Superintendent’s Chat

Richard McClements, Shonto Preparatory School

Recently, I heard a comment that I thought was profound: “Some people just happen to be blessed with good looks, but that is only a temporary gift from God as looks fade. What really matters is the mark we leave upon this world and what is inside our soul – our integrity, values, morals, kindness, work ethic, and perseverance. In other words, the way we live our lives is our gift to God.”

Each of us is given special talents and abilities. Each of us has been given areas in which we are lacking. Give me anything mechanical to do, and I am an absolute idiot. There are some people who appear to have everything anyone could ever want – good looks, money, position, health, or power, and yet they are miserable, or it is hard to find anything about them that you would want to emulate. How many so called “beautiful people” do you know who think their good looks give them special privileges or the right to abuse others? Then there are those who appear to have absolutely nothing – they are difficult to look at, don’t have two nickels to rub together, can’t find work, are poorly educated, have had one horrible break after another, have bad health, and yet they are happy and grateful.

In the 16^th Century, an explorer named Ponce De Leon traveled throughout Florida seeking the Fountain of Youth for the Spanish King. What he found was an Indian arrow that led to his death. We are living longer than ever before, so more people are having to face the reality of growing old, and many just won’t accept it. Never before in our history have so many people become so fanatical about reversing Father Time. The sale of anti-aging products is a multi-billion dollar business as people pay any price for products to diminish their wrinkles and look younger. The plastic surgeon business is also booming as faces are re-sculptured and figures made smaller or enhanced. Men are equally vain and race to the phone to place their orders on modern “snake oil gimmicks.”

A little over 100 years ago, peddlers would come into a town with their wagons filled with bottles of snake oil and then promise that their product would cure just about medical problem known to man. The following website gives an overview of the concept of snake oil and is one more example of the many fascinating topics you will find as you read books with a historical base: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil

The term “snake oil” was originally used for a type of 19th century

patent medicine sold in the U. S., and claimed to contain snake fat,

supposedly an American Native remedy for various ailments. A classic

example is Stanley's snake oil, produced by Clark Stanley, the "Rattlesnake

King". His liniment, tested by the federal government in 1917, was found

to contain mineral oil, 1% fatty oil (presumed to be beef fat), red pepper,

turpentine and camphor.

In time, snake oil became a generic name for any medicine, 'patented'

or not, typically marketed as a panacea or miraculous remedy, whose

ingredients were usually secret, unidentified, or mis-characterized, and

mostly inert or ineffective. At best, such ingredients as alcohol and

stimulants, as well as the placebo effect, might provide some temporary

relief for whatever the problem might have been. The term is usually

derogatory as, in those cases for which effective remedies actually do

exist, snake oil is a form of quackery and can be damaging, up to and

including, avoidable death. The snake oil peddler was a historical

and folkloric figure of the American Old West, often featured in Western

movies: a travelling "doctor" with dubious credentials, selling some

patent medicine — such as snake oil — with boisterous marketing hype,

often supported by pseudo-scientific evidence. Less scientifically, but

perhaps even more effectively from an immediate sales viewpoint, an

accomplice in the crowd would often 'attest' the value of the product in

an effort to provoke buying enthusiasm. The "doctor" would prudently

leave town before his customers realized that they had been cheated.

We are constantly being bombarded by advertisements from TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines that suggest that we should buy their modern versions of snake oil (now that you understand what it means) and go on to a happy and abundant life. Corporate America has figured out that we are a vain people and will buy just about any product if it is well marketed. The Home Shopping channels on cable TV are exceptionally good at taking any product and developing sales pitches that convince you that you must buy their product this very day. Most sales campaigns are built on the premise of selling you the thought that you are somehow incomplete – lacking if you do not have their products. The acquistion of things rarely ever makes you happy, and if it does, it is usually temporary. What makes you happy always depends upon your attitudes, values, and beliefs. You are only unfulfilled if you think you are lacking something or that you didn’t get something you feel you deserved. That is where patience comes in. Sometimes you have to keep scratching and fighting to realize your goal, and success doesn’t always come easily. When that happens, keep fighting. Edison had more than 1,000 experiments that failed as he tried to develop the electric light bulb. When asked about his failures, he responded, “I didn’t fail. I just kept learning one more way on how not to make the light bulb.”

If each of us focused more on becoming the very best we can be at everything we do, felt grateful for the blessings we already enjoy, learned to give selflessly to others, accepted our shortcomings but worked to overcome them, we would find that life is pretty wonderful indeed. This holiday season you will exchange gifts. Some of life’s greatest gifts are priceless and are absolutely free. In an earlier “Chat,” I quoted Todd Beamer’s wife as she recalled the wisdom of a favorite teacher. Those words were so profound, I want you to revisit them as my Christmas present to you:

"Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate and give of ourselves. None of us knows when this fantastic experience will end. It can be taken away at any moment. Perhaps this is the Power’s way of telling us that we must make the most out of every single day." Her eyes beginning to water, she went on, "So I would like you all to make me a promise. From now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful to notice. It doesn't have to be something you see, it could be a scent, perhaps of freshly baked bread wafting out of someone's house, or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees, or the way the morning light catches one autumn leaf as it falls gently to the ground. ‘Please look for these things, and cherish them. For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the 'stuff' of life. The little things we are put here on earth to enjoy. The things we often take for granted. We must make it important to notice them, for at anytime it can all be taken away.’

Remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. (Mary Beamer as quoted on the TV show: Good Morning, America)

This is your time on this earth. Your life should be a gift to everyone who crosses your path. If you focus on making that goal as your gift to God, you will be happier than most people ever dream of being.