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Random archive letters from other years part 9 |
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Asking for Assistance
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Cougars!
Have you ever needed help, but were afraid to ask for it? Have you ever known that you should get some assistance, but were too stubborn to ask? Why do you think that people hesitate to say, “Please help me,” when they need it? Sometimes pride keeps us from asking for help. Pride is something that starts when we’re young and if we don’t keep it in check, then we suffer the consequences. Have you heard this line?
Pride goeth before the fall.
When I was five years old, I learned about that truth. I used to get up early on Saturday mornings and watch television, even though there were only three channels. The cartoons were black and white, but I loved them and the other shows. The cartoons were like Mighty Mouse, Felix the Cat, Huckleberry Hound, and Tom and Jerry. The shows were like Tarzan, Jungle Jim, Roy Rogers and Sky King. It was always great to spend Saturday morning watching television. My television-watching buddy was my sister. We would watch them together. She was three years old at the time of the sugar disaster story.
When we watched television we used to love to eat cereal. On one particular morning, I thought I could fix it for Paula and me. I got two bowls down from the cabinet and climbed up and took down the box of Sugar Frosted Alphabets. I got us some milk and we moved to the center of the living room floor with our meal. Putting cereal in the bowl; no problem. Putting milk on the cereal; no problem. But then I realized that there was no sugar. Although the Alphabet cereal was sugar frosted in those days, I liked and wanted more sugar. I went back to the kitchen, but the little sugar bowl was empty. In the cabinet where the cereal had been, I noticed a brand new bag of C & H Pure Cane Sugar. Though it was difficult I got it down and carried all ten pounds of it to our cereal bowls on the floor in the middle of the living room. I was too proud to go find my mother to help me. The pride also dealt a severe problem with my judgment. I didn’t think I needed to spoon out a little sugar for my cereal. I thought I could pour out a small amount from the ten-pound bag. So as my little sister watched I tore open the package, lifted it and tipped it slowly over the cereal bowl. All of a sudden the sugar left the bag like it was being sucked out. All of it left. I looked down and couldn’t see my cereal bowl because a nice white mountain of sugar covered it. Did I go find my mother to help me? No way, I was a proud little five-year-old kid and I could clean it up on my own. So I asked myself how does a person wipe up a spill? The answer was easy. You get a wet cloth and scrub it. After using my hands to put some of the sugar back in the bag I resorted to scrubbing the rest. I went back and forth to the sink to get the cloth wet again and again. I scrubbed the carpet over and over. Needless to say it was a major sugar disaster. I knew then that too much sugar wasn’t good for a person, in more ways than one.
Before I could resolve the problem, my mother showed up and went ballistic. She held me above the floor by one arm and spanked me with the other. I remember that she was so upset that she cried. I had done a major number on the carpet. She had to get it cleaned with a carpet-cleaning machine. I was the cause of a new rule in our home. No one was allowed to eat anywhere but in the dining room.
So what was the issue in this story? The answer is that I was too proud of doing something by myself to get something done right. I could have avoided the whole problem if I had asked for assistance. I could have enjoyed television on that Saturday morning instead of wondering if I would ever get feeling back in my rear end.
I watch some students try to deal with their own problems here at school at times. With most problems that is okay, because it teaches you how to be independent and capable, but everyone must recognize when it is time to ask for help. Don’t wait until the problem turns into a disaster. Don’t let pride keep you from getting the help you need.
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.
Affirm the Greatness You See
Friday, May 18, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Great Ones!
What is our potential as human beings? How are we not reaching the possibilities that are before every one of us? Have we even begun to approach the limits of what we can do? Potential is what we are capable of being. It also means that we have a certain capacity of development that should be tapped.
Forty to forty-five years ago people asked if human beings had the potential to put a man on the moon and bring him back home. In less than nine years time the United States answered that question. We sent several different men to the moon and they all returned, even the men of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission returned safely.
Forty years ago people believed that the world would be involved eventually in a nuclear holocaust because all the major power countries had missiles pointing at each other (USSR, USA, and China). We didn’t see any nation trusting another. People were building bomb shelters in their own backyards. Did we have a nuclear war? No, instead we have major powers dismantling their nuclear arsenals. It is the smaller countries that worry us now.
What once took a whole room the size of our gymnasium to hold a computer, can now be held in a person’s lap. Technology has made unbelievable advances and the potential is for it to continue to make changes that will improve life. These will be changes that most of us can’t even imagine now.
Special effects in movies look more real. Special effects can make a hundred thousand orcs attack a fortress and it appear genuine. Athletes are bigger, stronger, faster, and healthier. People are living longer. Scientists are smarter and do better research. Cures for diseases are happening faster and faster. Teachers are better trained. Transportation around our country is easier. The military is the best-prepared and equipped force for whatever tasks or assignments that challenge it. For most of us our lives are better and safer.
We are accessing more human potential than ever before in history. I believe that one of the reasons that this is happening is that more people are helping other people stretch for the potential that is in them. Listen to this statement from Lou Tice, the chairman of the Pacific Institute.
The most powerful act any of us perform for others is to help them access their untapped potential, help them nurture and grow the best parts of themselves, those aspects that are hopeful, brave, persistent, inquisitive, hardworking, creative, resilient, kind, assertive, thoughtful, and resourceful.
I challenge you to be powerful. Help others reach their untapped potential. Affirm the greatness that you see in yourself and in the friends and family members in your life.
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.
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An Act of Bravery
Monday, April 30, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Brave Ones!
During my reading each year, I read a stack of magazine articles, newspaper clippings and essays given to me by friends and colleagues. I want to share two stories over the next two days that Drama teacher, Mrs. Maly, once shared with me. I have had several people send me this story at different times. Listen carefully to the story.
World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Butch O’Hare. He was a fighter pilot assigned to an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific. One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank. He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship. His flight leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet.
As he was returning to the mother ship, he saw something that turned his blood cold. A squadron of Japanese Zeroes was speeding their way toward the American fleet. The American fighters were gone on a sortie and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn’t reach his squadron and bring them back in time to save the fleet.
Laying aside all thought of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 caliber guns blazed as he charged in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many planes as possible until finally all of his ammunition was spent.
Undaunted, he continued the assault. He dove at the Zeroes, trying to at least clip off a wing or tail, in hopes of damaging as many enemy planes as possible and rendering them unfit to fly. He was desperate to do anything he could to keep them from reaching the American ships.
Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron took off in another direction. Deeply relieved, Butch O’Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier. Upon arrival he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from the camera mounted on his plane told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch’s daring attempt to protect his fleet. He was recognized as a hero and given one of the nation’s highest military honors. And today, O’Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man.
Keep in mind the fact that Butch O’Hare chose to defend the fleet. He made a wise choice.
He did not have to choose bravery, but he did.
I encourage all you to choose acts of bravery when you are called upon to do so.
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.
An Act of Integrity
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Outstandings!
Here is the other story that Mrs. Maly shared with me. Listen to it as carefully as you have any story or letter that has been read to you this year.
Some years earlier than the story yesterday, there was a man in Chicago called Easy Eddie. At that time, a gangster named Al Capone virtually owned the city. Capone wasn’t famous for anything heroic. His exploits were anything but praiseworthy. He was, however, notorious for enmeshing the city of Chicago in everything from bootlegged booze to murder. Easy Eddie was Capone’s lawyer and for a good reason. He was very good at what he did!
In fact, his skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time. To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, Eddie got special dividends. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago city block. Yes, Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him.
Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had the best of everything, clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object. And, despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong. Yes, Eddie tried to teach his son to rise above his own sordid life. He wanted him to be a better man than he was. Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things that Eddie couldn’t give his son. Two things that Eddie sacrificed to the Capone mob that he could not pass on to his beloved son . . . was a good name and a good example.
One day Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Offering his son a good name was far more important than all the riches he could lavish on him. He had to rectify all the wrong that he had done. He would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Scar-face Al Capone. He would try to clean up his tarnished name and offer his son some semblance of integrity.
To do this he must testify against the Mob, and he knew that the cost would be great. But more than anything, he wanted to be an example to his son. He wanted to do his best to make restoration and hopefully have a good name to leave his son. So he testified. Within the year, Easy Eddie’s life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago street. He had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer at the greatest price he would ever pay.
You’re probably wondering what the story yesterday and the story today have to do with one another. It’s simple. Butch O’Hare, yesterday’s war hero, was Easy Eddie’s son.
“Choosing to do what is right will always impact others positively.”
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.
Choosing What Is Right!
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Readers!
Over the years I have kept a list of the books I have read. I started doing it as a sixth grade student, and 39 years later I am still doing it. I can look at the lists and recall the stories sometimes and think about my feelings about the book from a distant perspective. One book from my past was Montana – 1948. Guess what? The story is set in Montana in 1948, and it is told from the perspective of a twelve-year boy. His father was the sheriff for the county. His grandfather was the sheriff before that. It was a job that the whole family took seriously and wanted to fulfill completely. Another aspect of David’s dad was that besides being a sheriff, he was a lawyer that loved the law. He chose to do right in all situations that pertained to the law of the land.
The unfortunate conflict that arose in the story was that David’s uncle, his dad’s brother committed a crime. The uncle was a World War II hero, much like Butch O’Hare in Monday’s story. He also was a successful doctor. Although David never said, he probably felt like his uncle thought that he was above the law. What does that mean? It means that sometimes a person will think that the law is not meant for him or her. That they believe they can do what they want because the law does not restrict their own actions. Where do we see that the most in our society? Probably on the streets or highways when people think that the speed limit is not meant for their car or truck. What should happen when a law enforcement officer has to arrest a family member for a crime?
In the book, David’s dad arrested his brother for a possible murder. Was it easy for him to do that? Not in the book. He deliberated on the issue for some time, and then he simply chose to do what he knew was right. He had a responsibility to the law that he respected so much, and more importantly he had a conviction to his own integrity and his own good name to do what was right. He unknowingly was setting a remarkable example for his son. He didn’t know that David had eavesdropped and knew what was going on. David witnessed his father struggle with the decision and finally concluded to choose right. The respect and honor that David gave his father grew tremendously from this life-changing event.
Listen to this quote from a Tibetan philosopher:
Choosing to do right becomes much more important when the decision is much more difficult to reach.
I encourage everyone to practice choosing right over wrong. I challenge you to choose right, even when the decision is painstakingly hard for you.
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.
Always Choosing Right
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Listeners!
Make your best effort to listen to these words from Mahatma Gandhi.
One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department.
Life is one indivisible whole.
What do those words mean? Why can’t a person do right in one area of her life and not worry about other areas? Can a person be an honest thief? Can a person be a responsible liar? What about a truth-telling cheater? Do they exist?
What Gandhi’s words mean is that if a person chooses to do right in their life, then it should be seen in everything they do. I had a friend in high school that was generous with his time and money. If a bunch of us went out to eat, he would make sure everyone was able to buy some food. He even paid for admission into movies once in awhile. We all thought that he had a great set of parents that provided him with money to share.
What we later found out was that he was stealing from his parents. I’m not talking about taking money out of their wallet or purse. This guy was writing checks from their bank accounts and forging his parent’s name. He also pawned a couple of things that did not belong to him. I can remember him trying to explain that it wasn’t really stealing because they were only his parents. He claimed to never have stolen anything from another person or from a friend or teacher at school.
We were stunned that he was rationalizing that what he did was okay. I remember that he used the example of Robin Hood. He thought he and his friends were the poor and the collecting from the rich meant getting the resources from his parents. He got in a ton of trouble, and it ended up damaging his friendships. Do you know why? It was because we all felt that if he could choose to steal from his own parents, then he could one day choose to steal from us. We didn’t feel we could trust him. The last I heard from my other friends about this guy was in 1983. That was nine years after we graduated from high school. He had been in the police blotter for burglarizing cars in one of the neighborhoods in Santa Maria, California. He had carried over the trait of being a thief.
Remember that life is one whole. It’s not a bunch of areas that you can keep separate. Choosing to do right in your life means choosing to do right in all areas and aspects in your life.
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.
Generosity Cycle
Friday, May 4, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Students!
Have you been generous lately? Do you think that you have a good idea of what being generous is? Listen to this definition of a generous person.
A generous person is a person willing to give or share. One who is unselfish and magnanimous. A generous person is characterized by abundance.
Many people practice generosity in many ways. The motivation is the key to whether it is true generosity or not. Making a large monetary gift to a charitable organization just for the tax deduction may not be an act of generosity. Offering time as a volunteer someplace just so you can get to know a great looking person may not be an act of generosity. Most people think that generosity is tied to giving money. Actually generosity is much more than that. In fact, the most generous acts are those that are offered from a person’s time resource.
Did you know that there is something called a generosity cycle? It is very much like all cycles and can best be explained in reference to the rain cycle on this planet. You all remember that when clouds move towards mountains and they have plenty of water molecules that it begins to rain and snow. As the rain and snow moves down the mountains in little streams that turn to creeks that turn to rivers they find their way to the ocean. There they return to the clouds through evaporation and eventually return to the mountains and start the whole cycle again as more precipitation. Generosity is very much like that. When someone has resources that are available to be given to those in need it begins a journey for generosity passed on and may eventually find its way back to you. The cycle is important to maintain. It is only maintained through giving of one’s self or one’s resources. Where do you fit into the generosity cycle? How do you help it remain complete?
Nothing tells others about you like your gift of being generous. A faithful friend will gather for others and then give it away. Here are five ways author John Maxwell suggests to nurture generosity in your own life.
1. Be grateful for whatever you have.
2. Put people first.
3. Don’t allow greed to control you.
4. Regard money as a resource.
5. Develop the habit of giving.
I encourage you to examine the people around you, your friends and your family. Is there a need that you can fill by being generous with your time or energy?
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 Power of Stories
Monday, April 16, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Champions!
Listen to this quote from author, Marshall Goldsmith:
Many things are so intimate to the human experience that we rarely think about them,
such as the wisdom we receive from listening
to stories and our ability to laugh at ourselves— two traits that distinguish us from the animals.
How do we take the time to listen to stories? The best answer is to stop talking and let someone else carry the moment. When I was a kid I use to love hearing my grandmother tell stories about her childhood and also when she owned a restaurant. I learned about my grandmother by listening to her stories. I learned that she played six on six basketball as a girl in Montana, and that she was a teacher there also. I learned about my great grandparents that emigrated from Norway. Now as an adult, I enjoy hearing my dad talk about his life. He and I use to do something called drive-abouts. Because of his health issues we haven’t been able to do that for a few years. When we did we would get in a vehicle and drive and converse with each other. I have learned more about dad in the last 15 years than I did in the first 35. He had some unique experiences that I would never have known about if I weren’t able to listen to his stories.
Did the drive-abouts have any rules? Not really, the best example was a few summers ago when we got in his pick up and started driving. We went 2,415 miles in three days, to Idaho and back. We had some absolutely wonderful conversations. All we really did was just drive and talk and listen. We learned about each other through our stories. Listening to others’ stories adds to our personal wisdom. They make us wise beyond our years.
The second thing that Goldsmith said that is important to our personal wisdom is having the ability to laugh at ourselves. Can you do that? Are you comfortable enough to laugh at your own mistakes when they are funny? Do you mind being joked with when the humor is appropriate? Listen to this quote:
The people who laugh – lasts.
What message is in that quote? It can be said this way also—that the people who laugh will endure, live longer. It is a true statement. People that have a healthy sense of humor are healthier overall. The ability to laugh at yourself will contribute to the longevity of your life. Laughter actually has healing tendencies.
I encourage you to listen to the stories of others and to be willing to laugh at yourself. Your life will be full of wisdom and you will live a longer, healthier life.
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.
Garbage In – Garbage Out
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Fantastics!
Have you ever heard the phrase “garbage in-garbage out?” It is a comment that is usually made by an adult when they are talking about the newest television shows, or full screen movies, or the latest CD’s. Most TV shows, movies, and CD’s are great. But some are not healthy for the human mind. The fact is that the majority generally agrees upon those items that are bad for the mind. They then get ratings or censorship applied. People who say they don’t believe in censorship aren’t being truthful with themselves. For instance most of us would say that small pre-school children should not be around violence or profanity. We as a culture believe in protecting the minds of the young. We should also be interested in protecting our own mind. Listen to what philosopher, James Allen has to say:
A man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth.
What does James Allen mean? Well, if we look at our mind as a garden, then we have a responsibility to ourselves to care for it. We should desire to cultivate it to grow healthy plants such as fruit and flowers. Those are the right, useful, and pure thoughts. If we choose not to nurture the good stuff, then we are defaulting and letting the weeds take over. Weeds can take over our thinking, and unfortunately some are poisonous. The take over just happens with the choice of neglect and ignoring which brings on ignorance.
When we choose to care for our mind, we read and study those things that are good and right; we speak and listen about those things that are useful and pure. We treat our minds as productive and beautiful gardens. With that choice, we care what is intelligently cultivated and we don’t let our thoughts run wild.
So the question becomes, do you want to be healthy minded, or do you want your mind to be a local garbage dump? Do you hope to be a master gardener of your mind or the gatekeeper of a refuse pile? Before you make that decision, do one thing. Ask yourself that question while standing in front of a mirror looking at your face.
Your choice sets the destiny of your life and soul.
Your choice means all the world to you, even if you don’t recognize it or you just deny it. It still matters and makes a difference.
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.
Eagles in a Storm
Friday, April 20, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Cougars!
Have you ever heard about animals being able to predict or sense natural phenomena? There is a lot of documentation that horses sense a change of some kind hours before an earthquake occurs? That’s something I think about with earthquakes that occur almost daily in the world. Cattle sense severe weather pretty consistently according to most ranchers. Dogs sense danger fairly regularly as well. My older brother sent me an interesting letter on this topic last week. He was a pilot for the U. S. Air Force, so he often sends me things about flight. Now he works at the United States Embassy in Berlin, Germany. His last letter had these comments about eagles.
Even our national bird has great “sense” ability. Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks? Well before the violent weather hits an eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm does hit, the eagle will set its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it. The eagle doesn’t actually escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.
When the storms of life come upon us – and all of us will experience them – we can rise above them by setting our minds and belief in what we know is good and true. Some of us will have a specific faith we focus on. Regardless of what it is, when we place our focus on it, then we allow that power to lift us above the storm. In fact, some people say that is where you find the silver lining. Being above the storm is what permits the perspective that everything will be okay afterwards. Listen to the following quote:
Everyone needs to realize that even in the worst of storms, the sun still shines.
Those words remind me that there is always hope, even in the darkest of storms when it seems that turmoil is overwhelming, there still is hope. Is that something that most of us forget to think about often? Do most middle school students have a better idea of what hope is compared to adults? Or is it the other way around? We all desire to be above the storm and we all want hope in our lives. In fact, sometimes we can be the givers of the hope that others need.
I challenge all of you to be eagles in the storms of life.
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.
________________________________________
Abraham Lincoln
Monday, April 9, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Amazing Students!
Most of you have heard me say before that Abraham Lincoln was the United States president that I enjoyed reading about the most. His life was interesting to me when I was a kid and his achievements have always amazed me as an adult as I have studied his life. As the son of a poor farmer that barely could make ends meet, he adopted the strong desire to learn as much as he could. He was unfortunate and didn’t get to go to school everyday. He had to spend as much time teaching himself as he ever did having a teacher instruct him. He read everything that he could get his hands on. Because books weren’t readily available, he would reread specific books a number of times, and he would walk miles to borrow and return books. He read by the light of the fireplace at night as a kid. He wrote notes for himself and studied them and reread them. As he became an adult he studied law books, and eventually took the test to gain his law license. People knew that he was a President without a formal education, but that he was probably one of the best educated. He was responsible for his own education. He used the great gift of sound judgment that he had received from his parents to further his career.
His gift of sound judgment was used repeatedly during his life. He used it as a son, a brother, a friend, a lawyer, a politician, a speechmaker, and as the President of the United States. He constantly wanted to seek the fair solution to the problems that were presented to him. He had a great attitude about arguments or verbal fighting. Listen to what he wrote to a man after he won re-election in 1864. The man wanted him to attack and verbally hammer the opponents who lost.
Abraham Lincoln wrote these words.
You have more of that feeling of personal resentment than I do. Perhaps I may have too little of it but I never thought it paid. A man has not time to spend half his life in quarrels.
What was he saying to the man? What do his words say to us? Mr. Lincoln thought life is short enough and that it is a waste of time to quarrel or argue. He also states that it is not of benefit to personally resent another person. Students, do you understand this came from a man who had just led his nation through a violent civil war that was still not concluded? He was still a few months from seeing the horrible conflict end. He also said these words just months prior to a man choosing violence and assassinating him because he was the President of the victorious Union Armies.
Remember those words from Abraham Lincoln. I encourage you to not spend your life in quarrels or arguments. I encourage you instead to make your relationships a priority. Nurture them. Care for them by adding value to them.
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.
Be Like Pinocchio: Stringless
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Unique Individuals!
One of the great children’s stories that Walt Disney turned into a feature length animated movie was Pinocchio. One of my favorite childhood songs comes from that Disney presentation. It is performed when Pinocchio is dancing on a stage with several other puppets. He sings a song called, “I Got No Strings!” He is different from all of the other puppets the audience sees because no one is controlling his movements. He doesn’t have a puppet master pulling his strings and being in control. That idea of not allowing others to control your decisions or life is used in a number of stories and scenarios in literature. It is used to reinforce our gift to make choices to benefit ourselves and others.
One of the best examples in young adult literature in the last decade is Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen. I previously have mentioned this novel and a couple of the other titles by Mikaelsen (Petey). I encourage you to read his works. In Touching Spirit Bear, a 15-year-old bully is found to have beaten another student unconscious. He severely damaged the other boy’s ability to walk and function normally. The bully has his choice of being run through the court system, which would end with serious jail time, or he could go before a Native American procedure called the Circle of Justice. He had decided he would do anything to avoid jail, and chose the circle without knowing what the consequences would be. The circle was made up of several people from the community including his parents and the victim of the beating.
The consequences were not meant to be punishment, but were given as a course to healing. The circle decided to give Cole Matthews, the bully, a one-year isolation on an island in the Gulf of Alaska. He was placed there with some supplies and no contact with the outside world. Amazing things happen to him while he is there, including being mauled by a rare, giant white bear known as a Spirit Bear.
Through his experiences, Cole is able to give up his anger. The anger was generated from his relationship with his parents, specifically his abusive father. He came to an arresting conclusion that changed his life permanently. Listen to what he had to say to a friend after his isolation.
Being angry is giving someone else control of my feelings so they own me. Forgiving gives me control again.
He decided that he no longer wanted to give up the control of his feelings. He did not want to be owned by anyone else. In fact, he realized that when he forgave someone who offended or wronged him, he actually captured control of his own feelings. Does this idea make sense to you? Do you recognize that someone is controlling you when you choose to be mad at him or her? Do you understand that forgiveness gives you control? I encourage you to control your own feelings; don’t give them up to someone else. Don’t be a puppet controlled by others. Instead be like Pinocchio and say, “I got no strings!”
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.
We Are Imperfect
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Young Adults!
You know that we are all imperfect. Some people try their best to be right about things, and to do right in most things. The fact is that we have bad days. Sometimes our bad days are the kind of days when things just go wrong. They just happen, and sometimes we can’t control that they happen. On those occasions our control lies in how we respond to bad days. It may even seem that everything is going right for one person and everything is going wrong for you. Fortunately, most every one I know has more good days than bad days.
What causes some days to be great? Well it probably has a lot to do with the type of decisions that a person makes. The more good decisions a person makes will result in a great day. But again, keep this in mind; good people make bad decisions once in awhile. Hopefully, we all try each day to do our best. We try to be smart. We try to be wise. We try to always consider what the best choice of our many choices is. Listen to this quote from philosopher, Baltasar Gracian:
No man is wise at all hours.
What does the quote mean to you? This is what it says to me. It reminds me that we are imperfect. And if I read it again, it still says to me, we are imperfect. It means that I make mistakes and it means that everyone else makes their share of mistakes, too.
What should you do when you have one of those days that seem to go wrong from the sunrise to the sunset? When I asked Mrs. McElvany, she said that she thought some people just want to crawl back in their beds and stay because it’s safer. I think she was just joking, in fact, I know that she was. I recommend that when you recognize that you are having a day where the tide is against you----that you be patient, endure the current, and attempt to manage the difficulties and mistakes. Don’t let the one bad day turn into a series of bad days. Please keep this in mind also, that bad days happen because of circumstances, not because of whom we are. I believe that we are all good people, and that we all can contribute to others making life better. I believe that our good decisions may impact others to make good decisions. I also believe that some people make more mistakes than others because they don’t pay attention to their wrong decisions, and they don’t learn to respond in a better way. They doom themselves to repeat their history of bad days lived over.
I encourage you to remember that we are imperfect, and everyone makes mistakes, and everyone has a bad day once in awhile. At the same time, please remember that we are responsible for our own actions, and how we respond to difficulties may say more about us than anything else in our lives.
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.
Courtesy Creates Respect
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Pride!
Do your parents ever tell you how much life has changed since they were kids? Do they go into detail and run down a list of changes for you to listen to and decide that the world use to be better? Our adult memories of what life was like as children tend to do that to us. It magnifies the changes in time in a positive light.
One of the changes that have been magnified in my life has been the loss of simple common courtesy. The words, “Please”, “Thank you”, “sir”, and “ma’am” were once part of everyone’s regular daily vocabulary. Adults and children both used them, with the greatest respect given to the elderly. Besides those words, we also saw doors opened for others, people silent when someone else was talking, and cars pulling over out of respect for a funeral procession. Men and boys would remove their hats or caps when they entered a building and would never ever consider sitting at a dinner table with a hat on their head. Were these common courtesies necessary? What are we missing with out them? Listen to this advising quote of encouragement from Baltasar Gracian.
Recognize the power of courtesy.
What is he talking about? What is this power of courtesy? Can anyone obtain it? Do you have to be a certain age to receive the power of courtesy? It actually is respect reflected. It’s like the sunlight coming off a mirror. Another example is the amount of sunlight that comes off a CD. It’s brighter and stronger. When a person shows me the common courtesy actions, I tend to respect them more. I don’t do it consciously. I just do it. So do most people. That is what the power of courtesy is. It is respect magnified. Listen to this anonymous quote.
Courtesy creates respect.
Courtesy opens doors for everyone.
Courtesy literally opens doors for others, and it figuratively opens doors for those who practice common courtesy on a regular, frequent basis. What would our school be like if everyone practiced common courtesy for the last 8 weeks of the school year? I already think it is a great school. Sequoyah is a school that is understood to have the best kids in the state enrolled in it. Can you imagine how much better it would be with everyone buying into and practicing common courtesy? I challenge everyone to do just that. Let’s see if 100% of the adults and students can bring back and keep the common courtesies and make them a priority in our relationships.
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.
Why Not the Best?
Friday, April 13, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Kiddos!
In the summer of 1976, I was a 20-year-old college kid at the University of Oklahoma. That summer was the celebration of the United States as a country in existence for 200 years. We were also in the midst of a presidential campaign between President Gerald Ford and a Georgia governor named Jimmy Carter. The mid-1970’s were a difficult time in our country. Most citizens had great skepticism towards anything to do with the government, and especially the office of the President. Everyone felt burned by the Watergate episode and didn’t trust the Washington, D. C. establishment.
At the time, Jimmy Carter was a fresh face to national politics and not too many people gave him a chance at becoming our next president. I remember buying a book that he had written a couple of years before the campaign called Why Not the Best? It was sort of autobiographical and sort of philosophical. The question was meant for himself. He asked that question several times during his life and it was a way of challenging himself to not settle for mediocre experiences. He constantly evaluated whether he was selling himself short of life’s opportunities. What has he wanted most from his life’s experiences? He has wanted to make a difference in lives. He wanted to believe that lives were better because he was part of them. He continues to this day to pursue life’s experiences for the same reason.
Listen to this statement he made trying to explain his position.
“I have one life and one chance to make it count for something. My faith demands – this is not optional – that I do whatever I can, wherever I can, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have, to try to make a difference.” – President Jimmy Carter
So I ask you his question, why not the best? Why not choose the best for yourself and others? Why not do it so that you can be a person that makes a difference? Why not consider it a mandate, that you have no option, but to try to make a difference in the lives of others? Are you willing to take your life and let it make a positive difference in this world? I lift up the challenge to you to do just that.
I encourage you to demonstrate your intent to seek the best by focusing on your state tests next week. Answer each question with the confidence that you are giving your best effort. It will make a difference for you and it will greatly impact our school.
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.
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Just Being There
Monday, March 26, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Listeners!
I hope you had a great spring break and that you were able to use the time to get some rest and respite away from the school. We have a long stretch ahead to the end of the school year. It is a stretch that comes with the stress of state mandated testing, finishing another full year, and then final grades for all of you. We can help each other a great deal if we will share the responsibility of being focused on what is important to us and to the school. It does not mean that all of life has to be serious over the coming ten weeks; there will be plenty of opportunities for fun and good humor for everyone. Pushing the focus button just means that we will take care of those things expected and required of us.
One of the biggest shortcomings that we share in our world is asking for assistance. I spent some time over the last couple of weeks with my father in the hospital and at his home. One of the little inventions that has been around for several decades is the call button on each patient’s bed in a hospital. Once pushed it let’s the nurse know that the patient is in need of something. The need can be simple like a question about the meals served or it can be about a need for medication because of pain or even an issue that is life threatening. What I noticed though was that the nurses were always willing to spend a few extra moments speaking with my father about his health concerns and difficulties. They also offered explanations to the family about what was happening. They were friendly and gave several doses of kindness. The whole hospital episode reminded me that we can all be helpful by giving a little more time in our interpersonal interactions. We don’t need to be in a hurry with others. We can be deliberate and listen to what a person says and make an attempt to understand their concerns and in some cases their worries. The nursing care was excellent and we believed that they were “there” for our father and us. They had the goal of providing the highest level of personal patient care and a good part of that was “being there.”
Please listen to this quote from American philosopher, William James.
Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
We all make a difference in the lives surrounding us. We don’t have to have a special skill, or an amazing talent, or an unbelievable strength. We don’t necessarily have to have an expertise or unique knowledge. Sometimes the difference we make is by just being there for our friends or our family. Sometimes the difference we make in the world may be just being there for a stranger, like the elderly woman I saw that was in the Cottage Hospital parking garage. My guess is that she was in her nineties. Her Mercedes was blocking the lane in the parking garage and she got out with her hands up and near tears she told me that her car wouldn’t move. She asked me for help and after a couple of minutes I restarted her vehicle and put it in a parking space. She didn’t ask my name and I didn’t get hers, but on that day for that moment we made a difference in each other’s life by just being there.
Many years ago, a novel called Being There was made into a movie. It was a brilliant story about how a simple person’s presence in the lives of others made a huge difference. The man did nothing incredible, but by being there for others he impacted lives. In fact by the end of the story, there were individuals that wanted to make him President of the United States.
Whether you’re a nurse or a student in middle school or a teacher or a simple person in the right place at the right time, you can find opportunities to “be there” for someone. You have to be sensitive to the opportunity. Are you ready to “be there” for others? Will you step up and be there? Don’t shift your possibilities away by thinking that you’re just a kid or only a middle school student. Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
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.
Laughter First
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Laughing Ones,
Throughout history there has been an argument about which came first the chicken or the egg. Without the chicken you can’t have an egg, but likewise without the egg there would never be a chicken. That particular argument of which was first will never be settled, so let’s examine another one along the same lines. Do we have to be happy first in order to laugh about things? Or if we laugh about things first do we become happy? A quote from the same man as yesterday’s quote can shed some light on the answer I think. Listen to what William James says.
We don’t laugh because we’re happy,
we’re happy because we laugh.
Mr. James expresses his opinion clear and simple. We become happy because we enjoy laughter first. If he is right, if what he said is true, then we should all find ways to laugh more. One of the best methods is to share good, healthy jokes with others or by telling humorous stories. Another great approach to finding laughter is in watching comedies on television or at the movie theater. I find myself gravitating to anything funny on television. If I sit down to spend sometime viewing a show, I usually look for humor, so I sometimes end up watching old half-hour shows like The King of Queens, or Everybody Love’s Raymond, or Seinfeld, or Frasier, or Friends. Sometimes I will find reruns older that are just as funny as they were when I was younger. They would be shows like Leave It to Beaver, or I Love Lucy, or The Andy Griffith Show. If you don’t watch those shows, you ought to give them a chance, and see if they aren’t funny to you as well.
We’re happy because we laugh. When the laughter is innocent and unexpected, it usually is very healthy for us. Sometimes we laugh hard and it makes our tear ducts become active and even sometimes makes it hard for us to breathe. But sometimes the laughter is just a quiet chuckle that makes us examine the humor and why it is funny.
There are going to be many occasions in life that are funny and need no explanations, but there will be times that we laugh and we will have to figure out why we thought something was funny. The only laughter that we need to be cautious about is the laughter that is interpreted as mean or inappropriate. Laughter in response to something that hurts someone is wrong and needs to be a part of our self-examination into who we are and what we stand for in life.
Remember that we are happy because we laugh! The more we laugh in our life the happier we will be in life.
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.
Violence Be Gone
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Peacemakers!
I can’t help but wonder why there is so much violence in the world. I’m not even talking about the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. When I was in Santa Barbara with my father a gang fight occurred just eight blocks from the hospital. It wasn’t in an alley or empty park in the middle of the night. It was in front of a Saks 5th Avenue store in the shopping district at 2:00 p.m. That’s two in the afternoon. The fight had around a dozen participants. One 15 year-old boy was stabbed by another freshman in high school. In fact they should have been in class at the time. The gang member stabbed, died before they could get him to the hospital that I was sitting in, the other young man was arrested and will be charged with murder. Many of the guys in both gangs ran and got away from the law enforcement. One of the gang members from the San Marcos High School area actually took off before the fight even began. Guess what? The next day he was found beaten up along his regular path to school. The police have determined that his own gang gave him the beating because he ran from the fight the day before without participating. So the guys on his side jumped and beat him without mercy. He was put in the hospital because of the injuries, and yet he refused to tell the police the names of the people in his gang that did the damage. I can’t figure out why there is a need for violence like this. The two gangs weren’t ethnically different nor were they different in their religious beliefs. Their differences were in name only.
Another incident in the not too distant past occurred in New England when a seventeen-year-old boy performed a magic show during a break in his high school winter dance. The school thug wanted to know how the tricks were done. The student magician refused to tell the bully how he did his tricks. One trick in particular involved a small guillotine. After the dance was over the thug met the magician in the parking lot and tore up his props and beat the classmate severely. The magician almost died by strangulation. Besides beating up the student the bully smashed the windshield of the victim’s car. Why the violence? What real purpose did it serve? How do we make sure we avoid it and stop it rather than contribute to it?
The answer falls into the laps of each of us. We only need to make sure that we are responsible for our own behavior first. When we do that at Sequoyah, we leave violence out of our world at 1125 East Danforth Road. I know that the vast majority of us prefer to have a safe environment. We can assure that it occurs. After the first step of personal responsibility, we then need to make a conscientious choice to be active as witnesses to support one another. Passive witnesses are meaningless. Active witnesses guarantee the kind of school that we want. Listen to this quote from one of the books about bullying that is in print now.
Having active witnesses everywhere is like spraying the school with a can of
Violence-Be-Gone.
Let’s work together. Let’s help 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.
A Teaching of Eragon
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Readers!
Three years ago, we had another talented author visit our school. Christopher Paolini (Pow-lee-knee) had just turned 20-years-old when he came to Sequoyah. He had received his high school diploma when he was just fifteen and started writing a book called Eragon. In the simplest of descriptions, it is a story of a teenage boy and a dragon that share a quest that they are not aware of for a major portion of the story. It is a 500-page novel that is really the first volume of a trilogy that Paolini is writing. The story is deliberate in its pace and you will find that you become part of the exploration of possibilities for Eragon’s future. The second book released last year is Eldest and the third installment is due out in about a year. Eragon was distributed as a movie last summer and just a couple of weeks ago was released on DVD.
For a young man, Eragon seems to be observant of his world and learns wisdom from his own experiences and the situations and history that his older friend, Brom, shares with him in their fantasy world. Listen closely to the wise words that Eragon shared in discussion with his mentor.
“Respect the past,
you never know how it may affect you.”
Eragon is encouraging another person to be aware and sensitive to what has already happened in others’ lives. He says this because he knows that the past does impact his life as it does with any of us. We can’t deny the influence or the power of previous events, even those that don’t directly impact us. The quicker that Eragon learned of his own past and that of the people around him, the better equipped he was for his own uncertain future.
A famous historian, George Santayana, said it this way, “Those who do not know their past are doomed to repeat it.” We all have a responsibility to learn from our mistakes and from the mistakes of those people in the past who have left us lessons. Sometimes learning from your own errors and the mistakes of others is how you make progress. That was the process that turned flight from just off the ground or surface to actually being out of this world and to the moon and back. Learning from the past is what has caused the exceptional progress in the field of medicine. Life and health for the general public is improved because scientists and researchers have respected the past, and have patiently learned how it has affected all of us. It is very possible that the majority of you will live into your eighties, and a large number of you will someday celebrate birthdays in your nineties.
One of the best examples in the past is the polio vaccine that was made available on a massive scale to all children. I personally remember it being given to all of us on a school day in the early 1960’s. We lined up like we were getting school pictures made and each of us received a sugar cube with the vaccine in it. In a very short period of time, the threat of polio was eliminated from our society. Can it make a comeback in the United States? If we fail to respect the past, I have no doubt that most diseases that we have overcome could surface again.
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.
Open Your Parachutes!
Friday, March 30, 2007
Good day, Sequoyah Sky Divers!
Over spring break, I was reading some of the letters that I have written to you and others over the last few years. I reviewed one of my favorite quotes. Listen to these simple words.
A person’s mind is like a parachute.
It only works when it is open.
If I were a sleeping rich man and I had a horrible nightmare, in my dream I would take about a 1,000 students sky-diving. We could all meet at Wiley Post Airport and be involved in the necessary instruction. We could spend hours learning to hold ourselves right as we jumped from the airplane. We would be taught how to pull the ripcord that released the parachute.
After everyone was thoroughly trained we would load into probably 30 or 40 large jump planes and move to the end of the runway. Once we finished a final check of our parachute equipment and as each pilot completed his own checklist, the wheels would begin to roll and the planes would build up speed to the point of lift off and carefully fly into a slow climb, gaining altitude as a group.
Once the planes reached an altitude of 8,000 feet they would create a simple formation and we would all jump from the planes as quickly as possible. We would each soar for a bit, but by the time we reached 5,000 feet most everyone would have pulled the ripcord and be floating to the waiting earth. Most of the rest of us would open our parachutes at 4,500 feet, but there would still be a few kids that are still falling. In this dream, I would watch them continue to race towards the surface below them, and I would wonder why they wouldn’t open their parachutes. I would start screaming in my mind, ”Pull the ripcord! Come on, open your chutes!” A moment later I would be literally yelling those words knowing that those few students aren’t hearing my screams or pleas for them to save themselves. And in their final seconds I would see them crash to the earth in a sudden crashing, ending because they refused to open their parachutes. The parachutes would have stayed packed neatly because for whatever reason the small group of students refused to use them. At that point, I would wake up from the dream and thank God it was just a nightmare.
Obviously, I would never want something like that to happen. But to tell you the truth, to a certain extent, I feel that way each week when I get the eligibility list and I see students that are failing in two or more classes. I wonder why they are allowing that to happen. It doesn’t seem that the principals or the teachers can do anything to get the students to open their minds and use them for the very reason they were created. All we desire from any of our students is to jump into learning like you would jump from a plane and then open your minds like you would a parachute, and then enjoy the process of landing on your feet in an academic environment in a controlled manner.
Your principal is a control freak, and I want very much to open every student’s parachute, but I am not able to do that. Instead, with all my heart and mind, I encourage all 987 students at Sequoyah to join me and open your minds and learn. Enjoy your education, don’t suffer through it; flourish within 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.
 -Melodic Time- · Mon Jun 16, 2008 @ 05:03am · 0 Comments |
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The Journal Of DOOOM! 
