Back in 1970, the American author Richard Bach published the book ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ that “tells the story of a young seagull who is trying to learn about flying, personal reflection, freedom, and self-realsation”, while breaking free from the limitations of his flock. A few years later it was turned into a beautiful film with memorable songs written and sung by Neil Diamond, the main song being entitled simply, ‘Be’.
The song describes the seagull, thus: “Lost, on a painted sky, where the clouds are hung for the poet’s eye, you may find him; If you may find him”. It goes on to point out “There, on a distant shore, by the wings of dreams, through an open door, you may know him; if you may know him”. Lost in the vastness of the skyscape, the seagull flies, searching, looking, wanting, hoping, trying, needing, pushing, straining, learning. He appears so small that he is almost lost to sight, but he is indeed lost.
Each day, it would seem, social media shares about pets that are lost, found wandering, roaming the streets. Some may indeed be lost; some may have escaped, looking for a better life; others may have been ‘lost’ by owners hoping that someone else will take on the responsibility that they cannot or will not accept; others may just be dumped. All are lost; sadly, not all are found.
Animals are not the only things that are lost. Interestingly, astonishingly, frighteningly, school ‘Lost Property’ cupboards or rooms are bulging with clothes and equipment that children have ‘lost’ or misplaced; sometimes those items remain there for weeks and months, without being collected. Expensive, new clothes and shoes are there, many even with nametags on them. What a waste! Why do parents not get their child to check if the item is there, rather than buy a new one?
However, clothes, books and equipment (be they sporting or scientific) are not the only things that are lost at school. Indeed, things far more expensive than these are also picked up as lost. The sad reality is that many children are ‘lost’ because they do not find their purpose or talent yet that is the point of education. How many youngsters are lost to a specific sport because they have never had the opportunity or occasion or position to excel in it, despite perhaps having a talent in that area? How many children’s musical ability has been lost because they have not been given the opportunity or the encouragement? How many children in this country are lost in the system through no fault of their own? How many children feel lost, in a distant world, a tiny far-off speck in people’s eyes?
Too many children have been written off by society, by schools, by systems as being a lost cause. Let us be very clear, however: there are no lost causes, only lost children. No child is a lost cause. We may recall one of Christ’s more well-known parables, that of ‘The Prodigal Son’, which is sometimes referred to as ‘The Lost Son’. The son was prodigal, was wasteful of all that he had, and as a result he was lost to his father and lost to himself. Many would have written him off as he had everything but wasted it all. Yet he was found, or rather he found himself. Surely education should be described in the one line of the wonderful hymn entitled ‘Amazing Grace’: “I once was lost but now am found”.
The truth about our children is: “There, on a distant shore, by the wings of dreams, through an open door, you may know him; if you may know him”. If we may know him or them. If. In 1981 Cliff Richard released an album ‘Wired for Sound’ on which he had a much more upbeat song than ‘Be’, entitled, ‘Lost in a Lonely World’, which contained the lines “You know you need someone to bring out the best in you” – that is those of us in education, being responsible to bring out the best in our children. The song goes on to say, “To be a light to you is what I intend to do; To show the way you know you ought to go”. We need to help them to see this truth that they will be no longer lost.
As the song ‘Be’ closes, “As a page that aches for word which speaks on a theme that is timeless”, so this remains a timeless theme for our children, many of whom are lost. Many feel so small, seemingly insignificant. They must find themselves, their freedom, their purpose, their talent. That is the purpose of education. They do not need to settle for this; there is somewhere they can go — to school. Lost people, more than lost property, is a travesty.