What makes humanity special? This question echoes this year’s school theme, explored through Loomis Chaffee’s September Chapel Talk, which hosted speakers Andrew Bartlett (Cross-Country Head Coach and Math Faculty) and Eva Borges ‘28. Both of their personal stories explored the question of what makes humanity special, offering advice on how to navigate a challenging world.
As Mr. Bartlett took the stage, he started by unfolding a seemingly inconspicuous quilt, before revealing that each square represented a specific t-shirt from his childhood. Each shirt then highlighted a different aspect of his childhood: such as a green square labeled “Camp Deerwood” and his Little League uniform, where he made a miraculous winning catch in the championships. “They’re all fond memories for me because I enjoyed what I was doing at that time. And so it was important to put those in that quilt to create the picture of who I was at that age,” Mr. Bartlett commented in an interview after the Chapel talk.
The quilt itself also contained a heartfelt backstory. Mr. Bartlett reflected on how his father pushed him to create the quilt after his mother passed away, and the profound influence his parents had on him. “Without the two of them, without my mom’s creativity and my dad’s support, I don’t think it would have been built. So, and to honor both of my parents…I felt like it was something that I could have that was not only something that was special to me, but a tribute to them, and I see them in that quilt.”
Mr. Bartlett said his “capturing” of memories is still vital to his life today, such as how he receives a photo-book every Father’s Day or how he creates videos each year of the cross-country team for the record. “I wanted to honor what our school wants us to do, which is to open our community up so that we know each other more…I can look at any of [the cross-country team] and they could all offer amazing discussion…I hope more people will go and listen,” he said.
Eva Borges ‘28 stepped up after Bartlett to present a speech centered around negativity bias within the world, especially with political division growing more common. She brought up Thomas Malthus, an 18th-century economist who predicted that the world would quickly run out of resources due to population overgrowth. Borges pointed out how Malthus’s model can now be seen as false, explaining how humanity naturally finds the negative viewpoint on issues. She further warned that negativity bias can be exploited, saying, “Our negativity bias is especially harmful now because news sources, and big corporations in general, know about it and take advantage of it.”
Borges also made the point that humanity’s negativity bias resulted from a survival mechanism dating back to the very beginnings of society, an instinct that is now obsolete. “People who hate others based on their political status have not seen enough of the truth behind that political standpoint,” she said. “Searching for people’s perspectives from themselves, versus the news that can manipulate it for their use, is the best way. Listen respectfully, be ready to learn, and don’t let biased news sources drastically affect your outlook on different people.”
A student who attended the talk, Emory Andrews ‘28, related to Borges’ speech. “It is so easy to get sucked into a loop of negativity, so we must learn to recognize our bias to understand how it impacts our perception of the world,” he said.
With both stories relating to humanity’s relation with the outside world, whether to the past or future, each unreplicable speech provided insight into the question of humanity’s uniqueness.
Looking back at the talk, Mr. Bartlett reflected, “The more we ask questions and listen, which is what the chapel talk is about, the better we will be as a community.”
