Letter to EMIS community (Dec 2018)
“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last,
"what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh.
"What do you say, Piglet?" "I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said.”
(A.A Milen, taken from the Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff)
Dear staff, students, parents and alumni,
At EMIS, as you all know well, we aim high. Our mission and aspirations are complex and hard to reach. We try to do our very best every single day: to write the best paper possible, to organize the richest cultural week or science week or TEDx event, to find the most groundbreaking research question, to come up with the most fascinating learning process, to find the most delicate understanding between each other, to search for the most innovative solutions to our contemporary problems, or to get the best results for any exam, debate or project. We try to know more, to do more, to achieve more.
We can easily say to ourselves every morning that something interesting and exciting is about to happen. But, at the same time, when you challenge yourself on a daily basis and put your ambitions out there in the sky, you just may miss out on the purest joys of life. This is why I feel that we all can benefit from a break from time to time. We can use some time to stop, relax and contemplate. With a break we can calibrate our excitements.
With the opening of this winter break I want to stop and thank all of you for being a part of our community. Thank you for choosing to align your story with our stories and for putting your trust in us. I also want to thank you for allowing yourselves to dream with us and for your ongoing commitment to face the challenges of this world. It is a privilege to be part of such a hardworking, determined and diverse community which while it is spread around the globe still feels like one entity.
Although it is tempting to wish you a year of fulfillment and achievements, since clearly we can all benefit from such positive developments in the world, I want instead to wish you to give yourselves a break. I wish you will allow yourselves to stop and enjoy the smallest moments, alone or with the people you love. I hope you will find the way to integrate these modest and vital components of life into your ambitious paths.
Enjoy your breakfast,
Gili
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