When it comes to Latin, there are not many of us around who learned it at school! Yet we are all still surrounded by English words that have Latin roots while in certain professions like law there are many phrases that are quoted in Latin. As we have commented on before, many Zimbabwean schools still do have Latin mottos, even if pupils in that school do not know the meaning of it! Yet there is one Latin phrase that many people will have come across and might even know the meaning of it; indeed, it is one of the most common school mottos around the world. ‘Carpe Diem’.
Our limited knowledge of Latin might extend to knowing that ‘Carpe Diem’ means ‘seize the day’. We generally understand that ‘seize the day’ means that we should make the most of every opportunity that we get. With every new day given to us, we must make full use of it; no one day is assured. Another day is not guaranteed. It will not come again. So, seize the day, every second if it! However, ‘seize the day’ is far more than simply making the most of the opportunity.
‘Seizing’ is not simply taking; when we receive a book from a teacher, we do not seize it. When we go up on stage to receive an award or certificate, we do not seize it. ‘Taking’ implies a gentle, polite, respectful handing over of one object to another person. That is not how we are to approach the day. We are to seize it. In fact, ‘seizing’ is not even grabbing; grabbing certainly has a little more energy and effort to it than ‘taking’ but it perhaps only suggests a sudden quick movement. ‘Seizing’ is more than that. It is also more than snatching; snatching implies a quick movement but lighter, less intense than grabbing. Again, that is not enough for us when it comes to seeing a new day.
No, we are to seize it. That means that we must take firm hold of it with energy, force, passion, strength, rapidity. It is an unrelenting, ongoing, determined, resolute action that emphasises that we will not let it go by any means. It is ours and we will not allow anyone or anything to take it away from us. It is also going out looking for it, not waiting for it to come to us – and when we find it, we seize it so that it does not slip away. We may not even have done anything to deserve it (for ‘seizing’ almost implies it is taking something that is not rightfully ours) but we will take it.
However, having underlined all that ‘Carpe Diem’ should tell us about how we should react to the gift, we should point out that even that is actually not enough. We need to add an extra word to the motto to make it even more effective: that word is ‘exprimendum’! Squeeze!
The fact is that it is not enough to seize something, just so that we have it (and quite possibly so that others do not have it). We might, after all, seize it but simply put it on a shelf, or even in a bank, if it is valuable. It is perfectly possible to seize something but then do nothing with it, yet that is utterly pointless. It is not just enough to ‘Carpe Diem’ but we must also ‘Exprimendum Diem”.
What that means, in case our knowledge of Latin fails us again, is ‘squeeze the day’. First, we must seize the day, for sure, but then we must squeeze it. That means we must drain it dry, get every last tiny drop from it. With the same force that we got hold of it, we must apply equally to maximise the benefit of having it for ourselves and indeed for others. Someone once said that “You can tell a lot about a woman by her hands. For instance, if they’re around your throat, she is probably upset”! If those hands are seizing our neck, we will know about it; if they are squeezing it, we will certainly feel it – and know how she feels! Seize and squeeze!
This day that we have now got, this job, this relationship, we must seize and squeeze it. In fact, we might go even further and add to the motto ‘stricta exprimendum’ which is Latin for ‘squeeze tight’ (it also means ‘tight squeeze’ but that might be more applicable to the clothes we are trying to wear!). We must squeeze hard and long and firm.
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We can ask our pupils if they are seizing and squeezing the day when it comes to their education; are they going flat out to look for an opportunity then to make the most of it? Equally though we must ask ourselves if we in education are seizing and squeezing the day in order to fulfil the opportunity and responsibility we have. We do not need to know Latin to do so.
Tim Middleton is the executive director of the Association of Trust Schools [ATS]. The views expressed in this article, however, are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not necessarily represent the views of the ATS.
Email: tim@atszim.org website: atszim.org
