In troubling times, we learn to heal, to grieve, to change.

During a recent meeting with the Parents Association Quaker Life Committee, I was moved by the depth and sincerity of the conversation. Friends and non-Friends alike spoke earnestly about how they might learn more about the Quaker tradition, how it might help address the world’s current crises, and how we could explore its connection to other religions. One parent, a Zen Buddhist, was especially interested in examining parallels, something I have been exploring for several years.

Author and Buddhist Pema Chodron notes that Buddhism shares many tenets with Friends and is especially helpful in finding the Light in the darkest, most fragmented moments. “Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing,” she writes. “We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to
happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.”

Much has fallen apart this year. We are enduring a remarkable public health and humanitarian crisis. Fundamental assumptions about education are being challenged. Our nation’s horrific history of murdering people of color reared itself again, reminding us that racism remains our most persistent and pernicious scourge, one that, if we are to make good on the promise of equality and the reality of shared humanity, we must unequivocally commit to eradicating. No one can be fully human as long as members of our society are dehumanized. Our country and School must do better. We must act, as our Diversity Statement charges us, to affirm “the centrality of diversity and inclusion in all aspects of academic and campus life.”

We have indeed been tested, but our community has begun to imagine alternative futures. Faculty and staff implemented an emergency Distance Learning Plan, one that forced them to transfer and translate years of human experience into a digital format. Parents of young children had to redraw the home/school/work triad, exhausting themselves as they tried to cover all the angles. Students valiantly continued to learn but mourned the loss of vibrant social connections in a relatively lonely and anxiety-producing environment. Members of the Class of 2020 provided extraordinary examples of leadership, inspiring us at every turn, even as they experienced the disappointment of disruption.
Trustees remained inspiring stewards of the School, making bold decisions about our future and how we must build enduring financial strength. Faculty and staff created opportunities for students, parents, and alumni to assemble, reflect, and write about the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arberry.

Even as much of what we took for granted came unwound, we united around the significance of the School and its traditions. Students and alumni embraced a tradition of service, making personal protective equipment for first responders and giving generously to support financial aid. The power of community and its expression through Meeting for Worship transcended space, revealing that our connection to tradition could continue to serve us in the digital world. Alumni of color stepped forward, challenging the School to diversify the curriculum, address persistent inequities, and consider equity issues that might be aggravated during the COVID-19 crisis. In a moment of unity and beauty, more than 1,100 students, parents, alumni, faculty, and staff lined Wisconsin and Massachusetts Avenues, stretching three miles down to R Street, all proclaiming, “Black Lives Matter.”

We have been and will continue to be tested. And through it all, our community has demonstrated strength and resilience, an unyielding faith in the relevance of our mission.

We have been and will continue to be tested. And through it all, our community has demonstrated strength and resilience, an unyielding faith in the relevance of our mission, and a need to protect it. No one cares more about the mission of their School than members of this community, and I am grateful for your engagement. The fact that all of our constituencies care so deeply speaks directly to the lively intellectual and ethical conversations that animate our classrooms and furnish the critical and caring culture that ensure we remain in a perpetual state of renewal, that even as things fall apart, we are all imagining how we might put things back together. If together we give ourselves wide berth to experience the grief, relief, misery, and joy that define this moment; if together we listen to the lessons of this moment and use them to care about the School and one another; then together we can assure that Sidwell Friends will come together in exciting new ways that serve our students and deepen our mission.

Thank you for caring. Thank you for holding in the Light those who have been affected by COVID-19, the heroic essential workers who have served them, and all victims of racism and police brutality.