Dear Matrics,

As you know from our Grade 12 Poetry syllabus, Richard Lovelace said, “Stone Walls do not a Prison make, Nor Iron bars a Cage.” When we discussed this text, we compared Lovelace’s imprisonment to what we have been through over the past eighteen months with the constraints of the pandemic and the restrictions with which we have had to contend. It seems that this text is extremely fitting, because, as you know, he goes on to state that despite the physical restrictions which cage his body, he will never be imprisoned – in the truest sense of the word – if his mind is not chained or bound. You have embodied these sentiments this year. You have been forced into an unnatural situation, which at times, has been unbearable and yet you have borne it with grace, dignity and very little grumbling. You deserve to be proud of the manner in which you have embraced your Grade 12 year under these difficult circumstances and actually, as your guardians, we have simply had to be there and show our support. These are lessons which you will carry with you into the wider world and we have no doubt that you will succeed beyond your wildest expectations. Stay in touch. We will miss you.

“Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren’t any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person.”
–R Buckminster Fuller