Reflecting on Harmony Week
By Karen Mahar, Deputy Head of Junior School
One of the greatest challenges we face in life is how we confront disputes and differences of opinion with others. How we approach these conversations and discussions is critical to addressing the issue at hand, and it can have a significant impact on our overall wellbeing, mental health and our ultimate enjoyment of life, by way of improving harmony between ourselves and others.
Graphic images of the war in Ukraine have dominated our screens in recent days and illustrate the extreme consequences of a loss or absence of harmony – of disharmony. These events also highlight the extreme pain and suffering that can be caused when there is an absence of care and kindness towards each other.
American writer Christian Nestell Bovee once wrote 'Kindness is a language the deaf can hear and the blind can see'. When kindness is demonstrated, its impact may not be apparent to all, but it is noticed by those sensitive to its influence.
Ultimately, it’s all about perspective. There is value in considering the perspective of others before forming a judgement on a situation, or developing an opinion on what someone else may be thinking or why they are behaving as they seem to be at the time.
Harmony Week is an opportunity for each of us to witness and experience different perspectives on a range of subjects and issues. Who knows what each of us may learn about others and ourselves during this time if we are equipped with a growth mindset, common values, an openness to different opinions and perspectives and a commitment to achieving and maintaining harmony.
Harmony Week is celebrated each year in March. It is a time when each of us can celebrate Australian multiculturalism as a community, explore and experience the richness that diversity can bring to our culture, and take advantage of the opportunity presented to nurture and promote stronger and more harmonious relationships within our community.
Harmony Day is about inclusion. It’s about showing respect for others and cultivating a sense of belonging among all Australians. Such outcomes are best achieved through perspective – seeing things from other viewpoints and coming to appreciate that while we may have different origins, people commonly have the same life goals and intentions.
A central message of Harmony Week is that we are all essentially the same. It’s our differing circumstances (nurture) that commonly differentiate us, and through kindness and achieving harmony with each other, we can instil and strengthen the belief that everyone can belong.
Our school is committed to contributing to a community of wellbeing that fosters respect for others, providing a safe and caring environment for everyone. Respect is to consider the feelings, rights and wishes of others. We are advised to put ourselves in the other person’s position, seeking to understand why they may be feeling as they are, and how it might be appropriate to respond to their behaviour, before making a judgement and interacting with them.
We teach our students that it is never okay to:
- intentionally hurt somebody’s feelings
- harm the body of another
- ridicule any differing views or beliefs, or
- demonstrate a lack of consideration for the opinion of someone else.
We instil the expectation that people 'call out' poor behaviour, and 'call in' when people are doing things well. The idea of not being a 'bystander' and rather being an 'upstander' is easy to suggest, but often confronting and challenging to implement. If this were easy to do, everyone would already be doing it.
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted”
Aesop