To the editors,

What does a man do when he encounters adversity?  Does he yield? Or does he instead nobly continue his quest for fulfillment, bettering himself and his tactics so that he may be worthy of what he desires?  All too often, I have found that when people are disappointed, they choose to seek out and attack the flaws of their opponents.

Are these flaws real or imaginary?  Does it matter?  On our small island, perhaps, but in the larger scope of things we are, at this time, no more than inhabitants of said small island.  We gain notoriety within our community and fancy ourselves powerful because people on campus recognize us. We consider ourselves important and champion our own agendas, spurred on by the knowledge that even people off-campus—alumni, parents, visitors—will read of our works in the Log and on the school website.

But in truth, our so-called power is an illusion that we have created for ourselves. We cannot become blinded by the numerous molehills that have, through our eyes, become mountains. Some may hold a form of dominion over their peers, but no one is above the authority of the deans or head of school.  The administrators hold sway over us all and, while it may be acceptable to challenge their authority, we must ultimately accept the decisions they make, especially in sensitive matters.  If a student charges forward to challenge the governing body of our school, then said student must accept that he, like a modern-day Icarus, will come crashing down to earth on the broken wings of over-reaching ambition. 

Instead of attacking the deans’ prerogative to check the school newspaper, a newspaper funded by Loomis Chaffee, the Log staff should look below the surface of the issue.  Certainly, the deans have made changes in articles and portrayals of life at Loomis, but only in those that could be detrimental to the growth and development of the school.  The administration is not fascist or totalitarian; it does not seek to impede our personal expression.

Here, our powers have very real limits, just as they will in the real world.  As our most recent convocation speaker mentioned, there has been an incredible spike in teens’ overconfidence.  The sooner that we accept that the boundaries of our campus are also the boundaries of our current real world power, the sooner we will realize that influence and ambition cannot change reality.  And our reality is one of limits, not one of invincibility.

-Zach Breen ‘12