Be You
You may have missed a great article in the Daily Herald in December titled, “Why the Balls might not be the best basketball family in Los Angeles.” Sports reporter Mike McGraw has a keen eye for the understated power behind the reserved, gracious, centered personalities of the members of the Holiday family, students, and teachers at Campbell Hall for decades. McGraw is less kind to other local players and families who seem to have lost their way in the fight for playing time and fame, but there’s a beautiful moment in the article where Justin Holiday ‘07 refuses to be drawn into making odious comparisons between the Holiday brothers and other local balling families: “They are themselves. There’s nothing wrong with that to me. Be you. That’s the best thing you can really do in life.”
Los Angeles is a power center with some of the world’s most accomplished people in all walks of life, and Campbell Hall is a microcosm of our bedazzling city. It is a temptation peculiar to young people in cities like this to lose themselves as they seek to become the next great athlete, actor, or tycoon. Maybe they are called to such achievement; maybe not. They are all called to greatness as children of God, but greatness comes in many forms, some more subtle than others. The best any of us can do, is to be ourselves; the best (and sometimes most difficult) thing we can do as parents is to let our children truly be themselves as they move through this academic, artistic, social, personal journey.
The songwriter David Wilcox wrote a beautiful song for this season called “Waiting for a Miracle” in which he chides those who ignored the bright Epiphany star and just went back to bed. Yet “right outside my window, quiet as can be, all that time making up my mind, the angels wait for me.” Once we are truly comfortable being ourselves, or letting our children follow the beat of the God-given soundtrack playing their constant background music, there are angels ready to join in. There are friends seen and unseen lending helping hands in the community of inquiry. No need to wait for miracles, try to be someone else, or hack the system; just be you. That’s the best thing you can really do in life.
Follow Julian on Twitter @cannonbull
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The songwriter David Wilcox wrote a beautiful song for this season called “Waiting for a Miracle” in which he chides those who ignored the bright Epiphany star and just went back to bed. Yet “right outside my window, quiet as can be, all that time making up my mind, the angels wait for me.” Once we are truly comfortable being ourselves, or letting our children follow the beat of the God-given soundtrack playing their constant background music, there are angels ready to join in. There are friends seen and unseen lending helping hands in the community of inquiry. No need to wait for miracles, try to be someone else, or hack the system; just be you. That’s the best thing you can really do in life.
Follow Julian on Twitter @cannonbull
4533 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Studio City, CA 91607
Phone 818.980.7280
Phone 818.980.7280
Campbell Hall is an independent, Episcopal, K-12 all gender day school. We are a community of inquiry committed to academic excellence and to the nurturing of decent, loving, and responsible human beings.
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Nondiscriminatory Policy as to Students
Campbell Hall admits students of any race, color, gender, sexual orientation, national, and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, national, and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletics and other school-administered programs.
Campbell Hall admits students of any race, color, gender, sexual orientation, national, and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, national, and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletics and other school-administered programs.
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