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On behalf of the Class of 2007 on my right and the Class of 2019 behind me, it is a special privilege to welcome students, faculty and families to McDonogh’s 134th opening. We gather this morning because everyone here regardless of age is a unique member of a community that shares a tradition of high personal and academic expectations.

Let us pray.
Thank you for the blessings of the past summer and we ask your guidance this morning as we begin the 2006-2007 school year. We pray that you will help student and teacher work closely together in the pursuit of knowledge. Help us find our work challenging, rewarding, and enlightening.
As we seek to be the best of whomever we are.
As we study in the course of life to do the greatest possible good.
As we loyally live in the present that we may be true to the ideals of our founder.
We beseech thee, Lord, to give our teachers and students wisdom, tolerance, and courage so that together we may strengthen each other in work and play. Grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. May we live one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time and accept hardship as a pathway to peace.
Amen.

Each person discovers inspiration in different ways. A novel, a movie, a poem, a song, a majestic view of a lake, mountain, or the ocean can spark a special thought. I am particularly inspired by people of all ages. A Lower School student, a middle schooler, an upper schooler, teachers of all ages are my sources of inspiration.

This morning I want you to know a little bit about my Uncle Ed and why he inspires me. He is my 89-year-old godfather, and I spent the last few days with him and his wife, Joan, in the Adirondack Mountains. I have known him for 63 years, and Uncle Ed treats everything and everybody as a unique gift - each minute. Even a cloudy, rainy day in the mountains, or all of us huddled next to a warm fire on a dreary 40-degree evening are declared gifts.

Of course my family believes that Uncle Ed’s 89 years of perspective, humor, and unconditional love is the ultimate gift. I watched him get down on all fours to play in the sand with my grandchildren. Despite being separated by two generations, my grandchildren believed that they had met the King of the World, also affectionately known as Poppy.

Each of us here this morning will benefit from a gentle reminder that most everything around us is a gift – this majestic campus on a morning like this, our friends at McDonogh and beyond, teachers who have dedicated their lives to you, and this school, which just like you, is always trying to find ways to improve and mature.

My only worry is that some of you – kids and adults - will treat your gifts as we did when we were very young. We can all recall those moments when we received a gift, ripped it open in record time, looked at it for a few seconds, and proceeded to look for the next one, seemingly ungrateful, even forgetful, of the one we had just abandoned. I ask that each of us this morning treasure the inspiring gifts we have each day. The ones that are presently in our lives (already unwrapped) each day – our families, our McDonogh relationships, and this campus which so dignifies our education.

Uncle Ed has been a gift to my family, and we look forward to the incomparable pleasure of slowly unwrapping that gift for years to come. How many priceless moments would have been missed if we had not taken the time to appreciate him?

May I suggest that each of us unwrap this 2006-2007 school year carefully by taking in and treasuring each moment, each friendship, each academic and extracurricular challenge. I certainly have cast away gifts as if there would always be more. I know differently.

Please join me in respecting the integrity, the majesty, the inspiration with which each gift can greet us in the coming weeks and months.