Framlinghamian 2019 - Single Pages 72dpi - Flipbook - Page 112
ON COURAGE
This is always a difficult day. The end of
one stretch of road, the start of another.
The sadness about saying goodbye and the
anticipation of what is to come. Celebrating
things that went well, goals achieved,
friendships made. But reflecting too on
things managed less well, lessons to be
learned, work still to be done. And make
no mistake, your learning is far from over. If
you genuinely want to be the best that you
can be then it never will be.
Almost four centuries ago the vicar of this
parish was a man called John Lowes. He
lived through intolerant times and in 1645
he was brought to the gallows in Bury St
Edmunds and executed for witchcraft.
Prior to this he had been deprived of sleep
before making an exaggerated confession
which included being in league with the
devil, sinking a ship at Harwich in a storm
and committing most monstrous, wicked
and accursed acts with the help of six
mischievous imps. He was plunged into the
mere at Framlingham Castle, but failed to
drown – proving beyond doubt that he was
indeed a witch. In truth the crimes that led
to his execution amounted to little more
than holding fast to an opinion when all
around you are changing theirs. He knew
how he felt worship should look and feel
and he was not ready to submit to changes
he felt were against God and inherently
wrong.
And what makes the tragedy of John
Lowes even less palatable is the role his
parishioners played in it. Not everyone
liked him, many disagreed with him and
they were ready to raise a mob against him
and have him brought down rather than to
find a less heinous way to deal with their
differences. The plaque that now decorates
the wall behind me in this very church in
Lowes’ honour was installed just seventy
years later.
It reads ‘May no such blind and bloody
superstition and madness ever get head
again within this land’. It had taken just
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THE FRAMLINGHAMIAN 2019
decades for the people to recognise the
folly of their ways and the weakness of their
times.
But what does this story have to do with
you? Lowes may well have had his own
shortcomings. He was slow to adapt to
change, he was stubborn perhaps even
intolerant too at times. But what we
cannot doubt is his passion. Lowes knew
what he believed in, he knew who he was
and what he stood for and tragically he
ended up dying for it. Compare that to
those villagers, bending with the wind of
change, shifting and untrustworthy, fickle
and afraid. They sacrificed Lowes for their
own protection, seeking safety in numbers,
with betrayal in their whispers and blood on
their hands.
It takes tremendous courage to grow up
to become the person that you really are.
Along the way you will be tested and you
will be found wanting. You will change
yourself so people will like you and you will
put others down because it helps to make
you look bigger than you really are. But
slowly, ever so slowly you will realise that it
is better to walk the right way alone than to
walk the wrong way as part of a crowd.
You will realise that it is
better to be the very best
version of yourself than
it is to be a second rate
copy of someone else.
So ask yourself today as you stand on
the very threshold of the next part of your
journey. When the crowds fall away, when
the peer pressure recedes, when there
is no one to impress just for the sake of
impressing. What values for me cannot be
compromised? What do I stand for? Who,
at the very end, am I?
And when you are ready to answer that
question (and that may not be today,
tomorrow or even thirty years in the future).
When you are ready, you will realise that
what you are will not be made of gold or
trophies, it will not be won or bought, it will
not be a possession or anything that others
can give or take away. It will be a belief, a
faith, a value.
And when you know what your values are,
everything suddenly makes sense.
You will sing without
caring who listens, you
will celebrate without
jealousy the achievements
of others, you will speak
up when you know things
aren’t right.
You will make friends who want good for
you, not friends - who you think will make
you look good. You will treat people the
way you would like to be treated and you
will find out what it means to feel, for a
second at least, truly fearless.
And until that day, recognise this, that our
hearts are empty vessels just waiting to be
filled.
So fill them with things
that matter, which mean
something, things with
purpose, things that are
bigger than ourselves.
Fill them with so many
good things that doubt
will flounder, vanity will
not root, peer pressure
withers and temptation
cowers at the very
mention of your courage.
And remember, finally, that the bravest
paths are never walked alone. Your school
never gives up on you, your school believes
in you even, perhaps especially, when
you don’t and your school will be always
be there when you need it.
MAT THEW KING
HEAD OF FRAMLINGHAM
COLLEGE PREP SCHOOL