It's...

xox

Life after death.

Stop this, Conor O’Malley, the monster said, gently. This is why I came walking, to tell you this so that you may heal. You must listen.

Conor swallowed again. “I’m listening.”

You do not write your life with words, the monster said. You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.

There was a long silence as Conor re-caught his breath.

“So what do I do?” he finally asked.

You do what you did just now, the monster said. You speak the truth.

“That’s it?”

You think it is easy? The monster raised two enormous eye-brows. You were willing to die rather than speak it.

Conor looked down at his hands, finally unclenching them.
“Because what I thought was so wrong.”

It was not wrong, the monster said, It was only a thought, one of a million. It was not an action.

Conor let out a long, long breath, still thick.

But he wasn’t choking. The nightmare wasn’t filling him up, squeezing his chest, dragging him down.

In fact, he didn’t feel the nightmare there at all.

From 'A Monster Calls' by Patrick Ness

READ IT!

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8621462-a-monster-calls

It's not just what I'm thinking about.

It's all.

  But I'm ok.

Forward thinker.

Admittance.

DON PEDRO
Will you have me, lady?

BEATRICE
No, my lord, unless I might have another for
working-days: your grace is too costly to wear
every day. But, I beseech your grace, pardon me: I
was born to speak all mirth and no matter.

DON PEDRO
Your silence most offends me, and to be merry best
becomes you; for, out of question, you were born in
a merry hour.

BEATRICE
No, sure, my lord, my mother cried; but then there
was a star danced, and under that was I born.

Copper wisdom.

“The influence of a beautiful, helpful, hopeful character is contagious, and may revolutionize a whole town. “
- Eleanor H. Porter

My message.

To all the Staff & Students of BCS

My thoughts have been with you all this week & like all of you I am still trying to make sense of everything.  Short distances have seemed far greater although things that may have irritated or aggravated have been pushed aside as completely trivial when you remember that we have lost a truly wonderful young man this week. Matt was someone whose kindness, humour and generosity knew no bounds & the world has truly been robbed of someone who would have only done good & done it with great style with no thoughts towards personal gain. There may be anger, disbelief and heartache & although it is no consolation at all, at least we all loved Matt enough to be hurting this much.  Please take good care of each other.

Dear Matt.
I know without any form of doubt that I am a better person for having known you, as is everyone who had the honour. Yours is a legacy of good humour, generous spirit, understanding & unwavering friendship. You were a true gentlemen who shall be greatly missed. You made me feel so welcome when I began teaching at BCS & your humour & randomness (which also knew NO BOUNDS!) I found very similar to my own. I remember being shocked when you got a haircut because up until then I didn’t know you actually had a forehead or TWO eyes under there! Laura said you used a hair-straightener…. I like to think it was all you buddy!

I always felt safe in the knowledge that you would make sure everyone would tell Miss Owen that we had done HEAPS of work in our Thursday drama lessons…  when the reality was that we often used it to refine our immense comedic skills & make height jokes about Laura. She couldn’t hit a teacher, so I’m afraid you & Luke had to cop the brunt of her fury… which never came up short! 

Your enthusiastic support of my Movember Moustache was thoroughly appreciated & many good times were spent practicing our outrrrrrrageous French accents. It was this kind of enthusiasm that led to Laura’s response yesterday when I told her that I sadly could not be here today: “That sucks so much. Tell your school to shove it anyway cos he would want the dirty Frenchman here!”.  

This has been a strange week. In the midst of immense sadness I have been offered some amazing opportunities for 2012 & beyond & I could not help but feel guilty for having such great plans in the pipeline, knowing that you too had great plans that now will sadly never be. Another thought struck me though. For those of us that are left, we remain to make you proud of all that we do. We owe it to you to be our best, to strive for more than we believe we are capable of and help others to do the same. Your absence must be filled not with eternal grief or guilt, but with passion, inspiration and love in the hope that when we meet again one day you’ll greet us with that trademark smile, put your arm around our shoulder & say “You did good!”.

With love, respect & limitless admiration,

Mr T