Regarding Pride
I typed three words into Google: “swells with pride”. It’s an expression we hear and one we say, though we’re more likely to read it or write it.
What did I find? One of the first entries is headed “someone’s heart swelling with happiness/pride”.
Ah, the heart.
Another entry, posted on a discussion board in 2010, asks: “what can I say instead of ‘swell with pride’?” Interestingly, six years later no one has so much as volunteered even one alternative to that phrase.
So, what do I now know? I learned that:
- The heart is what swells with pride and…
- there is no alternative to that!
So, it is confirmed by Google: pride lives in the heart.
We feel our pride there don’t we? It has weight, it feels strong, and powerful. Pride has mass. It must be massive because we are bound to share it with others. Think of words that would describe an absence of pride. You’d probably say “empty”… or…. “hollow”, right?
Pride Directed and Shared
So we know that pride lives here (in the heart). Our pride, stored here, seeded, cultivated and nurtured by our leader, Shayna Stahl, swells collectively in this room tonight as we review this extraordinary, this transformative year and celebrate how we have passed our pride forward to our community, to future Stony Brook students, and to a now observant nation.
And good news! We have pride to spare and pride to share! The pride we have in our leader, realizing that she will now pursue her dream, a dream that, dare I say, we nurtured and pointed her toward, however inadvertent our intentions. How great is it to know that our director is moving forward to become a national player in the field of music education?
Our Hearts Challenged
Oh, our pride may be massive, and our hearts may swell, but how do we explain the empty, hollow sensation we feel tonight? How do we deal with the weight of our pride and the burden of a breaking heart as we say good bye to a mentor.
As it happens, in 1989 the Rolling Stones had a hit singing these words that tonight seem so prescient:
You’re not the only one thats feeling lonesome
You’re not the only one with mixed emotions*
Teaching as an Act of Love
When we are guided by a great teacher for 3, 4, even 5 years, we’ll forge a dynamic bond because a great educator will inspire and mold us into the special adults we become. That’s them doing their job; but succeeding in that work? That is an act of love.
For the Love of a Parent
Students know that the love of a parent is transcendent. Shayna, when your students took to calling you Mom, you thought it was funny, that they were reacting to the comfort they felt having you in place as their guide to and through the NCAA tournament. Yeah, we get it: Who else tells college students what tee shirt to wear every day? Of course they call you Mom.
Is that it, though? Because recently, I’ve heard them. To me It sounds different; I hear an acknowledgement that they are, that they have been, your musical offspring.
Look at them! This is your musical family. Here are your musical toddlers, your musical adolescents and your musical teenagers. They’re affirming that they’ve grown up with you, and they’re thanking you for guiding them to their recently arrived at adulthood.
Just Be the Mom
Teachers are important in life and good teachers really make a difference. But parents…parents are transformative. They do more than share academic, personal, and professional guidance. They give us life, they create and motivate our aspirations. Whether a parent is literal or figurative, pride and love live in their hearts. And tonight we note that you are officially recognized as their musical parent!
We’re all fortunate to have experienced your guidance and wisdom these past 10 years. Our hearts swell with pride because yours must swell with love. We’ll embrace both the pride that radiates and love that pains us. They are the hallmark of outstanding teaching.
And we’ll continue forward thankful for the gifts you leave us; anticipating your continued success, and confident in our own abilities. Congratulations to you, Shayna Stahl (Mom) and best wishes to you and Brian as you pursue your dream.
Mixed Emotions written by Mick Jagger / Keith Richards