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Random archive letters from other years part 3 |
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Friday, November 17, 2006
Good day, Sequoyah Great Ones! When I was a very young kid and not yet in school, I used to love getting wrapping paper tubes and playing with them. I would make noises and use the tubes like a horned instrument, or I would use them as a sword and fight my brothers or sister. Sometimes I would use them as a telescope. If you all have done that, you know one thing is true; those tubes make lousy telescopes. They of course don’t bring anything closer and they truly limit the vision of what can be seen by the human eye. As a little kid, I didn’t know anything about tunnel vision or not getting the big picture, but now I do. Listen carefully to this old Japanese proverb.
Gazing through a bamboo tube will keep you from seeing the whole sky.
This proverb helps a person understand how important it is to approach life with the intent to learn everything you can. If a person knows only what they see through the eyes of a limited education, they will never see the whole picture.When I am asked by adults that aren’t in the education profession, what is the greatest weakness I see in middle school students, I always give the same response. Most of the students fail to see the connection with what they are learning now with what they will need to know for their future. Once in awhile, I hear students ask questions like these. See if you recognize any of them. “Why do I need to study ancient Egypt? I don’t plan to build a pyramid!” “And why should I study the life cycle of a butterfly? How will that make a difference in my life?” “Why do I need to know fractions, when all I want to do is count money? “Why do I need to read that book?” Here are my answers: When we study other cultures in social studies, it’s an opportunity to broaden our view of the world and to see new possibilities for ourselves. When we study the cycle of nature – whether it’s the cycles of the moon or the seasons of the year – it’s an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the natural cycles of human life. If a person doesn’t understand fractions, they will never understand the counting of money and will run the risk of being cheated. Each book read by a person expands their understanding of their own life and the world in which they live. That Japanese proverb is telling us that without a full, well-rounded education, we are able to see only a very small part of the world around us. Education presents us with a panoramic view, giving us the big picture. Education expands and enlarges our way of looking at the world so that we become better human beings. I ask all of you to do something for me. With everything that you learn each day, think about how it gives you a bigger picture of life. The wisdom that you learn then, will add to your vision by making it a clearer picture as well. With words that I would like you to consider and reflect upon, make yours an exceptional life – or not. The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose. Please choose wisely. ________________________________________ Life Is Exactly Fair Monday, November 6, 2006 Good day, Sequoyah Great Ones! Last Friday, I quoted Chris Crutcher. He is a wonderful young adult author who writes really for the older end of that group of students. Most of his books are in the high school media centers. Here is another quote from Mr. Crutcher.
Life is exactly fair. It has order and randomness, and it moves through the universe without prejudice and passion. People aren’t always fair, and it seems the less we know, the more unfair we are.
Do you understand what he is saying? He is making an important point of distinction. He believes life itself is not unfair to any of us in particular because the universe was created with order and randomness happening to all of us. No one person has a greater chance of success or failure, pleasure or harm, health or illness than anyone else based on life alone. Those possibilities come into play when people are involved. Every year in Oklahoma we have tornadoes. Most of them skip across the countryside and hit nothing, but a few hit communities and people’s homes, and in fewer occasions people unfortunately are hurt or lose their lives. A person should be able to argue that life is exactly fair because the chances are the same for all of us to be involved in tornadic conditions. No one can guarantee a tornado will never cross his or her path. Life is exactly fair, but people aren’t always fair. That’s the product of being human. A commercial on television recently gives the perfect example of what I mean. In the scene, a boy and his father are sitting at a breakfast table and eating biscuits. With the last biscuit, the father says lets share. The boy pulls the biscuit a part and offers one part to his dad. The dad says, “Hey, your piece is bigger than mine.” The boy pulls another piece off the biscuit, eats it and then says now the two are the same size. He is right, but did the action make it fair. Humans are what make things in life fair or unfair. If you don’t believe me, then you never have the right to tell your parents that one of their decisions is unfair. The nice thing about the truth that”people aren’t always fair”, is that we can change that. We can make every effort to be fair with the personal interactions in our everyday life. We can choose to be fair with the way we treat people, and the way we react and respond to our friends, parents and teachers. That is why I always end my letters with the same three words, “Please choose wisely.” With words that I would like you to consider and reflect upon, make yours an exceptional life – or not. The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose. Please choose wisely. Arresting Emotional Impulses Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Good day, Sequoyah Wise Ones! When I finished 4th grade, my family decided to move to another part of the town in Santa Maria, California. I was madly in love (the 4th grade kind) with a girl in class named Annie Adams. According to my fourth grade eyes she had hair of gold that glistened at every recess. Her soft, blue eyes looked like jewels and her smile made her a friend to everyone. I was sure that she was the girl for me for the rest of my life. Now keep in mind, my life was just 10 years in the making. So it made perfect sense to me that the day after school was out for the year, I sat down and wrote her a love letter. It was probably the mushiest, silliest love letter written in the summer of 1966 by anyone in the world. I put her address and a stamp on the envelope and dropped it in the mailbox. In the emotional disillusionment of my mind, she would get the letter, find that we share the same feelings and find me in my new home. Well, it didn’t happen and I forgot about it after a few weeks and never thought about it again. Until----a little time went by. The fall of my freshman year in high school, I went to a varsity football game when we were playing the cross-town rival. I walked through the admission gate and whom do you think was standing there in a freshman cheerleading outfit selling football programs to the fans. You guessed it ---Annie Adams. It had been 4 and a half years and you would think that we would never have recognized each other, but we did. I tried to act cool, while she was whispering something to her friend next to her. They laughed and then she said, “Have you written any love letters lately, Jeff?” I walked quickly off to my side of the stadium. Unfortunately, I saw her two more times in the evening and each time our interaction was preceded by laughter with her friends. I would like to say that was it, we never met again, but each time our high schools played each other in a sport, our paths would cross. It became miserable being her friends’ joke, and it was over a letter that I wrote and sent in a moment of emotional ignorance. Now keep this story in mind, and listen to a shorter one. When my older brother was 22 years old, he was at work and a person told him something that made him extremely angry. He became furious and his emotional impulse was to strike out at something. He turned and punched a large cardboard box. The box contained an air conditioner. It couldn’t punch back, but it did not give at all. The result was a broken hand. He had a cast on his arm for 9-weeks. This quote explains why I shared these two stories with you today.
Emotional impulses unleashed will cause us to make poor decisions.
I encourage you to maintain your composure each day in life and not let emotion make decisions for you. Most often when emotion makes decisions they will be poor. With words that I would like you to consider and reflect upon, make yours an exceptional life – or not. The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose. Please choose wisely. A Thousand Fibers Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Good day, Sequoyah Cougars! One long hair does not make a hairstyle, but with thousands of other hairs it can be part of one. One dark green blade of grass does not make a yard, but with hundreds of thousands of other blades, it can be part of a beautiful yard. One extraordinary student does not make a school community, but with dozens or hundreds of other students, he can be part of a remarkable school. Listen carefully to this quote.
We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to as effects.
Everyone is connected in this school, and you are connected to students at other schools in our state, our country, and around the world. In 35 years, most of you will be in your mid forties or older (my age (51)) and you and the students that you are now connected with will be making decisions that impact the world for the next generation of kids. Last week, I asked a couple of students what the #1 change is they would like to see in their daily life now. They were separated, but they gave the same suggested idea. They would like to see bullying eliminated from schools, community athletic teams, and neighborhoods. I think they made an excellent choice of what would be great to eliminate. Listen carefully, bullying is a learned behavior. If it is true that it can be learned, then it can be examined, and it can be changed. The generation in charge when I was thirteen failed to even think about eliminating bullying and harassment. We had jerks and punks and thugs that caused daily problems for individuals. The adults making decisions now are trying to address it as a major problem in young people’s lives while growing up. That is a good first step, but it is not enough. Because we are all connected and cannot live only for ourselves, we have the possibility, and maybe the responsibility to do something about the bullying. I am not sure that we can eliminate bullying in Los Angeles, California or Fargo, North Dakota or Blacksburg, Virginia or even across town. But we can eliminate it here at Sequoyah Middle School; if we choose to do so. It would take all of us working together to do it. I personally believe that it can be done. Are you willing to join me in eliminating it? With words that I would like you to consider and reflect upon, make yours an exceptional life – or not. The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose. Please choose wisely. The Whining Wind Thursday, November 9, 2006
Good day, Sequoyah Wonderful Ones! Has the wind of Oklahoma ever created a problem for you? I am not talking about the wind that accompanies a tornado that just flattens everything in its path. I am talking about the straight winds that Oklahoma gets once in a while that simply interfere with your daily routines in life. The wind kicks up dust and leaves and throws things in the air in an irritating way. It reminds me of whining. It’s a horrible irritant and doesn’t accomplish much more than frustration and ill feelings towards weather. The dictionary says whining is to utter a plaintive, high-pitched, protracted sound, as in pain, fear, supplication, or complaint. It is also defined as to protest in a childish, annoying fashion. Who whines in our world? Almost everyone at a given time is susceptible to being a whiner. Whining once in a blue moon is probably not a problem to any of us, but whining on a consistent, habitual basis is like driving a car with a loud screeching noise and not being able to get it stopped. Can your principal whine? I have been told that that happens. Can your teachers or parents whine? Most certainly! Can the students of Sequoyah be whiners? Absolutely! Is that what anyone wants? I don’t think so. The whining can become as irritating as any of our Oklahoma winds. Fortunately, the whining doesn’t happen in our school on a regular basis. If, for example, I didn’t pay attention to whether I was whining daily, the teachers probably would have run me off years ago. They wouldn’t want to work with me and would look to avoid me in most situations. Whining can turn a healthy school climate into one of poor attitudes, ill will, and a serious lack of trust. Listen to these words describing the impact of whining, even around people you love.
Whining is as useful as a strong wind at a family picnic.
A strong wind will totally disrupt a family picnic. It will blow the tablecloth off the picnic table and knock drinks over and dump plates of good food. You will find dust and grit in your beans and your hot dogs and hamburgers might be crunchy. Most families cancel a picnic when the wind is too forceful. People also cancel activities when a person is whining too much, because it becomes disruptive and turns relationships upside down. In the early 1990’s, Saturday Night Live use to have a couple of people that were called the Whiners and they were about as awful as people can get. No one wanted to sit near them in airplanes or at restaurants, and no sales people would help them. They were horrible to be around and some individuals would do unbelievable things to get away from them. People that watched the skits laughed, but I can guarantee you, that is not the response that we would normally give. Most of us do not like to be around the whiners in this world, and so we choose not to be with them. I encourage you to rope in any whining. No one benefits from it. With words that I would like you to consider and reflect upon, make yours an exceptional life – or not. The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose. Please choose wisely. Cheating Is Wrong Friday, November 10, 2006 Good day Sequoyah Truthful Ones! Cheating is wrong! That is a universal truth. It crosses all cultural backgrounds, and is spoken in all human languages, and it is found to be true in all major religions and most minor religions. Cheating is wrong! Cheating is wrong for several reasons. In a book I read a few years ago entitled Educating for Character, Thomas Lickona shared several of the reasons that cheating is wrong. I pulled the book out to reread the material. Listen to the thoughts his words shared with me. He reminds me that cheating ultimately lowers your self-respect; because you never would be proud of anything you got by cheating. Cheating is a lie. When you cheat on a test it deceives other people (friends, teachers, parents) into thinking you know more than you do. The cheating will only set you up to cheat again. When you cheat, you violate the teacher’s trust that he or she believes that you are doing your own work. Even if you don’t get caught cheating, it undermines the trusting relationship you may have with the teacher. The teacher trusts you, and you will know that it is trust that is undeserved because of the cheating. Middle school students are the best at wanting things to be fair in life. Guess what? Cheating is unfair to all the students who choose not to cheat. Cheating is wrong, whether it is on a short homework assignment or a tough, heavy-duty test. It is wrong. Probably the biggest reason that cheating is wrong is that if you cheat in school now, you’ll find it easier to cheat in other situations later in life. Once you accept that you are okay choosing cheating, it crosses all levels of your life. In fact, if you are willing to cheat on some things, you probably will cheat on most things, including even in your closest personal friendships and relationships. I repeat, loudly –
Cheating is wrong.
I challenge you to make sure cheating is absent from your life. Your wise, quality choices will make it so. Choose to be honest. I repeat that loudly also; choose to be honest. We all will benefit. With words that I would like you to consider and reflect upon, make yours an exceptional life – or not. The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose. Please choose wisely. ________________________________________ Life As We Knew It Monday, October 23, 2006
Good day, Sequoyah Cougars! Have you ever watched one of the shows on cataclysmic disasters? There have been movies about earthquakes that could split the continent in half, and one about a single tornado large enough to destroy Dallas, Texas. The story with the best special effects was Day After Tomorrow about the currents in the Atlantic Ocean changing directions because of global warming. The effects specialist created some phenomenal storms and tidal waves. Although the movies were interesting, they did not really cause any lengthy reflection on how the cataclysmic disaster would impact me personally. Last month a new book was published with an amazing story line. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer is about life for some young people after an asteroid slams into the moon. It has obviously happened before because we can see the craters left on the moon from previous occasions. In this book, the impact of a large asteroid moves the moon’s orbit closer to the earth and it slightly changes the gravitational force on our planet. The most noticeable changes are with the oceans and their tides. Coastal cities are destroyed with millions of people losing their lives. At night the full moon is bigger than ever and is creatively portrayed on the cover of the book. Imagine holding a basketball at arm’s length from your face and that is how close the moon seems to the earth in this story. The book allows its readers to think about how such an event would impact them. The protagonist is an older teenage girl in high school and she writes almost daily in her journal. Because life is different throughout the United States it changes her life in a small town in Pennsylvania. Her mother early on purchases a couple of car loads of groceries. Before long businesses begin shutting their doors because no deliveries of supplies are being made. Because the electricity and the natural gas services are unreliable, her brothers begin spending a majority of their daylight hours cutting firewood. The gravitational pull causes an adjustment in the earth’s core and volcanoes become active all over the world and begin to belch out billions of tons of ash into the atmosphere. After a few weeks the sun disappears behind the dark gray skies. Life becomes more difficult to survive and in fact looks bleak and somewhat hopeless. Miranda helped my reflection by sharing her own. She spent time thinking about the distant past of her family and its history. Listen to one of her thoughts:
I wonder if they imagined the future. I bet they never could have guessed what things would be like today.
I can promise you that no one today thinks too often of the direction the future takes in this story. At times, it was frightening, and I was thankful it was just a novel. I encourage you to check it out of our media center and enjoy the mental ride it provides. I challenge you to do for yourself what Miranda did. Imagine your future, picture it in your mind’s eye. Revisit it often. With words that I would like you to consider and reflect upon, make yours an exceptional life – or not. The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose. Please choose wisely. Long Live Shrek! Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Good day, Sequoyah Faithful! Three years ago this month, a man passed away that has impacted your generation in a definite, positive way. You may not even know his name, but most, if not all, know of his creation. William Steig, an illustrator and author, was best known for his award winning children’s books, and that included Shrek. He died of natural causes 36 months ago in his Boston home at the age of 95. Most of his success with children’s books came late in life. He wrote and published Shrek! when he was 82 years old. He had no idea that his story of a big green monster would be made into a hit movie in 2002 that would become the first winner of an Oscar in the new category of Best Animated Feature. I find it amazing how he tapped into the interest and delight of children at such an advanced age. Mr. Steig established for you the fantasy character that you can identify as a standout in your generation, the generation of children at the turn of the century. In most of his stories he created a wonderful world of animal creatures. He created an ogre that everyone loved and pulled for in a story about innocence, acceptance of differences, and knowing what really counts in relationships with friends. He worked diligently on the movie version of his book because he knew the characters he had created, better than the Hollywood filmmakers. Shrek took mud baths, used his earwax as candles, ate roasted rat, and according to Donkey “had breath that could definitely use a tic-tac.” Besides writing more than 30 children’s books, Mr. Steig produced more than 1,600 drawings and 117 covers for The New Yorker magazine. In talking about himself in an interview, he said, “I carry on a lot of the functions of an adult, but I have to force myself. For some reason, I have never felt grown up.” People that knew William Steig, knew that he loved Rembrandt and Picasso and was “nuts about van Gogh.” He described his own drawings as having a light feathery line “because I’m having fun.” Do you know that he didn’t start writing children’s books until he was 60 years old? He received the well-known and highly sought-after Caldecott Medal for his third book, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. Why did I write to you about William Steig today? It is because he made a positive impact in the lives of so many people with his talent, skills and God-given strengths. Shrek marks your generation, like Bart Simpson did the 1980’s group, and Charlie Brown for the 1960’s generation, and Bugs Bunny did the 1950’s children, and Mickey Mouse did the kids of the 1940’s. Mr. Steig wanted to make people laugh and he did so in a spectacular way. He had a positive attitude about life and the people on this planet. Listen to what Walt Disney said about imagination and creativity.
“If you can dream it, you can do it.”
I challenge you to dream, and imagine, and remember, “Long live Shrek!” With words that I would like you to consider and reflect upon, make yours an exceptional life – or not. The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose. Please choose wisely. Defeating Hatred with Kindness Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Good day, Sequoyah Kindhearted Ones! Once when I was sixteen years old, I got into an ugly argument with my sister, Paula. She refused to leave my friends and me alone. We were in the front driveway of our house and we started calling each other names. Neither one of us would drop it and just leave it alone. It got out of control. I got angry, and I ended up saying, low enough for her to hear it only, this sentence, “I hate you.” Now did I really hate my sister? Absolutely not! I loved my sister then and I love her now. Emotion was talking when I made that ugly statement to her. I didn’t like myself when I heard the words come from my mouth. Here’s what I learned after thinking about it back in 1972. I didn’t have to use that word “hate” to describe my anger or feelings. I knew later when I had a son and daughter in the early nineteen-eighties that I was going to prevent the word “hate” from being used in their daily vocabulary. They simply were not allowed to use that word. I considered it as wrong as profanity. How did they respond to that? They learned to communicate without it. They might have said, when they were little, “Daddy, I get mad when Joshua takes my toy!” or later in their teens one might have said, “You make me furious. I can’t stand it when you do that!” They were able to speak without using the word hate. In fact, they expressed their feelings better by leaving the word, “hate” out of their vocabulary. It helped me teach my kids that the idea of hatred is wrong. They learned that there were options and choices that could be made other than hatred. Eliminating the word “hate” from usage helped me teach my kids that a person can overcome hatred with persistent dosages of kindness. Just like regular dosages of medicine can overcome disease and illness, consistent dosages of kindness can trump hatred. Do you know what the root meaning of the word “kind” is? It means natural or inborn. When a human being is small, we are naturally kind and innocent. We are not born hating others in the world around us. We have to learn to hate others; it is not in us naturally to hate. The things of hatred are learned by all of us individually. Listen to these wonderfully wise words from American labor leader, Harry Bridger.
No man has ever been born a hater. Nature refuses to be involved in such practices.
In other words, hating others is not a natural part of who we are as human beings. Even those humans that demonstrated “hate” the most, were not born hating. Adolf Hitler was not born hating. He learned it, and then unfortunately, taught it and forced it upon others. Saddam Hussein was not born as a child hating others. He learned the disease of hatred, and became a man of hatred. Osama bin Laden learned to hate America and its citizens as he grew up. Hatred is learned. I challenge you to help me in our school and thus help yourselves in your future. Together we can overcome hatred and replace it with what is important. We can let what we all were born with be reflected in our school everyday– simple, genuine, sincere kindness toward each other. With words that I would like you to consider and reflect upon, make yours an exceptional life – or not. The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose. Please choose wisely. The Hater’s Heart Thursday, October 26, 2006
Good day, Transplant Doctors! Yesterday, I referred to you as kindhearted ones. I call you transplant doctors today because sometimes the only way to cure the spirit in an ill heart is through a transplant. Sometimes a person’s spiritual heart is so sick with hatred and ugly feelings towards another that a permanent change of heart must occur. This change can be a very traumatic event that is driven by a powerful overflow of kindness from one to another. If a person is born into the world without hatred in their life, how can they learn to hate so much that they are said to have a hater’s heart? A person has to be saturated with hate ideas and materials to have their heart impacted to the point of being a hater’s heart. What are the consequences of having a hater’s heart? A person limits their enjoyment of life. He or she will also probably shorten their physical life. Hating is even hard on the health of the person doing the hating not just the victims of their hate. A hater usually has more health problems. A hater loses sight on what is important in life and becomes blind to what is right and what is wrong. How do we help a person with a hater’s heart? We have to work to replace it with a kindhearted one. Can we do it? Most definitely! Is it worth doing? Most definitely! Is it one of the most difficult tasks that a person can do? Again, unfortunately, most definitely! The replacement of a hater’s heart requires a saturation transplant of great love and kindness. Kindness must be evident in everything that we do for the transplant to be successful. Listen to these wise words of advice from the Sermon on the Mount.
Love your enemies, bless those that curse you, and do good to those that hate you.
As difficult as it may seem, I encourage you to love your enemies. Be kind to those that curse you and do your best to do good to those that hate you. There is no question that what I am asking you to do is complicated and hard to accomplish, but it is something that you can control. It is the prescription that alters a person’s life permanently. What is great is that the prescription brings health to those who give it, as much as to those who receive it. Love your enemies. Bless those that curse you. Do good to those that hate you. Let’s work together to make sure everyone has a healthy long-lasting kindhearted life. Let’s do it for our school and for ourselves. With words that I would like you to consider and reflect upon, make yours an exceptional life – or not. The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose. Please choose wisely.
Lady Liberty! Friday, October 27, 2006
Good day, Sequoyah Freedom Lovers! One hundred and twenty years ago tomorrow, students did not have school. It wasn’t because it was a Saturday; it was a week day on October 28, 1886. It wasn’t because of weather, and there was no failure of transportation. It wasn’t because of a teacher strike or no money to keep the doors open. It was a day declared to be a holiday. It was a holiday set to celebrate the unveiling of the newest monument in the country, “The Statue of Liberty.” One hundred and twenty years ago the Statue became America’s Lady Liberty. The process and timeline for that event was a long and complicated one. It began at a dinner party in France in 1865, when the guests were talking about America’s pursuit of liberty and the fact that they had finally abolished slavery and had to complete that with a devastating Civil War, but a war that helped the country survive. These men felt like the United States ought to be given a gift for the effort to make the world a better place by providing freedom to all citizens. One of the men in the discussion was Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. He was a painter turned sculptor. He gained a reputation for being a brilliant sculptor with a flair for the over size statues. His first triumphal work was of a General from the French Army. It was a 12 foot tall likeness. When he was working on his ideas for the gift to America, he found a likeness of the lady in the Roman goddess for liberty and freedom, but it wasn’t until he visited Egypt and saw the Sphinx that he changed the idea to one of extraordinary size. And it wasn’t until his first visit to New York that he decided that something in the harbor like a large statue was needed to welcome people to the New World. He envisioned the Statue of Liberty there years before it happened. Can you grasp what that must have been like for Bartholdi? He had a phenomenal wave of feelings overcome him and he knew what his mission was at that point. He began the fundraising and then the work in 1875, ten years after the seed of the idea was planted. Unfortunately, the goal of completing the idea for the 100 year celebration of the United States was not possible. Yet Bartholdi was driven to work on his masterpiece. In the summer of 1876, the only piece finished and in America was the right arm. It was sent to Philadelphia for Centennial Celebrations and citizens could climb the arm for 50 cents. Lady Liberty herself wasn’t complete in France until 1984 and it still had two years to be transferred to America and reassembled in New York. At this point there was no more money to take care of the final set up. It took a hugely successful journalist named Joseph Pulitzer to raise the money needed. He made the promise to publish every name of every contributor in his newspaper called the New York World. Pennies and nickels came in from all over the country and $100,000 was raised by 120,000 people. This paid for the 89 foot tall pedestal the Lady was placed on, and the difficult reassembling of the work of art. The pedestal required 24,000 tons of concrete, more than had been used for anything else in history at that time.
Frederic Auguste Bartholdi saw his statue stand completed on October 25, 1886 and he went home to his wife that evening and there were reporters everywhere and he was asked for words to describe his art. Bartholdi said, “The dream of my life is accomplished.” On the public holiday on the 28th it rained and yet over one million people lined the street for the parade and the only people that did work that day were those individuals on Wall Street. They decided to get involved by throwing ticker tape from hundreds of windows. That was the birth of the ticker tape parades in New York to celebrate events or people. The unveiling was a huge success. I encourage you to read a poem dedicated to her that day. Emma Lazarus had written “The New Colossus” as a way to raise money for her final construction. On Lady Liberty’s 100th birthday there was another celebration. Listen carefully to the words of President Ronald Reagan at sunset on July 4, 1986. They say everything about who we are as Americans and why we find ourselves helping people in Iraq and Afghanistan and else where in the world. President Reagan said:
“We are the keepers of the flame of liberty; we hold it high for the world to see.”
I remember the celebration 20 years ago. I was watching it on television along with 1.5 billion other people. The laser lights and the fireworks were amazing. In fact I have never seen a firework demonstration more fantastic than that one. Bartholdi would have been stunned speechless, I am sure. I challenge you to take just a minute and think about the good fortune we all have in living in our country and having the freedoms given to us. I also challenge you to dream big like Frederic Bartholdi did. Who knows? Your dream may be celebrated repeatedly for years and centuries. Keep the flame of liberty! With words that I would like you to consider and reflect upon, make yours an exceptional life – or not. The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose. Please choose wisely.
________________________________________ Doing Rather Than Talking Monday, October 30, 2006
Good day, Sequoyah Cougars! Over my lifetime I have heard many, many people talk about what they were going to do. I have had people tell me they were going to be famous, or they were going to be the happiest person around, or that they were going to be the most helpful person in history. I have heard many students say, “I’m going to get straight A’s!” Most of the people have talked a good game. Many are working toward what they said because they had a plan and it is being fulfilled. With some though, I have concluded that they were just big talkers and that’s it. They can almost boast about what they were going to accomplish, but that is as close as they ever come to reaching their goals. Listen to these words by Nehru, a former Prime Minister from India. He was a follower and friend of Gandhi.
Our great defect is that we are more given to talking about things than doing them.
What Nehru is saying is that we as human beings talk too much and we do too little. He states that it may be our greatest weakness as a people on this planet. I think that all of us are guilty of whining about the problems in our lives and in the world around us. We complain about pollution and crime. We whine about our relationships and our homework. We would rather argue about chores rather than simply getting them done. Nehru is suggesting that we quit talking so much about what challenges us and do something to make a difference. I always told my two kids when they were in public school and college that rather than be miserable about how much studying they have to do, that they ought to just sit down and do it. And they have gotten into the habit of doing just that with most tasks. They make a list of everything needing to be accomplished and then get it done, checking items off as they finish them. Most people love to check things off a list as they are completed. You all know that a list works whether your mother is shopping for groceries, or your father is doing a “honey-do” list of chores, or Santa is checking it to see who gets a gift and who gets coal. Here’s my challenge to you today. If you catch yourself complaining about a problem, decide to do something about it. Make up your mind to talk a little less and do a lot more. Use a list if necessary. With words that I would like you to consider and reflect upon, make yours an exceptional life – or not. The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose. Please choose wisely.
The Winner’s Heart Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Good day, Sequoyah Students! A phrase that I hear every once in a while, describes the kind of athlete that I love to watch in person or on television. It also speaks of another kind of heart different than what we discussed last week. That phrase is this, “The Winner’s Heart.” A person with a winner’s heart is a competitor that has every intention to win and will put it all on the line to do so; and yet will not cross the line into poor sportsmanship. A person with a winner’s heart will keep their emotions in check and can maintain their composure even in the most complicated, heated situations. A person with a winner’s heart will congratulate their opponent no matter how the contest turned out. A person with a winner’s heart will not give up even in the face of a loss, but will keep the desire to win in the forefront of their heart and mind. A person with a winner’s heart knows how to gather his thoughts and regroup his ideas and talents. And finally a person with a winner’s heart will always keep the desire to win and will appreciate it, win or lose. An example of a winner’s heart in my early life was in an athlete named Waymon Tisdale. He played basketball in the 1980’s with the University of Oklahoma. He went on to play in the NBA for several years with the Sacramento Kings. How did he display his winner’s heart? He always smiled and took things in stride. He never lost his cool over official’s calls. Good or bad, after a referee’s call he would smile and more times than not, pat the official on the rear, and say, “Good job, keep doing your best.” He behaved in that manner in high school, college, and the professional level. Another example went to my hometown high school in California and he played college baseball at Oklahoma State University. Robin Ventura never had size or strength or speed on his side as a ball player, but he has always had a winner’s heart. His performance level whether for the Cowboys or the Chicago White Sox or any other team was at its peak in every contest because he had a strong desire to win and was willing to adopt the work ethic that permitted winning to occur. I have always thought that Robin Ventura had one of the sweetest swings of a baseball bat. It is as close as any swing I have seen to being scientifically perfect for the sport of baseball. What has to be within the winner’s heart for it to function properly? I said it several times in the first paragraph. One word is the answer, and it is found in this quote from the incredible Green Bay Packer coach, Vince Lombardi. Listen.
Winning isn’t everything, but the desire to win is.
The key ingredient is the desire. I encourage all of the students at Sequoyah to adopt the “Winner’s Heart” as your own. With words that I would like you to consider and reflect upon, make yours an exceptional life – or not. The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose. Please choose wisely.
-Melodic Time- · Mon Jun 16, 2008 @ 04:54am · 0 Comments |
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