If last month—May—was the “I Can’t Believe” month (see my “letter” in the May 21 issue), June is perhaps a month of “goodbyes.”
To say goodbye to someone is often a touching and poignant moment. What’s important about goodbyes is that they be good-byes; that is to say, we don’t want “byes” that are bad-byes.

Bad-byes might occur when the relationship has become strained or forced. Perhaps someone has overstayed their welcome. In some cases, the covenantal nature of a friendship has been broken, and the parting is not a sweet sorrow at all, but a relief, and an opportunity to move on. Good riddance to bad rubbish, we think. 

We might experience a bad-bye, however, because the relationship has been close, and the emotional intensity of the separation is almost too much to bear. The child is leaving for university, or someone goes off in the military to war or a troubled spot in the world. Two lovers, perhaps, separated by the demands of a job, or an education, or some unknown adventure. The parting is fraught with anxiety and despair. It’s the stuff of movies. 

But good-byes are quite different. The parting is no less meaningful, but the relationship is not strained, the welcome has not been overstayed, the covenant has not been broken. Both parties to a good-bye recognize that in the ebb and flow of life, such moments naturally occur, and each party to the covenant wishes the other well as the journey continues, and each feel that their respective lives have been enriched by having known each other.

Such surely has been the case with our brief but fruitful and meaningful relationship with Harlan and Mary Lyso. They have graced our community with sure-handed leadership and a quiet and pleasant integrity, and we are surely the better for it. We wish them well as they pursue their own journey which includes gardening, reading, reconnecting with family, and continued involvement with the international school community as sort of roving ambassadors.

So to Harlan and Mary, we say, good-bye and knowing them as I do, I know they wish the same for us.

Of course, we say good-bye to a number of talented colleagues who have instructed and nurtured our students over the years here at SAS. You can read more about some of these teachers on pages 18-21 of this issue. We at Shanghai American School wish these departing friends all the best in their on-going and future endeavors.

Of course, we will soon be saying “welcome” to new members of our community. With them, we enter into a new covenant of respect, cooperation and hope as together we continue to do what we do so well as professionals in the leading international school on the planet. At the top of this list is the welcome we soon will extend to our new superintendent, Kerry Jacobson. The coming school year promises to be an exciting adventure, with new leadership to take us to our centennial year—and beyond.

And we say good-bye to each other as we break for the summer—a bye that is good because we know that within 60 days, we’ll be greeting each other once again and swapping stories about our summer adventures.

I look forward to hearing these stories, and I am already thinking about our premier issue of the 2010-2011 school year which will be in your hands on August 27.

Have a joyful summer, and may all your byes be good-byes!

 —Timothy Merrill, Editor, The Eagle