In an ever-shifting COVID landscape, there is no doubt that this has been a year when John Paul College staff have stepped up even more than usual, and they have done so to ensure the best educational program for our students possible. And to deliver on our Purpose; To Educate, To Inspire, To Make a Difference.
Recently I read The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku. Jaku was a German-born Jew who, in 1938, was arrested and interred in the first of many concentration camps. I share some of his wisdom with you here.
'My new dear friend, I have lived for a century, and I know what it is to stare evil in the face,' his story begins. 'I have seen the very worst in mankind, the horrors of the death camps, the Nazi efforts to exterminate my life, and the lives of all my people. But now, I consider myself the happiest man on Earth. Through all my years I have learnt this: life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful…happiness is something we can choose. It is up to you.'
He continues, 'You can choose every day, every minute, to act in a way that may uplift a stranger, or else drag them down. The choice is easy. And it is yours to make.' Jaku's story should remind us of the power of kindness, the power of our own will and the desire to help others and to make a difference.
Our Purpose at JPC, To Educate, To Inspire, To Make a Difference doesn't just stand as a creed for our staff making a difference to and for our students. Its stands for all of us. For our living College, if you will, to make a difference to each other and in and for our community and world.
Values are transmitted from generation to generation and within communities.
We see this in Eddie Jaku's story; he writes that 'his father was careful to make sure we understood that there was much more to life than material things. If you are lucky enough to have money and a nice house, you can afford to help those who don't, he would tell me, writes Jaku. That is what life is about, to share your good fortune.'
Whether it be through our Christian mission or our 39 years of history, I am confident that year to year, Alumni to Alumni and staff to staff, the JPC community has been enriched by an understanding that to help and care for others, To Make a Difference, is the right thing to do.
