Good evening FLRSD
It is hard to believe that the calendar year is 2 weeks from being over. In speaking with so many people it seems that there are two schools of thought about the next few weeks. Many people have already spent their time wondering what will happen next year while others are pondering how we can end this year in joy and kindness as a springboard to next year.
Those two diverse streams of thinking are often rooted in very complex situations that we may know nothing about. After all, so many people are balancing trying to be joyful when sadness is their strongest emotion and too often others do not see that because so many are taught to put on a happy face. Yet the one constant that remains for everyone, far beyond the holidays, is how we strive to LIVE each day. I was at a conference many years ago where the speaker asked how do we LIVE our life each day? Do we exist or do we live? LIVE to the speaker meant LEARN, INSPIRE, VOLUNTEER, ENERGIZE and although there are many variations to this, it is a great reflection for all of us- how do we LIVE each day. And how each day do we handle the weight of things happening around us.
This story, which is a wonderful reminder that despite everything going on we need to support our burdens rather than hold onto them by ourselves for far too long, is a gentle reminder that we must strive to fully live in peace and stay within what we can control. Our focus, as difficult as it is, should be on the big picture rather than “holding up the glass.” I hope, should you choose to read it, that this resonates with you in some small way.
How Much Does the Glass Weigh?
Everyday I see our Principals, Assistant Principals, Directors, Teachers, Staff, Paraprofessionals, Secretaries, Counselors, School Psychologists, BCBA’s, Schedulers, IT and Library Media Staff, Nurses, SRO, Coaches, Advisors, Maintenance, Custodial and Food Service staff as well as Central Office, Town Officials, School Committee, First Responders and our community partners as they support the needs of our students far beyond the last bell. They each individually and collectively come to work, despite any “heavy glass” weighing them down in their own lives and provide our students and community with opportunities to grow, to blossom and to find their path. I thank each of them for the efforts they individually and collectively put forth to see the positives, embrace the joy and work to improve on anything we have control over.
This will be the last Sunday Message of 2023 and we hope your break is positive, reflective and most of all healthy.To everyone celebrating, we wish you a joyful, blessed and very Merry Christmas and to our families celebrating Kwanzaa we wish you a season of love and light and for all of you, may you have a very safe and Happy New Year. May all your glasses overflow with hope and gratitude, and if not, may you at least find the ability to lower the weight of the glass, breathe and take in everything else that is positive around you. That will eventually help each of us let “the glass go” both for ourselves and for our loved ones!!!!
With gratitude, thanks and with best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2024.
Alan
Alan Strauss, Superintendent
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