Reopening Redux
“You must retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties. AND at the same time, you must confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
– James Stockdale
As we prepared for our February 16 re-opening following the provincial school shutdown, I couldn't help but feel a profound sense of déjà vu. Many of my emotions were identical to how I felt last September. I was excited to welcome the students and staff back on campus. I was confident in the steps we had taken to ensure our community's safety. And I was proud of our collective determination to get us to that point. What feels different this time is an acceptance that so much of our current reality is beyond our control. It’s our ability to face this uncertainty that allows us to be resilient.
– James Stockdale
As we prepared for our February 16 re-opening following the provincial school shutdown, I couldn't help but feel a profound sense of déjà vu. Many of my emotions were identical to how I felt last September. I was excited to welcome the students and staff back on campus. I was confident in the steps we had taken to ensure our community's safety. And I was proud of our collective determination to get us to that point. What feels different this time is an acceptance that so much of our current reality is beyond our control. It’s our ability to face this uncertainty that allows us to be resilient.
We had much to be uncertain about last fall. Experts were warning of an impending second wave that was anticipated to be far worse than the first. Vaccine development was still in its infancy, and a vaccination rollout was a distant dream. And while we were able to observe how schools in other jurisdictions were faring with their back-to-school plans, our ability to contain virus transmission at Crescent was yet unknown. Despite this uncertainty, we knew that we had done everything possible to keep our Crescent community safe. You may recall me saying back then that our goal was not just to re-open the school but to stay open. In hindsight, I realize that this goal was entirely beyond our control.
There is a meaningful lesson to be learned from James Stockdale, a vice admiral in the U.S. Navy who spent seven years in a Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp. His survival strategy achieved fame by Jim Collins, who wrote the bestselling book, Good to Great. Collins named it The Stockdale Paradox. It described how Stockdale confronted the horrific conditions in the POW camp through a combination of optimism and stark honesty. He maintained unwavering faith that he would prevail in the end, regardless of his difficulties. At the same time, he had the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of his current reality.
So how is the Stockdale Paradox relevant to us today? I hope that you, as do I, have absolute faith that the pandemic will end and our lives will return to some semblance of normalcy. On the flip side, we must keep faith amid ongoing uncertainty, including the emergence of new, more contagious variants and whether everyone in our community is taking the necessary precautions to keep us all safe. Like Stockdale, we must balance our optimism with realism. We must accept that there are things beyond our control and be confident in our ability to navigate every twist and turn.
I continue to be hopeful that, this time, Crescent School will remain open but I will not let this define our success. Instead, I will define our success by our ability to retain our faith that we will overcome our current challenges and we will all be stronger for it. Our success is in our resiliency.
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There is a meaningful lesson to be learned from James Stockdale, a vice admiral in the U.S. Navy who spent seven years in a Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp. His survival strategy achieved fame by Jim Collins, who wrote the bestselling book, Good to Great. Collins named it The Stockdale Paradox. It described how Stockdale confronted the horrific conditions in the POW camp through a combination of optimism and stark honesty. He maintained unwavering faith that he would prevail in the end, regardless of his difficulties. At the same time, he had the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of his current reality.
So how is the Stockdale Paradox relevant to us today? I hope that you, as do I, have absolute faith that the pandemic will end and our lives will return to some semblance of normalcy. On the flip side, we must keep faith amid ongoing uncertainty, including the emergence of new, more contagious variants and whether everyone in our community is taking the necessary precautions to keep us all safe. Like Stockdale, we must balance our optimism with realism. We must accept that there are things beyond our control and be confident in our ability to navigate every twist and turn.
I continue to be hopeful that, this time, Crescent School will remain open but I will not let this define our success. Instead, I will define our success by our ability to retain our faith that we will overcome our current challenges and we will all be stronger for it. Our success is in our resiliency.
See all of Headmaster Fellin's Open Mike Blogs
