17 November 2010

...wisdom

so i was cleaning the dorms (which i do every morning for my second job) and i ran across this quote... "Do not ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive"... isn't that good!!!

man, ive been thinking about it all week and i realized that that is what i need to do-- find what makes me come alive. and then tonight, as i was sitting in Cultural Inquiry Club, i realized that we have made people in third world countries less human. how so? we have made them into no more than a statistic, a problem to be solved.

so the solution? they need to come alive. we need to help them become alive, we need to help them find happiness... gosh!! its so much MORE than raising their living standards. its so much MORE than teaching them how to fish.... its teaching them to find JOY in fishing, or hunting, or whatever it is they love to do!! we can help people most by coming alive, because then, and only then can we help them come alive too.

after all, isn't that what the world needs? people who come alive?


09 November 2010

... scot!

so my daddy went to a scottish highland game festival in north carolina this past weekend. so i thought i'd delve into my scottish heritage (christison is scottish btw).

as i was pondering this, our clan's motto came to my mind: fide et fortitudine. aka fidelity and fortitude. so i thought i'd look these words up to see how im really supposed to be acting (i was suprised)

fidelity: 1
1.loyalty, strict observances to promisesone's country.
2. adherence to fact or detailffactact or detail.
3. accuracy; exactness

fortitude:
mental and emotional strength in facing difficulty, adversity, danger, or temptation


wow! i got a lot of work to do but i really like what im standing for-- loyalty and strength. hopefully i can do both of those things.

or temptation ' courageously

wow...i got a lot of work to do! kind of cool thought huh? so that is my clan's motto!! i better start living up to it!

03 November 2010

.... service

so my students and i did a service project this week. what did we do, you may ask? well, we went to the testing center and handed out granola bars with 'good luck' notes on them. then we joined one of the other groups in cheering for those who have come out of the testing center.

great idea no? probably not what you normally think of as service but i think it was successful. it was so neat (i think im going to start using this work more and more...i like it) to see my kids light up as they cheered others on, as they wrote notes of cheering for those getting ready to take tests. that is what service does....it lightens our spirits.

anyhoo, after we got back to the classroom, i asked my students if that counted as service? they all said "YES!" then i asked why. what is the definition of service.

emilee simply said:

"service is uplifting others"

beautiful isnt it?