The starfish and the power of caring

Lissadell Beach, Co Sligo, Ireland

One day, an old man was walking along a beach. There'd been a storm with very high tides and many starfish were stranded above the high water mark. In the distance, he saw a young girl and noticed she was carefully placing starfish back into the sea. Curious he walked over and said, "There are thousands of beached starfish and you can't possibly put them all back. Why are you doing this?  What does it matter?" The girl looked down at the beauty of the starfish shimmering in the palm of her hand. She then looked up at the old man and replied with some confidence, "It matters to this one."

This short story helps illustrate two points.  The first is about the idealism of youth. Thank heavens there are young people in every generation who don't know that something can't be done and so they do it. The world would quickly sink into a quagmire of unresolvable problems without them!  And the second?  Well, that's the point of this story.

People often ask me why I am a trustee and as I sat before a video camera on Saturday, I was reminded how often I'm asked this question.  In a sense, I understand why it's asked. It can seem to be a rather strange occupation as the compensation is small, the level of stress is high, and there's little power or prestige attached to the job particularly in recent years.  I receive angry phone calls about unknown problems and sometimes hundreds of emails lobbying me on a particular issue.  It can be lonely too as there are few others in the profession and those who are can be political foes. That's the nature of politics generally and at times, it can feel like the Wild West.  In response to the question often implied, yes, some days I should have my head examined!  Then there are the other days.  The reason I am a trustee is that it's the best job on earth.  

Let's step back a moment and look at our schools.  All government, health, economic or educational institutions are organizations we create to meet human needs. By their very nature, institutions call on people to subsume their individualism for the collective good and must of necessity treat individuals in their care in a set fashion.  This is not done with callousness or a lack of caring.  Serving hundreds or thousands of people often has to be done in a standardized fashion if it is to be done at all.

But children are individuals, complex individuals, and they are not amenable to routine treatment.  Their needs change from child to child and they even change from day to day. We can't bake them with a recipe nor make them on an assembly line.  Children are not vessels to be filled or clay to be molded. Their ultimate attributes and personalities are not apparent but come from years of learning and experience.  Like a butterfly from a chrysalis, they emerge and are emergent in the sense of being unpredictable.

Trustees can feel responsible for students and schools in their jurisdiction but we are often told to focus only on governance, that is on the making of institutional rules or policy. This message is delivered by lawyers at orientation meetings shortly after municipal elections and it is often hammered home in many local and provincial governance sessions that follow. While this might sound appealing to a few lawyers and policy wonks, the thought of attending meetings debating school board policy is for the average person something akin to envisioning the seventh level of hell.  If that's all there was to the job, few would want it.  The reality is that trustees do far more because we can wield influence.

Let me explain what I mean.  If a politician is able to help bring about the passage of a law, let's say one that prohibits smoking in a public place, that is political power.  If a politician works with others and aids in the development of a program that encourages people to stop smoking, that is influence.  In both cases, the outcome is similar in that the harmful effects of smoking are reduced.

Consider societal changes you've likely seen in your lifetime.  A generation ago, no one thought about drinking and driving.  Now thanks to the effort and influence of organizations like MADD, most people consider the effects of alcohol before getting behind the wheel. There's not only been a legal shift in the norm but a cultural shift too and it's often the cultural one that most influences human behaviour.

Today, school trustees wield more influence than power.  We come from all walks of life and few of us are teachers or educators.  This is a good thing as it allows us to see the school system differently and it gives us an ability to bring other considerations into the mix.  Many trustees have volunteered in community or political organizations, schools and school board committees, for years before running for political office. We often come to the job with a firm understanding of the personalities and structures that shape our school boards. Trustees have contacts in the community who can bridge gaps and we sometimes bring them together to create now opportunities for children. Sometimes we act as advocates for children and families and discover in the process that a solution can often be found not from stating the case but by knowing whom to call.

As a trustee, I have been fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to occasionally make a difference for numerous students. I am proud to have supported the Empower Reading and the Pathways to Education programs in Ottawa.  Both these initiatives have proven to be invaluable for many. 

I'll finish up with one last story.  On a sunny winter day almost two years ago, I lay in a hospital bed receiving chemotherapy.  Two sweet high school volunteers came by and asked what I needed.  Not knowing what to say, I sent one off for a cup of soup and the other off for crackers.

A third volunteer then stopped by my bed and pulled up a chair.  She was about my age and it turned out that she was in remission from cancer  She asked my name and when I told her, she said, "I know you." This isn't an uncommon a response as we trustees often have our names posted on signs in public places for weeks before an election. But this time was different.

Gail told me that she and her husband had adopted a child later in life and that as a young girl, her daughter had struggled in school.  Nothing seemed to work and in desperation, Gail had called me.  She said that somehow I had worked magic and from that moment on, her daughter did better in school.

There are rewards in life that aren't tangible and so it is with the role of trustee.  After Gail left my bedside, I tried to remember the phone call.  I imagined that on that occasion, I did what I usually do and simply called the principal to say I had received a call from a parent with concerns for her child.  Without interference, I had shone a spotlight on this child. The magic had come from the principal and the girl's teacher who with their attention and subsequent concern had made a difference.  Still as the school trustee, I too had been given a brief chance to hold this child in the palm of my hand ... and she shimmered.


The views expressed in this post are personal opinions only.