Belen Jesuit Preparatory School

To the Band of Brothers: August 31, 2022

Fr. Willie ‘87 | President
One of the best parts of my day is standing at the front of the school in the morning and greeting you when you walk into the building. If we are going to preach that Belen is our home, then you should have someone standing at the door welcoming you as you arrive. I assure you that if you pull up one morning and don’t see me there, it’s probably because I am out of town, celebrating the 7:15 a.m. mass, or dealing with an unexpected situation. 
 
This morning ritual has also made me aware that there are various kinds of handshakes that I have neatly categorized and even subcategorized into five groups. Here is what I have been able to identify so far:
  • The Standard Issued: This is your run-of-the-mill handshake. I extend my right hand and say good morning and the response is mutual. The handshake is firm, the verbal response is audible, you get looked in the eye and, if you’re lucky, a smile accompanies it.

  • The Silence is Golden: This handshake is very similar to the “standard issued” with the exception of the audible response. The young man approaches with a “I just got out of bed” look and shakes my hand without saying anything. When this happens, I normally repeat the “good morning” in order to suggest a response and usually get one. But I must admit that some eggs are difficult to crack (especially at 7:30 a.m.).

  • The Sinistra: This handshake is actually very common and has various reasons for why it is given. I extend my right hand and the young man offers me his left. I normally cringe at this because there is beauty to the handshake. There’s a kind of synchronized ballet whose flow seems to be interrupted with the left hand. It’s awkward. But I also understand there could be some very valid reasons for the “sinistra”:
    1. The young man gets out of the car and has two backpacks strapped to his body and a couple of books in his right hand, so he offers the left in order to not interrupt the flow of traffic into the building.
    2. The young man’s mother/father stopped at Chantilly Bakery on the corner of 8th street and 127th avenue and bought him a café con leche which he is holding in his right hand as he walks into the school. In order to avoid serious spillage, he offers the left.
    3. The young man has a right finger, hand, wrist, arm, elbow, or shoulder in a cast and/or sling and can only offer the left.
    4. The young man is so dazed and confused in the morning that when he hears the salutation he is taken by surprise and offers the first hand that moves and it happens to be the left.
While I admit that a few of the above reasons are acceptable (especially #2), I sometimes wonder if the left is not simply given out of laziness or convenience. Neither laziness or convenience is acceptable in my opinion. It is interesting to note that the word for “left” in Italian is “sinistra,” from where we get the word “sinister.”
  • The Whatever: While there is no doubt the majority of young men that make their way through the gates at Belen extend manly and well-delivered handshakes, on occasion I have run into the “whatever” handshake. This is the handshake that is offered as if it were an inconvenient task or a nuisance comparable to taking out the garbage, mowing the lawn, or replacing the kitty litter. I’ve been given this handshake when two students are speaking to each other as they walk in and do not momentarily interrupt their conversation to say “good morning,” when a student is wearing earphones and listening to his favorite playlist, when a student is on the phone, or when a student is unaware of the significance and power of a courteous salutation. I admit these are very rare, but they’re out there.

  • The Double-Take: In this version, I extend my right hand and the young man not only shakes it with his right hand, but then proceeds to tap my right shoulder with his left hand. In my opinion, the maneuver is an expression of confidence and trust not only in me, but in himself. It goes without saying the handshake is accompanied with the audible greeting and then some.

    The “double-take” is rare, not because we don’t have students who are confident and trusting (we actually have a lot of these), but because we usually don’t have students who walk in through the Belen gate with two empty hands that can afford to give a handshake and a pat. It seems this form of salutation is reserved for the upperclassmen that have been at Belen for several years and have learned the tricks of how to bring less and less things each semester, thus freeing up their hands.
For the record, it is good for you guys to get accustomed to greeting respectively and effectively in the manner of men. Belen’s desire to prepare you as future leaders in our community is an integral part of everything we do, not only in the classroom, but in the hallways, the field, and even the front gate. This is just one more way we can help make you true “men for others.”

Auspice Maria
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BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba, by Queen Isabel II of Spain.  The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline.  In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the school's property and expelled the Jesuit faculty.  The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit is situated on a 34-acre site in western Dade County, just minutes away from downtown Miami.