On Thursday, March 20th, I had the privilege of sitting in a lecture with Mr. James Carville and Mrs. Mary Matalin. Both worked as political consultants, but I don't want to address politics. In that lecture, I learned some pretty key things. Things that I believe should be shared.
1st:
Failure is not something to fear. It happens to everyone. Just think about something you've always wanted to do. Now, think about all the reasons why you can't. Are they reasons or are they excuses?
Mr. Carville pointed out that it is better to be in the arena and taste defeat than to be an onlooker and never have stepped into the arena. Let's face it. What do we have to loose if we get up and try? If we fail, so what. We loose our pride. However, we gain humility. If we try, we can look at all of our critics and say "at least I had the guts to do something."
2nd:
People in our generation are pretty lucky. We have social media. We just need to use it to our advantage. Everyone knows how rapidly things spread on the internet. A post that I wrote earlier this week received over 3,500 views after only being online for 72 hours. That's amazing. Before social media, think about how hard it would have been to reach that many people in just 3 days. Shocking right?
3rd:
Our generation is far from lost. We claim we don't have some great war or some depression, but honestly, we don't need it. We've got a social revolution. We are changing ways of mass communication, learning that being open-minded and understanding not just what people believe, but why they believe it is the key to being able to not only have respect for each other but to work together despite our differences.
4th:
We are leaders. We are all smart. We have the ability to change things. We just have to be willing to work. We don't need to think that if we stand up and vocalize our opinion that it means we are basically going to get shot down for being wrong. We have the power to change that outlook on things. We can sit down and talk about issues without bringing up who paid the most for rent or what someone had for dinner.
So, if failure is something that we fear, so be it. However, it shouldn't prevent us from stepping into the arena.
Mr. Carville summed up the lecture with some wise words from Theodore Roosevelt. I'll conclude with the same ones.
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Dear Cedartown,
Dear Cedartown,
It's been close to a year since I graduated from Cedartown High School, and I've learned a lot about how people see our town from the outside looking in. Quite honestly, people seem to remember the bad things more than the good.
Why am I bringing this up?
Have any of the locals read the paper? Let's face it, a weapon of any kind in a middle school gives a pretty shady image of the community. The phrase "one bad apple spoils the whole bunch" is true. If you were a parent who was choosing between moving to either Cedartown or another area, you wouldn't want to send your child to a school where a weapon was found.
Another incident that happened very recently, the sexting case. Congrats. Read the comments on shared links on Facebook. I won't lie, I laughed a bit at the article. I actually found myself thinking "well this would be the one thing missing from our school." However, it's not funny. It's not even funny that my first thought was that the situation would have been the one thing missing from my Alma Mater.
Cedartown, please clean up your act. If you think something doesn't impact you, it does. If an outsider looking in doesn't see how successful our band program is, the amazing productions of the drama department, how far our football team has made it, and how the academics are steadily improving and is first greeted by all of the negative, we've got bigger problems than fixing a road. Business come where employees would be willing to call home. The majority of people want to live somewhere safe (socially, physically, and mentally).
So now I'm asking honestly if people at home truly care about Cedartown. Yeah, everyone wants to get out. I know that. I can probably guess a lot of the reasons why people say the same thing still today. "There isn't anything to do here." "I'm so tired of doing the same thing over and over again."
And honestly, there isn't as much to do in Cedartown as there is in Rome. However, here's a list of what all can be done:
Midnight runs to waffle house/huddle house (after sporting events at the high school I know this was popular)
Band concerts (come on people, it's a great program and the concerts are FREE)
CHS Drama Department Productions (If the acting cast is anything like I remember, you won't regret any dime spent on attending one of these)
Go workout with some friends (ex: running at the park, biking on the silver comet trail) and then support the LOCAL economy by going to Top This afterwards.
The arts festival always draws huge crowds along with the 5k.
Go watch the Road Race that comes through Cedartown. We have local olympians who participate in it. (Yes, I did say Cedartown is a place that an Olympian calls home).
And this list doesn't include sporting events, relay for life,, etc...
Still not enough, why don't we encourage students to create their own projects for community service and/or starting their own business? The students are creative enough, but lets face it, getting through all the hoops can be a bit of a struggle if you don't know which one to go through.
Another thing before I get off my soap box. Why not try to have at least one positive event about the community reach the front page of the local paper every week? It's going to take some hard work by everyone. Students of all levels of schooling, community service organizations, and people of ALL socio-economic standings. It's not impossible though.
So Cedartown, please try to clean up your image. I want to say that I'm proud to have been a part of Cedartown and can recommend Cedartown for others to visit.
Sincerely,
A very concerned graduate of Cedartown High School.
It's been close to a year since I graduated from Cedartown High School, and I've learned a lot about how people see our town from the outside looking in. Quite honestly, people seem to remember the bad things more than the good.
Why am I bringing this up?
Have any of the locals read the paper? Let's face it, a weapon of any kind in a middle school gives a pretty shady image of the community. The phrase "one bad apple spoils the whole bunch" is true. If you were a parent who was choosing between moving to either Cedartown or another area, you wouldn't want to send your child to a school where a weapon was found.
Another incident that happened very recently, the sexting case. Congrats. Read the comments on shared links on Facebook. I won't lie, I laughed a bit at the article. I actually found myself thinking "well this would be the one thing missing from our school." However, it's not funny. It's not even funny that my first thought was that the situation would have been the one thing missing from my Alma Mater.
Cedartown, please clean up your act. If you think something doesn't impact you, it does. If an outsider looking in doesn't see how successful our band program is, the amazing productions of the drama department, how far our football team has made it, and how the academics are steadily improving and is first greeted by all of the negative, we've got bigger problems than fixing a road. Business come where employees would be willing to call home. The majority of people want to live somewhere safe (socially, physically, and mentally).
So now I'm asking honestly if people at home truly care about Cedartown. Yeah, everyone wants to get out. I know that. I can probably guess a lot of the reasons why people say the same thing still today. "There isn't anything to do here." "I'm so tired of doing the same thing over and over again."
And honestly, there isn't as much to do in Cedartown as there is in Rome. However, here's a list of what all can be done:
Midnight runs to waffle house/huddle house (after sporting events at the high school I know this was popular)
Band concerts (come on people, it's a great program and the concerts are FREE)
CHS Drama Department Productions (If the acting cast is anything like I remember, you won't regret any dime spent on attending one of these)
Go workout with some friends (ex: running at the park, biking on the silver comet trail) and then support the LOCAL economy by going to Top This afterwards.
The arts festival always draws huge crowds along with the 5k.
Go watch the Road Race that comes through Cedartown. We have local olympians who participate in it. (Yes, I did say Cedartown is a place that an Olympian calls home).
And this list doesn't include sporting events, relay for life,, etc...
Still not enough, why don't we encourage students to create their own projects for community service and/or starting their own business? The students are creative enough, but lets face it, getting through all the hoops can be a bit of a struggle if you don't know which one to go through.
Another thing before I get off my soap box. Why not try to have at least one positive event about the community reach the front page of the local paper every week? It's going to take some hard work by everyone. Students of all levels of schooling, community service organizations, and people of ALL socio-economic standings. It's not impossible though.
So Cedartown, please try to clean up your image. I want to say that I'm proud to have been a part of Cedartown and can recommend Cedartown for others to visit.
Sincerely,
A very concerned graduate of Cedartown High School.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Aren't we forgetting something?
Thoughts of a Berry College Freshman Student-Athlete:
So we've all heard of something going on during the winter olympics in Sochi. We watched countries win medals, stories of athletes that can inspire anyone, and we watched as these athletes accomplished dreams. After the closing ceremonies our attention drew back to politics and whatever else happened to be concerning the world (Miley Cyrus, 2014 elections, et.)... and we forgot about the second round of winter olympics. Society forgot about the Winter Para-olympics.
When someone suffers an injury that they "cannot" fully recover from, we, the non-injured and non-disabled, have a tendency to stare. Let's face it - we are all guilty. Yet, we stare when they struggle. We rarely help them if we see them struggling. We often watch until someone gets the guts to break out of their "trance" to help the person.
Yet, we don't watch their success.
Nothing is more powerful, in my opinion, than seeing someone overcome challenges that are far beyond their control. Some of them were born with these challenges. Others received these challenges after an accident or illness of some sort.
Watching the para olympics reminds me of multiple things that we all should take into consideration...
1) Don't complain about having to do more work/harder work. Imagine how it would be, say, without an arm or leg. Be thankful for what you have.
2) Don't say "I can't". If people who are basically told they will never walk again can make it to the olympics for playing hockey and win gold - what's stopping you? Is it really that you can't or is it that you don't want to put forth the worth?
3) If there is a will, there is a way. Those who travel the road less traveled to find that way tend to be the strongest people in the world. When they break down crying after winning an olympic medal - realize there's more to what they have done than just competing on the international stage. They probably were told by multiple doctors "you can't". They had to fight twice as hard (at least) to be able to hear the words "you can" from someone.
I truly believe that it's the para-olympics that carry more of the olympic spirit that the highly viewed olympics. So now I wonder, why do we turn our eyes away from the success stories of the true athletes? Why do we simply forget that there is still another two weeks of intense competition going on after the first round of the Sochi Winter Olympics? Is it because we are afraid of seeing success? Are we ignorant because we see these athletes as "different"?
So next time you choose what you want to watch on television - you can watch the same stories over and over about politics, nonsense in Hollywood, drama on capital hill, or try to watch something that will actually get you inspired and realizing how lucky you are.
I say we stop "forgetting" about the para-olympics and cheer on the real athletes.
So we've all heard of something going on during the winter olympics in Sochi. We watched countries win medals, stories of athletes that can inspire anyone, and we watched as these athletes accomplished dreams. After the closing ceremonies our attention drew back to politics and whatever else happened to be concerning the world (Miley Cyrus, 2014 elections, et.)... and we forgot about the second round of winter olympics. Society forgot about the Winter Para-olympics.
When someone suffers an injury that they "cannot" fully recover from, we, the non-injured and non-disabled, have a tendency to stare. Let's face it - we are all guilty. Yet, we stare when they struggle. We rarely help them if we see them struggling. We often watch until someone gets the guts to break out of their "trance" to help the person.
Yet, we don't watch their success.
Nothing is more powerful, in my opinion, than seeing someone overcome challenges that are far beyond their control. Some of them were born with these challenges. Others received these challenges after an accident or illness of some sort.
Watching the para olympics reminds me of multiple things that we all should take into consideration...
1) Don't complain about having to do more work/harder work. Imagine how it would be, say, without an arm or leg. Be thankful for what you have.
2) Don't say "I can't". If people who are basically told they will never walk again can make it to the olympics for playing hockey and win gold - what's stopping you? Is it really that you can't or is it that you don't want to put forth the worth?
3) If there is a will, there is a way. Those who travel the road less traveled to find that way tend to be the strongest people in the world. When they break down crying after winning an olympic medal - realize there's more to what they have done than just competing on the international stage. They probably were told by multiple doctors "you can't". They had to fight twice as hard (at least) to be able to hear the words "you can" from someone.
I truly believe that it's the para-olympics that carry more of the olympic spirit that the highly viewed olympics. So now I wonder, why do we turn our eyes away from the success stories of the true athletes? Why do we simply forget that there is still another two weeks of intense competition going on after the first round of the Sochi Winter Olympics? Is it because we are afraid of seeing success? Are we ignorant because we see these athletes as "different"?
So next time you choose what you want to watch on television - you can watch the same stories over and over about politics, nonsense in Hollywood, drama on capital hill, or try to watch something that will actually get you inspired and realizing how lucky you are.
I say we stop "forgetting" about the para-olympics and cheer on the real athletes.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Hate or Dire Need of Changing Perspective?
It happens to the best of us. We grow tired of something - a place, a person, a city, a friend - and we start to say things that we say we mean. But do we?
I had a professor "bash" my hometown once. It was a minor comment that passed by a lot of the class, but it struck me harshly. True, the stereotype of a lot of things in my hometown has a very deep negative connotation, but it's still home to me.
Cedartown is filled with the majority of "Rednecks". Then again, if anyone in the state of Georgia had any sense of looking around past city centers - most of the people who have always lived in the rural areas and have family history leading back to the civil war or earlier could be considered rednecks.
When people make a comment about how Cedartown is really poor and the people are dumb, I honestly want to take a stand (and not a music one either). True, Cedartown isn't the richest town - especially compared to Rome, Ga. However, there are some benefits to being a small town community that won't be found anywhere else.
1st. Find me one town that rallies behind a hurt athlete for not just a few days - but for over 4 months and continues to support him.
2nd. Find me a town that who's supportive of every single extracurricular activity in some form or fashion. Hometown heroes aren't millionaires. They are the students who are role models for younger kids. They are the everyday people who make a difference without ever realizing it - the first responders, teachers, and anyone who turns a bad day around.
3rd. Find me a town who's hopes ride with those who exceed and are willing to change the world. It's not shown a lot, and the road isn't easy. However, once someone is willing to prove that they want to do something to do something with their lives, eventually someone will find a door that will stay open to help him or her.
4th. Everyone knows everyone. You can't get hurt without everyone asking if you are alright and if you need something. You can't get away with a lie, and if they ask you something it's best to just say it like it is. Friends gathering together isn't just a secluded clic - everyone knows everyone so you find the biggest area to have bonfires, paint wars, etc. and meet up.
5th. The best part about Cedartown is that once you make it through high school there, you can overcome anything thrown at you. You learn not only how to work with people, you learn to understand them. You realize that money isn't needed to have a good time and it surely doesn't buy happiness.
After that professor called out my hometown, I thought and realized I can't hate a place that helped shape me the way that I am. Yeah, I didn't have some of the opportunities that might have been available if I lived in a "high class" area, but I learned lessons that I don't think I would have been able to learn anywhere else.
So next time you think that you hate something, what is it that you hate? Is it really that one thing, or is it your perspective?
I had a professor "bash" my hometown once. It was a minor comment that passed by a lot of the class, but it struck me harshly. True, the stereotype of a lot of things in my hometown has a very deep negative connotation, but it's still home to me.
Cedartown is filled with the majority of "Rednecks". Then again, if anyone in the state of Georgia had any sense of looking around past city centers - most of the people who have always lived in the rural areas and have family history leading back to the civil war or earlier could be considered rednecks.
When people make a comment about how Cedartown is really poor and the people are dumb, I honestly want to take a stand (and not a music one either). True, Cedartown isn't the richest town - especially compared to Rome, Ga. However, there are some benefits to being a small town community that won't be found anywhere else.
1st. Find me one town that rallies behind a hurt athlete for not just a few days - but for over 4 months and continues to support him.
2nd. Find me a town that who's supportive of every single extracurricular activity in some form or fashion. Hometown heroes aren't millionaires. They are the students who are role models for younger kids. They are the everyday people who make a difference without ever realizing it - the first responders, teachers, and anyone who turns a bad day around.
3rd. Find me a town who's hopes ride with those who exceed and are willing to change the world. It's not shown a lot, and the road isn't easy. However, once someone is willing to prove that they want to do something to do something with their lives, eventually someone will find a door that will stay open to help him or her.
4th. Everyone knows everyone. You can't get hurt without everyone asking if you are alright and if you need something. You can't get away with a lie, and if they ask you something it's best to just say it like it is. Friends gathering together isn't just a secluded clic - everyone knows everyone so you find the biggest area to have bonfires, paint wars, etc. and meet up.
5th. The best part about Cedartown is that once you make it through high school there, you can overcome anything thrown at you. You learn not only how to work with people, you learn to understand them. You realize that money isn't needed to have a good time and it surely doesn't buy happiness.
After that professor called out my hometown, I thought and realized I can't hate a place that helped shape me the way that I am. Yeah, I didn't have some of the opportunities that might have been available if I lived in a "high class" area, but I learned lessons that I don't think I would have been able to learn anywhere else.
So next time you think that you hate something, what is it that you hate? Is it really that one thing, or is it your perspective?
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Taking the road less traveled: Hard Work or Hard to Motivate?
Yesterday I posted on my Facebook account the following status:
"Thoughts of a college freshman:
What if for every dream we have inspired as a society, we helped become a reality? For the young Olympic watchers who want to one day have a gold medal of their own: why do we encourage them to dream this but then not put forth the effort to help them. Why is it that kids who dreamed of becoming leaders and changing the world are growing up and thinking "I can't because it's impossible."? We need to break the idea of hard meaning impossible. Just because something is hard, doesn't mean it can't be done. I challenge us as a society to stop working against dreams and show that roads less traveled aren't the easiest but they are far from impossible.
Who's to tell us what the human mind and body cannot accomplish?"
What if for every dream we have inspired as a society, we helped become a reality? For the young Olympic watchers who want to one day have a gold medal of their own: why do we encourage them to dream this but then not put forth the effort to help them. Why is it that kids who dreamed of becoming leaders and changing the world are growing up and thinking "I can't because it's impossible."? We need to break the idea of hard meaning impossible. Just because something is hard, doesn't mean it can't be done. I challenge us as a society to stop working against dreams and show that roads less traveled aren't the easiest but they are far from impossible.
Who's to tell us what the human mind and body cannot accomplish?"
Now, let me expand on this...
It honestly kills me when I see people who I once went to school with who I remember saying that they wanted to be architects, lawyers, world class musicians, doctors, top of the line athletes, and change the world, end up doing one or some combination of the following: drop out of high school, drop out of college, claim "it's too hard" or say "I'm not smart enough". If you really want to achieve something, it's not going to get done by quoting and moving on to something easier - like getting a minimum wage job and saying "who needs an education" or "I'm not good enough to reach a goal."
Yet, this happens. It happens a lot. I grew up in a town much like the one that resembles the town of Coal Wood in the awesome movie "October Skies." While my hometown wasn't a coal mining town, the attitude was pretty much the same. A few people would make it out on a football scholarship. The rest would end up sticking around.
I'm not blaming a sole person for a lack of motivation for kids achieving goals. I am blaming society as a whole. We spend so much time telling kids they can be anything they want when they grow up. When they enter middle and high school, that mind set shifts. Many students become unmotivated through either financial setbacks, trying to "fit in" with a certain clic, or they honestly become lazy.
How can we prevent this lack of motivation in students? If you ask me, ask a student the first day of school what they want to be once they are "grown up." Have them set some long term goals. Then, don't just place those goals in a "I wasn't going to forget about you but I am going to" pile. Work with the students, help them find internships, projects, and additional materials that they can be a part of. If money is an issue, help them find scholarships.
Don't ever tell someone "You can't do this because it would be too hard and I don't have the time to help you."
If you honestly don't have the time, ask the student if he or she would be willing to speak to someone else about the subject and direct them to that person. If it's too hard, let the student find that out themselves. Will power to achieve something is a strength that cannot be measured.
Next time a kid answers the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" with something that seems outrageous or that it would take a lot of work, don't say "It's too hard." Why? That kid has seen someone else do it and wants to get on that level. Whether it's winning a gold medal, being a musician, or becoming a lawyer, doctor, architect, etc., who are we to shoot down someone's dreams?
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