In My Dreams
Source/Author: Mike Murphy, Headmaster
September 29, 2017
In My Dreams
Someone heard a rumor about me. Before calling anyone else, she called me. I clarified the reality of the story. She called the person who had told the rumor to her and the story ended before a complicated and false mess developed. I am pretty sure this is how we would all want to be treated.
Friends don’t let you walk around with something coming out of your nose. They politely or humorously give you a heads up.
In My Nightmare
My boss calls me into her office and asks about a story that “everyone in the community is talking about.” After hearing the story, I explain to my boss what really happened and who she can call to verify the story. Out of respect for me she calls that person and our stories are the same. Then she calls the person who shared the rumor with her. He then calls the person who shared the rumor with him. She denies ever saying such a thing. “I would never spread a rumor,” she insists.
In the meantime, a petition is being circulated to have me terminated. When my boss learns of the petition, she asks some of the signatories to provide evidence of their claim. Each and every one replies, “Well so and so said that everyone knows it happened.”
I am confident no one wants to be the center of a rumor. Whether it is true or false, rumors do not lead to positive solutions.
In Reality
We have a choice. We can go directly to the source to learn the answers to questions or concerns, we can engage in the rumor mill, or we can file the initial statement away.
One of the strategic goals for Shorecrest is to build a stronger community. The manner in which the students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and friends of our school community manage information they hear with regard to the school will determine our ability to be a strong and trusting community. Our Core Values - Responsibility, Respect, Integrity, Knowledge and Compassion - provide us with an excellent guide for how we wish to treat and be treated by others.
When the Core Values are at the forefront of our minds and become our default behaviors, rumors will have no place at Shorecrest. We have a choice.
For the sake our children and future generations of Shorecrest students and their families, I hope we will embrace the Core Values. I do not find anything idealistic about Core Values. I think they are the way we want to be.
Cheers!
Mike
