A good friend
gave me a card once, for a graduation I think, that said,
“Whatever you are, be a good one.” This advice from the sixteenth president very subtly reminds me not to settle for mediocrity, to strive for the highest. It reminds me to put my heart and soul into whatever I do and to therefore make sure that if I am going to do something, that it is worth the effort, since I am going to take the time to do it well. Seems like a pretty good life motto to me! The quote also goes along well with two of my other favorites:
- "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle
- "Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter." - Oscar Wilde
I find it
fitting that my inspiration for this blog title came from Honest Abe, because
as a history teacher, nothing could be more perfect for me. In my mind I can see
the rolling eyes and hear the groans of my former high school students as they
marvel at my nerdiness. "You would name your blog after a presidential quote," I can hear them say.
Although I am calling the blog “Be a Good One,” the contents of the blog will follow
the “Whatever You Are” part. In the past, my blogs were very focused,
chronicling an educational technology graduate course and my student teaching internship. This time, I am allowing myself to blog about whatever floats my kayak. Heads up for you, Lucky Reader, that will
probably be mostly culinary creations, crafty projects, good books, the most
nerdy nuggets of history, things that make me happy, and other goings on in my
life.
I am newly
married and recently moved to Texas. I am going to miss Florida and my family and
the teaching job I had there, but I am excited for the adventures I am going to
have in this new life I am beginning with my husband (I have a husband! I am a
wife!). I love writing, and I haven’t been doing enough of it lately, unless
lesson plans count (I don’t think they do . . . sometimes, maybe, if they are
really intense, otherwise, not so much . . . there are a lot of lesson
plans I want to write up in detail, but that is something to talk about later).
SO, here we go. This blog is now my excuse and motivation to keep writing and
creating and it will also be the proof that I have actually done it. I am embarking on
this project for myself, but maybe you will find inspiration
here, too. Blog on!
