Enough Complaining … Smile More!

By MAYA BOKHARI ‘20

Almost every online survey, SGA election, and “transformative” assembly seems to aim to solve another growing issue in our community. We talk incessantly about solutions to problems much of the student body may not even know exist. Bottom line: we complain. A lot. I fear that our complaints have grown to consume our Milton experiences. To clear things up: yes, I am hypocritically complaining about the extent of our community’s complaints, but I do not need to propose a solution to this issue because we see its solution every single day. Moments of powerful silence at the Veterans’ Day flagpole ceremony, overwhelming support for our teams at Nobles Day, or merely the simple kindness of holding a door for an unfamiliar face—these experiences highlight the profound unity that is too often overlooked in our community. Whether we find ourselves cheering for our closest friends or for completely new faces, we, as members of the Milton community, both receive and give resounding support that I feel is worth recognizing.

On February 4, the St. Baldrick’s Head Shaving Event, brought to Milton by Ginny Barrett ‘20, filled the student center with an overwhelming majority of our community. Barrett explains that she “definitely did not expect or imagine the effect [the event] had on the community.” Beyond its impact on the student body as a whole, St. Baldrick’s helped Barrett realize that she “underestimated Milton because [she] didn’t think people who didn’t know [her] would care that much.” We continue to stress the support we can find in the health center, our peer groups, or ISS members, but we fail to see that the people we stand behind in the lunch line or wait with at the crosswalks are here to support us too. We need to understand why, as Barrett says, “it’s a shock to see how much the community will band together to support someone.” Why do we expect so little of each other when we continue to find reasons to be grateful for one another?

I think our Class IV deans had the right idea. Friday morning shout-outs for the small, thoughtful acts help illuminate the positivity we share more often than we like to admit. As cheesy as they seemed to our freshmen class, those shout-outs often helped us see the light at the end of the tunnel after every assembly on racism, violence, or illness brought our spirits down. More than just Milton, we as a society have become dependent on sensationalizing graphic news stories, and I now cannot remember the last time the evening news made me smile. Instead of listening to Chris Herren talk about the people he could not save, let’s hear about more of the lives he changed for the better. Instead of listening to Rodney Glasgow’s stories of the racist environment he grew up in, let’s hear more about the positive impact he has made on the students he works with today. Organizations like TextLess and OneLove have taken tragedies and turned them into positive reinforcements for change. In moments of weakness and vulnerability, we have proven that our community can create a powerful movement, organization, or event, yet we often refuse to acknowledge these successes.

Our time of underestimating our community’s strength and unity must come to an end. Only so many tragic anecdotes can shock people enough to speak up against unfortunate realities, but now that people have spoken up, we can start spreading hope. Share the positivity that transforms an issue into a solution. We have let the negativity around us overshadow the positivity that lives in all of us, so I hope that the coming online surveys, SGA elections, and all-school assemblies will focus more on what we have to look forward to—not what we feel obligated to look back on.

Image Courtesy of Google