On the first day of school, Mr. Earsing spoke to the student body about this year’s new theme, open to growth. Mr. Earsing reflected on how to be open to growth and how to find consolation and desolation in your life. Recently, I was able to meet with Mr. Earsing to understand more about his decision of this year’s theme.
What do you hope students will take from your message of being open to growth?
Part of that question is that openness to growth is being able to understand discernment of the spirits and make good decisions on an everyday basis. I think you look at the Ignatian idea about being able to make a good decision and you could apply it to anything. Sometimes I think in the heat of the day, when you’re doing small things, that’s when you need it the most. It is so insidious for us humans that I don’t think we always pay attention to the small things. It’s like when I say good morning to you, you can either say what’s so good about it and be crabby or you can say good morning. We do that to our friends all the time, and it’s a decision that we make to be in a better mood or be positive as opposed to just being cranky. I’m hoping that open to growth leads everybody to a little question about how I can get better at discerning the spirits and how can I be a better man in everything I do.
“The main question is how do we look at human beings and how we can become better human beings in everything we do.” – Mr. Earsing
How do you try to live out the theme for this year?
For example, this year I was asked to consider being aboard member for the school Sisters of Notre Dame which is a six-year term. I was shocked by the opportunity to travel and my schedule at Jesuit is pretty packed, so having another thing I would have to do, especially one that I would have to fly someplace would be a lot. Here I am, if I am going to make a decision to say yes to this, and I thought about it and prayed about it and said yes. Number one I have a soft spot in my heart for nuns because I had two great aunts who were nuns and second I think the school Sisters of Notre Dame do a great job in what they do in terms of their service to our world. Also, I was rolling off another board in June. I was on the Cristo Rey board, and was rolling off after 10 years. I thought this is my way of giving back by saying yes to that, so I’ve just made a six-year commitment to the school sisters of Notre Dame. For me, I think that’s part of being open to growth.
Learning new things is part of open to growth as well. I’m a relatively new golf player. I’ve been playing maybe 14 years, which sounds like a long time but when you’re older and you start playing the sport that you’ve never played before, it’s a learning curve that is a little different than for you guys. But I really enjoy golf by reading books and watching videos about the sport. That’s part of being open to growth as well on things.
I also think open to growth is being able to look back and see what you need. Sometimes I personally have to look back and rededicate myself. I like going to mass early in the morning, but sometimes I just don’t feel like getting up so early. To get up and do that is something I got to rededicate myself to. I think that’s another part of being open to growth, to reexamine the things that you’ve done that have been successful in your life before and try to repeat that scenario for yourself whether it’s going to mass or going to reconciliation or saying extra prayers. I do my prayers in the morning and sometimes it’s that I got all these meetings or I get busy, but being able to grow and say I’m going to remind myself that I need to do these prayers before I get to school is important.
How did you decide on the theme open to growth?
I think about what are the most pressing needs that we have in our school community, and then Mr. Garrison and I talk about it, and we see where we are in the community and what his recommendation is and what we would like to work on. So this year we came up with open the growth. We thought it was timely because we got stuck a little bit after COVID, where they’re some guys that are still recovering from COVID. I say that in the sense of students’ grades during COVID may not be as high in the average from years past. So being open to growth is how do we look at that and how do we help you guys’ sort of fill in those pieces. So, I thought it was about time and that’s what we went with.
What was your rationale in choosing the Birth of Jesus as the reading for the prayer service?
Theologically, Easter certainly would be important because the Risen Christ is what we look for. Jesus sacrificed himself to save us all. Christmas, even though it’s not on the same level as Easter, is sometimes similar in our hearts. If I say to you Easter, I don’t know what that envisions for you. Do you think about Christ being crucified on Good Friday and rising from the dead? The answer would be yes.
I think we think about this stuff and it’s certainly holy, but I don’t know if that has the same effect on you as Christmas does because I think we’re steeped in Christmas. I mean we’ll start doing Christmas in November.
When you say Easter spirit what do you think of? Well, I think of the stations of the cross and Christ’s Paschal Mystery. But I don’t associate Easter with baskets and ducks and colored eggs. This is part of Easter but it doesn’t have the same kind of notation as the major scene and snow on Christmas and the tree and the warm feeling everybody has.
There is this great feeling of brotherhood and sisterhood during Christmas. Typically on Easter we don’t go and say “Hey Christ died for our sins I love you I want to try to emulate Christ!” I think some of us do, but not to the same extent oftentimes that you have with Christmas.
Dickens didn’t write the Christmas Carol about Easter. He wrote the Christmas Carol about Christmas. In some ways in our culture, Dickens’ Christmas Carol is the epitome of the milk of human kindness.
When you talk about community service, you could make a case that community service represents Easter, but I think if we ask most guys about community service, they’d say it represents Christmas in the terms of doing good things and helping others who are less fortunate. Even though Easter is the ultimate hope for us because our sins are forgiven, I think Christmas is the ultimate hope that the Savior has come already in the form of a child. So that’s why I chose the Christmas reading.
“I think Christmas always engenders a warmth, a love, and a feeling that is hard to beat.” -Mr. Earsing
