A Charlie Brown Christmas was on television last week: what a classic! In watching it one can’t help but remember their childhood, the many times they have seen it over the years. In watching it, I started to wonder if such a show would ever be created today. What are the chances as we creep up on 2011 that a modern children’s holiday special would be so overtly Christmas-y as to feature a scene with a child reciting from the Gospel of St. Luke?
But please don’t stop reading—I promise this isn’t a post about political correctness! It’s about being true to who you are. Without sounding judgmental, I imagine any newly created holiday special would include a carefully crafted balance of gender, race and religion, maybe finding a uniting thread across the folds as the theme of the show. This is all good...in theory.
But in doing so, don’t they risk losing any meaningful message, becoming nothing to anyone by endeavoring to be something to everyone?
And there is the risk to our schools and our offices, particularly in difficult times. When we stretch our definition of who we are and whom we serve we run that same risk of becoming nothing to anyone. When we relax (which is just a nice word for “compromise”) our admissions standards and criteria, we risk diluting our institutions. We dilute our professionalism and credibility. And we fail to serve school, student or self.
Today on Morning Joe, it was asked of Congressman Zach Wamp (R-TN) what marked a quality legislator during these difficult times. “Consistency” was his answer. The mark of a congressman (or that of an admissions director) was being consistent in your convictions even during the difficult times, even when faced with challenges. As adults we know the difficulties and challenges will come to pass. They always do.
How we managed them—and ourselves—will be our legacy.
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