![new flowering dogwood tree]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1625173015/gunneryorg/rxsjehzupwj0iwp5xiox/unnamed2_1.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1625173015/gunneryorg/rxsjehzupwj0iwp5xiox/unnamed2_1.jpg","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_3/v1625173015/gunneryorg/rxsjehzupwj0iwp5xiox/unnamed2_1.jpg","width":800},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_4/v1625173015/gunneryorg/rxsjehzupwj0iwp5xiox/unnamed2_1.jpg","width":1200},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1625173015/gunneryorg/rxsjehzupwj0iwp5xiox/unnamed2_1.jpg","width":1280}])
On May 22, students and faculty gathered in Bourne Garden for a COVID Service of Remembrance that included the planting of a new pink flowering dogwood tree.
"We are gathering here today because it’s vital that, as we live through something so unprecedented, so long lasting, and so destructive, personally, in some cases, locally, nationally and globally, that we pause," Head of School Peter Becker said, "that as many things have been taken out of our control over the course of the last 15 months, we exercise our human agency, individually, and as a community, to pause and reflect, ultimately to acknowledge loss and grief as well as to recognize what we have to be grateful for and practice gratitude."
“Some of us have lost people we love to COVID directly, or as a result of the destruction the pandemic has wrought. For many of us, that loss is the first major death we have experienced personally, and few of us are given guidance or coaching about what to do and how to respond," Becker said.
He continued: "All of us have lost something through these last 15 months, if not a loved one then other things we love, cherish, and may have used to take for granted – time with friends, a sports season, or we’ve just lived in a constant state of worry and on high alert."
“On the largest level, we know that hundreds of thousands of individuals have died in the United States as a result of COVID and at least 3.5 million globally," he said. "Even if we hadn’t experienced personal losses, we should pause to grieve that loss to humanity, a loss so vast, our brains and hearts struggle to grasp it."
Rabbi Andy Bachman P’19, a community leader in Brooklyn, New York, and Executive Director of the nonprofit Jewish Community Project (JCP) Downtown, also shared his wisdom and experience at the service, with the intention of helping to guide our community, as he has other communities, in learning to practice grief and gratitude.
