Scottish Winter School, Glaschu

Dear Bahá’í Journal,

WELL, IT’S THE 3RD OF JANUARY, and I thought I’d try to capture the flavour of a great Winter School. By the time you read this, the Winter School will be no more than a memory (a good one I hope). Never-the-less I reckon that most people who attended the Scottish school will have spent some time at some point or another contemplating their experience; I know I have. First, I, on behalf of the organizing body, extend a huge, mega, immense, ginormous, colossal and IMMEASURABLE thank you to each and every one of you for attending the school. Don’t forget, if there’s a school next year, book early. We do need to get it into our heads that booking as early as possible imparts loads of benefits for all concerned but now is not the time to go into those reasons.

I’ve never really thought about it before, but after having had a good blether (Scottish word for ‘talk’) with friends, also given a bit of time for reflection, the following became apparent.

There are key elements necessary, and which need to be experienced, in order for any Bahá’í gathering to be considered successful (only an opinion of course), and a measurement of success is that everyone should have FUN, a good LAUGH, TO PARTICIPATE, TO FEEL SPIRITUALLY REJUVINATED, BE FLEXIBILE and to go home tired. (I’ve always maintained that if one does not go home tired from a summer/winter school one has not contributed enough.)

Creating and contributing to an atmosphere of safety and comfort, where fear has no room to manoeuvre and freedom from being judged is accepted, allows our love for our faith and each other to grow. We Bahá’ís are getting better and better at this, fact: another sign that we are maturing in practice. Let’s give ourselves a pat on the back, not that there isn’t room for improvement, of course; we know it’s ongoing, ongoing, ongoing...

Another thing that must be said is that our entertainments were the business, fantastic, truly entertaining, uplifting, witty, provocative and FUN. Our audiences were attentive, respectful, uplifted by the vibes and got right into it.

The spirit behind motive is one of the keys to entertaining, sharing our talents with each other is something we have to offer. No egos were apparent. From a seven year old playing clarinet to the “Vision of the future” presentation which was absolutely fantastic – and I mean Brilliant with a capital B and it was. This was put together by a bunch of our young people aged between 11 and 17.. The presentation was hilarious, serious, visionary and FUN. Imagine a glimpse of the Bahá’ís in 3005 was the opening scene … UTOPIA … kids loved school, they were totally thoughtful, helpful, considerate … (which of course they are now but on a different level) … they came across some old DVD’s from 2005 and then looked at part of the process which took them to their utopia; also what may have happened had they not made the efforts. Thank you all again for all your hard work and sacrifices in order to entertain us … as a receiver, it was the best most creative and funniest presentation I’d ever seen at a Bahá’í school. The dramatization on the Knight of Bahá’u’lláh to the Faroe Isles, Eskil Ljungberg, captivated the imagination and provided us with a glimpse of recent history. This presentation was both endearing and moving as were the monologues, the witty ditties in both words, song, poem and personal stories. The innovative slide show put together by the junior youth captured a flavour of the school – fantastic! The music, the laughs – we had a taste of it all!

Our children, junior youth and youth had a great time as did their teachers. Some of the younger children spent a great deal of their free time cleaning and vacuuming with such zest and enjoyed the process of being of service (hope they don’t grow out of it). There may have been one or two skivers amongst the youth (we won’t dwell on that – it’s a growing up thing) but all in all everyone else mucked in with what had to be done and did it with a healthy spirit of service for each other.

The daytime program? Well I can only reiterate the feed back from others which were all extremely positive. People’s understanding of the ‘One Common Faith’ has taken on new depths of understanding.

I’m pleased to say I heard not one moan during the winter school. The food was varied, tasty with that home-cooked flavour and the daily lunch time soup and sandwiches were the very best, creatively made. With the flavour of finesse and elegance (and all the corners were buttered) made by sacrifice, reliability and service being the attributes of the day. Our chef had been working all over the Christmas period and sacrificed her holiday time to come straight to winter school in unfamiliar surroundings and did us all proud in the physical sustenance department. The fellowship in the kitchen was an opportunity to get to know each other more.

Our morning spiritual breakfast/devotional sessions, where our souls were encouraged … motivated and assisted with more opportunities to climb those spiritual ladders and ascend to a space where we could embrace and forget ourselves and taste the sweet fragrances of oneness. And then we were ready to take on the day’s events.

A busy little beaver in the kitchen took on the responsibility of recycling everything that was recyclable, contacting and arranging with Glasgow City Council the collection of all the stuff, a policy the youth hostel had not adopted yet, a small step in being at unity with our environment, a humble shining example to us all.

The personal sacrifices made by individuals were made in all sorts of ways and sometimes details are inappropriate and un-necessary. All I know is that these sacrifices affect us all in this world and the next and, I guess, future generations. So what can one say but ‘Ta very much everyone.’

All in all we had a great time and I feel confident in saying that we left the school in a better condition than when we entered it – I know I did. Thanks again.