy 2024 academic year. Trust in the staff who have been chosen to work and guide you for they are respectful in their guidance of you.
Lastly, know that as a member of Mount Lilydale Mercy College you are respected and your voice will be heard so you feel safe in your daily lives and that each and every one of you has been gifted and you are loved.
And in the spirit of Catherine McAuley may God bless each and every one of you.
Knowing that you have been called to be the difference. Let this be our catch phrase as we move into the future. Let’s all, with the MLMC community and the community itself, “Be the difference”.
Philip A Morison
