I am because you are

I am a sports fan. I support and cheer mightily for our local team (including the Leafs). But my most spirited enthusiasm is reserved for my son and daughter who are both exceptional athletes.

And, while we suspended varsity sports at Walden due to COVID restrictions, we do ensure that our Walden Wolves have every opportunity to engage in a variety of sporting activities as part of their formative education.

Besides, it’s all fun and what I’ve come to realize is I’ve learned so much from participating in and engaging with the sporting world.

There are all kinds of lessons about perseverance, dedication, self-esteem and leadership.

And, when I read about the former Boston Celtic’s coach Doc Rivers’ remarkable job in turning around the fortunes of the 2008 professional basketball team my eyes were opened even wider. After a 22 year drought, the Boston Celtics won their 17th NBA championship, just one year after one of the worst seasons in franchise history and Coach Rivers attributed the triumph to the team’s embrace of a South African philosophy called Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is about collective humanity. It translates as, 'I am because we are.' According to Ubuntu, a person is a person through other people. 

As I came to learn, the shared values of Ubuntu are respect, helpfulness, sharing, community, trust, and unselfishness. Caring for others means caring for yourself. Ubuntu focuses on the fact that we are all bound together and can only achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others and caring for those around us.

This entire approach to life is one in harmony with how we approach learning at Walden. Our school is committed to fostering independent, self-reliant learners in a nature-centric environment. Our mandate is to model for our students the merits of subscribing to an unadorned approach to living while developing a worldly view in pursuit of academic excellence.

Our experience during the past many months has made it so clear to us that our community of students, parents, teachers, staff and friends have actively been living according to the principles of Ubuntu without even knowing it. 

If we all take only one lesson away from the pandemic experience let it echo the following comment by Bishop Desmond Tutu.

"Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness, you can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – ubuntu – you are known of your generosity.”