The Point

“I learned that courage was not the absense of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” --Nelson Mandela

Every fall, Cardigan’s Student Life and Spiritual Life Offices decide upon a theme that will guide and inform our programming throughout the year. This year, our theme is “The Courageous Heart.”

Stephen Covey writes in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that one important habit is to “Begin with the end in mind.” To that end, when choosing the theme for community life this year at Cardigan, it was important to try to envision not how the boys appear when they first arrive on campus, but to look ahead: to ask the boys What sort of men do you wish to become in the following months?

It’s not an easy question to answer, but fortunately the wise Cardigan founders have given all of us direction, some very specific guideposts, that we can look to as we seek to answer this question.

Of course, there are the Cardigan Mission Statement and the four Core Values that shape and inform everything we do here; they help to point us to the end that we have in mind. We also have the themes from the past.

Two years ago, the theme which guided Cardigan was “Pride of Place,” and last year it was “Who Are We.” Interestingly enough, each theme grew progressively more intimate - from the surrounding  environment - to the personal self - and, finally, to the very deepest place inside of us all: our heart. The Book of Proverbs advises us to “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

By focusing our attention this year on the Core Value of courage and the heart inside the boy, our hope is that the boys will be empowered to demonstrate the other Core Values of compassion, integrity, and respect in their daily lives.

It takes courage to be compassionate to a homesick Cardigan brother, courage to have the integrity to approach an adult about a problem in the dorm, courage to model respectful behavior on the athletic field when one’s opponents may not be.

It takes courage to get up, every day, especially in the dark days of winter, to make beds, brush teeth, and put on the correct colored socks. There are hundreds of thousands of in-the-moment micro-decisions the boys will need to make over the course of the year; by courageously doing the little things right, they set themselves up for success because, as Mr. Day is wont to say, “the little things are the big things.”

So what does it look like to put this theme of “The Courageous Heart” into action?

What challenges await the boys this year at Cardigan? What setbacks or adversity might confront them as they steer their course through studies, athletics, or relationships? What fears have they brought with them that they must face and conquer?

Courage means being strong when adversity comes - and we know that it will come for them. There will come a time, perhaps in the not-too-distant future, when a student will not feel like doing his dorm job, waiting his table, or writing his English paper.

He might be tempted to make a bad decision, and then think that covering it up, perhaps even lying about it, will allow him to proceed with no loss to his character. And here at Cardigan, he is free to make that choice, but the boys were reminded in a recent chapel that “true freedom does not lie in the exercise of choices, but in the consequences of the choices made.” (Patrick Morley).

They were told that they are free, but a bad choice can bind them. If one tells a lie, he is bound to try to remember that lie, whereas truth comes with no such burden. He may be tempted to take something from one of his fellow Cardigan brothers, but the fear of being caught will continually haunt him, whereas going without that coveted item comes with no such weight.

A heart that navigates with courage is a heart that is free.

For some students, it took all the courage in the depths of their being to step onto a plane and fly halfway around the world to this tiny community. Others had to muster the courage to walk across a dorm room, hold out a hand, and introduce themselves to a roommate and his parents. We are so proud of these important first steps!

Over the course of the next year, however, we may ask things of the boys that they might feel unqualified, unworthy, or unwilling to give: pick up those cones, sort your trash, stand up for a weaker brother.

In choosing “The Courageous Heart” theme, we are exhorting them to declare their intentions now, to decide now, that they will use their freedom for the betterment of their community. They will be reminded of this theme as they encounter it everywhere across campus: on banners in the classroom, on the backs of T-shirts, on bulletin boards in the locker room, in writing assignments, and chapel talks and dorm conversations.

One day, this group of boys will become part of a great army of alumni brothers who fought the battles they are about to fight and met the challenges they are about to face with bravery and grace.

Until then, we - the administration, faculty, and staff - are committed to spurring on their hearts of courage and helping them become the honorable men we believe them to be.