Balancing Act
You heard earlier about the Benedictine value of balance, and its importance in our lives. Whether or not we are Catholic, I think we can all agree that it is important to establish, and then maintain, balance in our lives.
For example, while as you know, we encourage you to work hard, we try here at St Benedict’s to help you to develop interests and passions beyond the academic classroom. Even in the Sixth Form, where the academic stakes are higher, I know that Mr Heald, Ms Sorohan and the Sixth Form team often stress the need for you to have interests outside your studies, whether this be sport, music, drama, debating, coding or even, in moderation, gaming.
Like all the staff, I have a busy and demanding job, although luckily it’s one I enjoy, but nonetheless, I enjoy my interests outside school, such as cooking, playing the guitar badly, reading and watching sport. I actually think that maintaining – or trying to maintain - a healthy balance between my work and my interests actually – paradoxically, we might say – makes me perform better at work. It’s also important to me that I make space in my busy life for quality time with my friends and family – with my phone out of sight – and not allow my other commitments to prevent me from spending time with the most important people in my life.
On a bigger level from the personal, we can see both from history and from current affairs what happens when there is a lack of balance in society, and where there is excess or extremism. Yesterday, the 5th November, is as you know, the day that we remember one of the most extreme violent plots this country has ever seen, when Guy Fawkes and his friends attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament, with the king inside, in 1605. Hence, all the fireworks I could hear as I wrote this last night.
And if we want to see a lack of balance in political debate and rhetoric today, we may not need to look far beyond the USA and the presidential elections which took place yesterday and the result of which we now know.
So while these Benedictine ideas might seem strange and distant, they actually have much to teach us today, even though we’re not monks. Maintaining a sense of balance in our lives is crucial for our wellbeing.
My challenge to each of us is to identify one area of our life where we can improve balance and take a small step towards it today.
To finish with a quotation attributed to Albert Einstein, "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving."