Tom Perryman '81's Opening Address to Faculty

I welcome you back to a new school year… to the 68th annual re-creation of this remarkable community and enterprise called Greenhill.

It’s good to have you all back. It's good for us all to be together.

And yet we cannot ignore the fact that we come together again in the shadow of uncertainty and hate that seems to have crawled back out from primordial caves in our nation... We open this year in a disconcerting time:

• the prospect of nuclear war seems more daunting than at any time since I was a little boy;
• the fear-mongering of our politicians harkens back to The Red Scare;
• and the meanness and disrespect and vitriol and lying feels more pervasive than I can ever remember.

The furious hatred unleashed by white supremacists in Virginia last week casts a pall over the optimism of a new school year. When fellow Americans march through a university campus with torches and guns and ghastly signs, chanting racist and anti-Semitic hate speech like an apocalyptic, dystopian movie, we cannot sit idly by.

How scary it must be to be a child today. How terrifying it is to be an adult who cares for children.

We've got to move out from under this pall and answer the call...

To my white colleagues and friends, it's time for us to stop the talk of Republicans and Democrats, accusing the Left or Right, arguing about conservatives and liberals... We need to stop judging each other by who we voted for.

We have to stand up against attempts to justify hatred and meanness and injustice and bullying. If we can't agree on that, then there is no hope. How dare we do otherwise and call ourselves educators?

And so it is more important than ever that we all do the important work of being Greenhill. Our students need us. This city needs us. Our nation needs us to live up to our mission and model the institutional CHARACTER that we were founded upon.

One of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver, ends her work, "The Summer Day," with the line: "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

THAT is the question we must tackle.

I remember as a teenager hearing President Reagan speak of the United States as a shining City on a Hill, a beacon for justice and goodness. At the risk of sounding cliché - or worse yet, corny - we can be… we MUST BE - a shining School on the Hill.

The Hill on the Hill, if you will. And if ever our world was in need of a little corny, this may be the time.

I heard a speaker at a Racial Justice Workshop at SMU this summer explain what he saw as the fundamental fork in the road for us today. And as his words nestled their way into my brain and heart, I began to see this as the crux of CHARACTER.

I am paraphrasing him here:

"I don't know how to explain to you that we must care about OTHER PEOPLE. Our disagreements are not merely political, but rather a fundamental divide on what it means to live in a community." We must look beyond our own interest to the greater good.

And so I will posit a definition of character as that willingness to live authentically and courageously beyond ourselves... and be governed by a set of principles - in our case, Honor, Respect, and Compassion – in doing meaningful work.

And this work must be about WE and NOT ME.

I have many friends in this room who sit in a very different place on the political spectrum, and yet we respect and honor each other's opinions. But we are not talking politics now. We are talking justice.

I have complete confidence that EVERYONE in this room, regardless of how we vote, is committed to liberty and justice FOR ALL. And I am pretty sure that our students and families are committed to the same thing.

We can no longer be silent. We cannot afford to be agnostic or non-committal.

Now I'm a literature and history guy, but I think that it is an established scientific fact that ALL BOATS RISE ON A HIGH TIDE.

And I'm naive enough, and limited enough in my grasp of science, to think that we, here at Greenhill, have it within our grasp to create a vortex of good and giving, of character and kindness, that can catalyze the kind of gravitational pull that it takes to create that high tide. We've got to try.

I've heard it said that a school derives its personality from its Head. I would tweak that slightly and suggest that a school draws its character from its Head. And in that regard, a very significant element of Greenhill's character in 2017 is thanks to Scott Griggs. And that is a very fortunate thing, indeed.

Three quick illustrations of my thesis:

The day after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, Scott recognized that our parents - just like parents of children all over the country - would be on edge and fearful for their children's safety. So there he was - bright and early that morning - in the carpool line, opening car doors, greeting the kids and serving as a very visible and reassuring reminder that this school would be watching out for our students. I love that memory. Scott leads with COMPASSION.

I will never forget sitting in the library several years ago when an issue had arisen at a board meeting that, at least to me, seemed to call into question a fundamental tenet of our approach to education. Scott's steadfast defense of the school's mission in that moment - his strong and measured argument - drew a line in the sand that I know would have made Bernard Fulton very, very proud. Scott faced down powerful members of the board, who ultimately are his boss, and he did the right thing. It was AWESOME! There have been numerous moments that Scott's courage in board meetings has brought tears to my eyes and raised the hair on the back of my neck. Scott leads with HONOR.

Then there was the meeting, in 2001, I believe, with representatives of the Boy Scouts of America - THAT was when I first witnessed the character of this leader. After thirty years of a genuinely wonderful and mutually beneficial relationship between Greenhill and the BSA, the Greenhill troop's charter was up for renewal. The Boy Scouts had recently issued a directive that LGBT adults would not be allowed to serve as troop leaders. At virtually the same time, Greenhill became the first school in the Southwest to add "sexual orientation" to our non-discrimination statement.

Scott sat down with the BSA representatives and explained that while Greenhill recognized, valued, and respected the relationship between school and troop for three decades, we now faced a moral quandary in being asked to sign off on a charter with an organization whose tenets now explicitly stood at odds with our core values. Ever open-minded and looking for mutually beneficial resolution, Scott offered to renew the charter if the local troop would stand in defiance of the national body's statement. It boiled down to being true to our character, Scott argued. I was awed by his wisdom and fairness. In the end, we severed ties when the local troop refused the offer... But I have rarely been so impressed by any leader's reasoned stand. Scott leads with RESPECT.

I have had the unique and real privilege of knowing all four of our Heads of School. Each has possessed unique and powerful gifts. I cannot imagine a school in the world luckier than we have been. Scott Griggs has earned his place among this incredible - and I mean really, really incredible - pantheon of leaders.

What is history, after all, if not a series of human stories? And this institution's history has been indelibly shaped - for the good - by the character of Scott Griggs.

As he guides us on his last lap around the sun as our leader, I want to thank Scott for all he has done to guide this school to new heights, ever closer to the perfection of our mission. What a Herculean task his job is... and what a stellar job he has done. Thank you, Scott, for your remarkable character.

 

And so in closing, I really believe that I am so very lucky to be here at Greenhill. I hope you feel the same. This place is not perfect, but that ain't from a lack of trying.

I believe that through our work here - whether we are opening the world of reading to a five year old, making sure that payroll goes through as scheduled, lining the playing fields for our student-athletes, or advocating on behalf of our seniors applying to college - ALL OF OUR WORK HERE represents a sacred opportunity... an opportunity to change the world

* one kid at a time.
* one interaction at a time.

We in schools understand and accept that we are ALL role models, and our character in executing our duties and in the way we treat one another, must be worthy of this sacred trust. Through our character, we will either live up to or fail this opportunity.

Somebody someday - not I, I assure you - will write the story of this moment at Greenhill School.

Let them say that we were genuine, authentic, hardworking, kind, and fair.

Let them say that we stood up to injustice and called out falsehood.

Let them say that we acted with honor, respect, and compassion.

Let them say that we changed the world with our LOVE and our individual and institutional character.

So I circle back to Ms. Oliver's charge as we consider our work this year, our place in the nation, our call to be world-changers.

What exactly is it that we plan to do with this one wild and precious school year???

I can't wait to find out.