From the Head of Junior School

A selfless act

'Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.' - Dalai Lama XIV

A selfless act can be any voluntary act meant to benefit another that includes anything from a mere inconvenience to a real possibility of suffering. Fire fighters, soldiers and policemen are prime examples of hard-working servicemen and women in our community and while they regularly perform benevolent deeds for no personal gain, a selfless act does not have to be heroic.

A visitor at a store who sees an elderly shopper and assists them or even just lets them in front of them at the checkout could be seen as committing a selfless act. Holding the door for people going in and out of public buildings could very well be called a selfless act, seeing as it is nearly always a thankless gesture.

Organisations such as the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders or missionaries from different religious organisations often put themselves in harm's way to benefit others. These gestures are selfless acts that allow these brave individuals to bring much needed aid, medical support and care to some of the world's most needy people. They do this for no reason other than they feel it is the right thing to do.

Part of our programme here at Scotch College is to develop empathy within the boys, the ability to understand what other people are going through and show compassion for another person's situation.

On Friday 24 March, boys from the Junior, Middle and Senior School demonstrated this empathy and compassion with their actions to join the World's Greatest Shave. Though the events bought no benefit to them, other than some enjoyment at seeing their friends and teachers having their heads shaved, approximately $7,436 has been raised towards a very worthy cause.

Currently in the College there are two students in the Middle School who are suffering from a blood disease. Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are types of blood cancer that can be developed by anyone, at any age and at any time. Currently there are over 60,000 Australians living with a blood cancer or related disorder and every day another three to five people are diagnosed. The money that our boys raised last week will contribute, in a small way, to hopefully one day finding a cure for this dreaded disease.

I want to commend the boys of the Junior School, including Hamish Byass, Charlie Roads, Marc Ricciardello, Luca Wheeler and Lucas Marley for bravely sacrificing their hair for a good cause.

I also wish to thank Mr Norman, Mr Whiston and Mr Wells for also volunteering to have their heads shaved in support of the boys but more importantly in support of raising some money and awareness about blood cancers. These selfless acts by a few people go a long way to demonstrate the wonderful qualities of our boys, the empathy they extend to others and, hopefully, will one day assist in finding a cure.

Mr John Stewart
Head of Junior School