Podcasts are a life saver. On a daily commute they offer a never-ending source of background prattle about any number of subjects, religion, education, comedy, the list goes on. Driving to school the other day my attention was piqued. Two podcast hosts, while rambling through a conversation about Netflix, mentioned the pyramids of Egypt. They were built by aliens, at least…that was the upshot of the series episode they were discussing.
What annoys me about these types of shows is that they make implicit judgements about humans not being capable of being capable. Let’s look at this whole thing carefully. The largest of the pyramids, the Great Pyramid of Giza is situated proudly on the outskirts of Cairo. Built for the Pharaoh Khufu it stands some 138 metres high but was originally as high as 146 metres. To put that into perspective, take the Oakes Aspire (just down the road from Eddies) stand another Oakes Aspire on top of that then add another four floors and you have about the height of the Great Pyramid. With a base length of 230 metres, it covers an area that would be twice that of our Tivoli sporting fields.
And what’s it made of? Stone blocks; it’s made of stone blocks, mostly limestone, some granite and some basalt. Each 4.6-metre-long block (there are 2.3 million of them) weighs on average 2.5 tonnes, about the weight of a Toyota Hilux dual cab with a full tank of gas. The yellow brown limestone was quarried on the nearby Giza plateau; however, it’s likely the granite travelled 800km to join the party. All this constructed 4600 years ago. My mind simply explodes at the thought of going back to the time of Jesus, plus another 2000 years beyond that and again another 600 years. If you think about it, 600 years ago from 2023 was 1423. The Pyramid of Khufu was built 4600 years ago!
The people of Egypt couldn’t possibly have moved massive stone blocks. Little green people from outer space must have benevolently appeared and applied their sub-atomically entangled quantum field antigravity devices. The Egyptians of 2600 BCE were no more nor no less intelligent than any of us today. They were able to take their existing knowledge and skills and build on them. They were, as are we, able to be better than perceived limitations.
The reality is, you can drag a 2.5 tonne block of granite across that desert sand with a bunch of guys and lots of ropes. It’s not easy but you can do it. However, with a bit of work and application of skill you can be better. Make a small change, take a small victory. Wet the sand and remarkably (thank you physics) friction decreases. The effect? Block transport is removed from the realm of alien quantum field effects and over the course of 27 years you have a 146-metre tall, brilliant white, gold topped monument to the Pharoah Khufu. Small change, small victory, big effect.
I’d love to be able to say that nothing is impossible, ancient aliens aside, reality, sadly will disagree. On the other hand, firmly grounded here on Earth it’s not impossible for our Eddies team and our young men to be better; to move beyond perceived limitations, make small changes, take small victories, and over time see big effects. As a team, this is something we can facilitate together.
This week, on Wednesday, we hosted our inaugural Middle School Information evening. With a variety of workshops available, information was presented that hopefully will allow parents to engage their sons in productive conversations; together. Allowing small changes in our approach to how we support our young men will in turn, cause changes in their application. Encourage rather than punish, reward effort rather than grades, be positive, and these small changes will give our young men the freedom to make changes themselves. Small victories lead to big effects. Over time we see pathways solidify, confidence build, and self-determination emerge. At the end of the day, like the ancient Egyptians, can our team be better? I think, yes. We don’t need extra-terrestrial help; we have it in us, as do our young men. We are fully capable of making our shared small changes, of taking our shared small victories and of achieving our shared outcomes together. What big effects? Young men; reflective, resilient, responsive and respectful Eddies men; independent and ready for the world.
Thank you also to Liam Stringer, Class of 2012 who spoke at our Assembly. There are many lessons to be learnt about not allowing perceived boundaries to limit a pathway. Liam spoke of the small changes in his life that led to the victories which eventually led him to his present career as a police officer.
Today we celebrated and acknowledged the young men of Years 7, 8 and 9 who achieved academically in 2022. Their commitment to improvement and development is admirable. Well done, gentlemen.
