It is vital for Principals to ensure that they “keep the windows open”, regularly remind staff to do likewise and encourage students to also embrace that concept. Add to this the saying that “minds are like parachutes - they work best when they are open” which is very thought provoking and a good launching pad for discussion.

“Keep The Windows Open” is a story that can be used for both staff and students to illustrate the importance of opening windows and understanding the richness and diversity of life. The room was gloomy except for the small declining candle which flickered on the young writer’s table where lay the blotchy manuscript, the focus of a creator’s work. The young writer was called Pen. Strangely the room was large and circular with many windows spaced evenly around the wall. Surprisingly, for a writer, they were all shuttered and barred, preventing any natural light from entering. A stale feeling had grown in the room which was hardly inspirational for writing.

In a neighbouring village in a similar room another writer eagerly worked on a manuscript. A candle flickered on the young writer, who glanced anxiously and regularly at the many barred windows surrounding the room. It also flickered on a face with eyes that sparkled and a jaw set with determination. This young writer was named Ink and the room, though inadequate, was the only one which could be acquired.

Many years passed and Pen had turned old and grey. However a candle still flickered on the table but the room, the same room, was now graced with the light from a solitary window. This had been such a tiresome challenge to open so that Pen did not venture to tackle the others with any grit or determination. They remained firmly shut. Only one window open - how gloomy the room was. Pen would often wander over to the solitary window and survey the world outside. The view was indeed narrow because of the way the shutters were fixed. Incidentally the paint on the shutters was deteriorating and peeling. Nevertheless Pen’s heart, spirit and imagination were uplifted by the view from this narrow window. Pen would then return to the table and continue work on the manuscript of life, now well covered with candle wax and years of thumb prints. Regardless of the work undertaken, the manuscript always remained thin. It wasn’t that Pen hadn’t lived the years and written accordingly, it was a lack of a zest for life that undermined determination. The other windows remained firmly closed!

In the neighbouring village Ink was now grey haired having also aged in the same writing room. Unlike Pen, Ink’s face remained determined with eyes that sparkled like the stars on a frosty night. The candle had long since been removed from this room of Ink’s which, during the day was flooded with light from the many windows which after much determination and creative thinking had been flung open to clearly reveal the exciting world beyond. The room was never quiet like Pen’s as the sounds of life flew in and bounced around the walls. Impressively on the desk was a manuscript filled with so many pages that it was difficult to carry, and other manuscripts, each tied with a piece of red ribbon, were piled in stacks around the walls beneath the open windows. How much Ink had written.

One day the aged Ink wandered over to the remaining barred window and for the one thousandth time studied the complicated locking system. You see, Ink never gave up on a challenge though the solution may take years. There always had to be a way! All the locks on the other windows had been mastered with careful, creative thought and persistence, a painstaking process as each was different and very complicated. This was the last to be mastered.

A new day dawned bright and cheerful and the excitement of the world outside poured with enthusiasm into the room. Ink grasped the inside window sill and stood gazing out of the window. Suddenly a scene down on the river bank sparked an idea. Ink moved swiftly to the barred window and instead of examining the locking mechanism on view, began searching the wall which surrounded it. The brick which held the end of the locking bar securely in place was covered with plaster. Maybe, if only……… Ink excitedly scraped away the plaster with a sharp penknife revealing the mortar beneath, and yes it was the yellow of a mortar rich in sand but poor in the bonding agent of cement. Excitedly Ink began to apply a knife to the joints, revealing they were hollow, and after a few minutes the brick came away. Ink grabbed the bar and frantically flung open the last window……what a huge achievement, what creative thought and what unrelenting determination! Now the room was fully lit with daylight.

Lifelong learners resist the temptation to leave windows closed. They don’t focus in a narrow sphere neglecting many of the areas which can become meaningful. Our increasingly complicated modern society demands the opening of as many windows as possible if meaning is to be made of it and coping is possible.

Yet the subtle ways in which we are controlled and in which conformity is thrust upon us, producing the fear of being different or an individual can so often jam windows firmly closed, never to be opened and resulting in a very thin manuscript of life. I fear that many have barred from their room some of life’s rich experiences and understandings, whilst words such as aggressive, expendable and economic rationalism have been forced up the hierarchy of regular vocabulary and thinking.

Let us as people never tire of learning, the thirst for knowledge and understanding, of the excitement of generating new ideas, the bright lights that come from original thought or the challenge of understanding the reflections of others. And in this let us acknowledge that as people we are complicated, we have many facets, all of which need to be considered, cared for and nurtured. Only then will our manuscripts be full and our lives rich and satisfying. I want to be like Ink - let’s open all those windows, regardless of the challenge and as Principals let’s encourage our staff and students to keep their windows open.

Chris Tudor,

Principal Liaison & AISNT Historian