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Thursday Thoughts
January 8, 2009
Carlton Rider, Principal |
When I was the age of most of our students,
back in the 1950s, I remember watching New
Year’s Eve featuring Guy Lombardo and his
Royal Canadians ushering in the New Year
from the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York
City just before the ball dropped in Times
Square playing Auld Lange Syne on our 18”
black and white television set. What a
change from the way New Year’s Eve is
celebrated today with Dick Clark’s Rock’n
New Year’s Eve with Ryan Seacrest as host
and all sorts of bands playing nothing close
to Auld Lange Syne. Did you ever ask
yourself the question “What exactly are we
celebrating on New Year’s Eve?” I guess the
older I get the more I realize that we are
celebrating the unknown. Who really knows
what a new year will bring and if we could
see the entire New Year spread out before
us, would we really want to take a peek at
it? I sometimes don’t think so. Who wants to
know if they or those they know will live to
see another Christmas or New Year’s Eve? Who
wants to know all the surprises that may
come our way during the New Year – good or
bad? Maybe knowing whether the economy will
get better or worse would be a good thing so
one could have some insight into financial
planning for the New Year!
All the celebration that surrounds the
holidays, especially New Year’s Eve, reminds
us that we are, and continue to be, a people
of hope. We can’t control what happens to us
over the next 365 days, but we can continue
to be a people who never give up hope.
Without hope, we become a people of doubt
and anxiety, never knowing what direction we
should be going as we travel through the
year.
Each New Year’s day, in the column Dear
Abby, there is some food for thought called
Just for Today. I share with you a few of
these simple suggestions on living each day,
one day at a time:
Just for today, I will live through this day
only, and not set far-reaching goals to try
to overcome all my problems at once. I know
I can do something for 24 hours that would
overwhelm me if I thought I had to keep it
up for a lifetime.
Just for today, I will adjust myself to what
is. I will face reality. I will correct
those things that I can correct and accept
those I cannot.
Just for today, I will make a conscious
effort to be agreeable. I will look as good
as I can, dress becomingly, speak softly and
act courteously. Just for today, I’ll try
not to improve anybody except myself.
Just for today, I will gather the courage to
do what is right and take the responsibility
for my own actions.
If you want to see the complete list of Just
for today, check out the column Dear Abby
for January 1, 2009 in any newspaper that
carries the column.
A reminder that our Advisory Board meets
this coming Tuesday, January 13th at 7:00
p.m. in the faculty room in our main
building. Beginning in February we will post
the agenda on our website for the monthly
meetings. Some highlights on the agenda
include an up-date by our president, John
McGraw, concerning teacher/parish
negotiations for the next three years; a
sharing of input from parents, teachers, and
students from surveys given in November as a
part of our accreditation process and
up-dating of our school profile; a
presentation concerning marketing strategies
by Linda Zionkowski Baker who is involved in
recruitment and retention activities at Ohio
University.
I will be sharing with you information from
our surveys that were given in November to
our parents, faculty, and students as a
component to our accreditation process,
specifically our school profile up-date
beginning with next week’s Thursday
Thoughts.
You should have received your child’s Terra
Nova Achievement test Home Report before the
Christmas break. I was glad that we were
able to send these reports home before the
break as they were delayed at the site that
sends the results to the schools of our
diocese due to a shipping problem with one
of our diocesan schools. This was not the
fault of the school but rather the shipping
company. No, we weren’t the school! If you
haven’t seen your child’s home report, check
with him or her and then call our office if
it was lost along the way.
Previous Messages:
December 11, 2008
December 4, 2008
November 27, 2008
November 20, 2008
November 13, 2008
November 6, 2008
October 30, 2008
October 23, 2008
October 16, 2008
October 9, 2008
October 2, 2008
September 25, 2008
September 18, 2008
September 11, 2008
September 4, 2008
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