A Brimmer Core Value: Honesty

Joe Iuliano, Assistant Head of Academic Affairs
The following remarks were delivered to The Middle and Upper School Community during Opening Convocation:

Let me assure you that we are this close to concluding the official opening of the 20-21 school year, but first I need to speak frankly to you about one final Core Value—Honesty.
 
The dictionary tells us that this word, Honesty, means “truthful ” and “sincere”—and I am sure you know these definitions—as well as “morally correct” or “virtuous,” depending on its use. At times it is connected directly to fairness, as in: “Mr. Cutler makes an honest living as a history teacher.” 
 
Twenty-five hundred years ago, Greek storyteller Aesop—perhaps you’ve read a fable or two?— moralized and generalized in his humble woodsman tale that “Honesty is always the best policy.” And 2000 years later playwright William Shakespeare made it personal when he echo-ed this phrasing in Twelfth Night with the line "Honesty is the best policy. If I lose mine honor, I lose myself.”
 
However, at the beginning of this century, Author Khaled Hosseini represented Honesty as a community value in The Kite Runner when he wrote: "When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth." 
 
This statement takes the individual virtue of honesty that we all aspire to and makes it a communal one; honesty, or the lack of it, has a significant impact on others and importance beyond self and into the community.
 
The time we are living in now calls for a great deal of honesty— honesty with ourselves, honesty with each other, and honesty with our community and nation. We need to wrap our arms around this value and hold onto it tight in order to contend with what is in front of us. We are living in a serious time, a historical time. Pandemic. Wild Fires. Hurricanes. Climate Change. Populism. Unemployment. Systemic Racism and Social Inequity. These are a host of serious challenges—but don’t worry, I am not going to end this event on a pessimistic note. That’s quite a lot to cope with, yet here we are, and we are coping—sometimes even thriving.
 
To be perfectly honest, it makes me exceedingly happy to see you and to be with you in this community at school every day (or every other day depending on the schedule). And with that being said, this Opening Convocation is ended and, for Mrs. Guild, I declare the School is “officially open” — now go to class.
As an inclusive private school community, Brimmer welcomes students who will increase the diversity of our school. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, or any other characteristic protected from discrimination under state or federal law, in the administration of our educational policies, admissions practices, financial aid decisions, and athletic and other school-administered programs.