A blog specifically for Sale Primary 545 Senior class S…

Here is a big shout out to Sale Primary School 545 

Senior Class S!

Not long now until the end of school, you must be getting excited. Thank you for checking out my blog so far. I heard Mr. Shingles was talking about making decisions now about the type of person you want to be, and what you want to do with your future.

I am glad that you are creating bucket lists for yourselves, it allows you to think outside the box about the extraordinary opportunities you have in life. I would like to challenge you to think even bigger than you are now. Not necessarily about better, more exotic/expensive things to do, but thinking bigger about the influence you can have on those around you. Thinking bigger about the positive impact you can have on the world.

I’m sure Mr. Shingles has said this to you before but you can be whoever you want, it just takes good decisions and learning from the mistakes. You can also do whatever you want in life, it just takes good decisions and learning from the mistakes. Deciding now about whether you will be a person who works hard and gets as much out of every opportunity given. Or whether you will be a person who cruises along without working hard, drifting through life wondering why nothing positive or extraordinary happens to you. Not every child has the luxury of thinking in this way. Not every child has the opportunities that you do. You can create your own destiny. You can decide what goes on your bucket list.

Will you tick off a university degree from your bucket list? Will you tick off that you learned from and influenced people from many cultures in the world by traveling? Will you tick off that you climbed the highest mountain in the world? 

Will you tick off that you contributed towards the cure for a disease? Will you tick off your bucket list that you went Paraharking (trust me, that was a good one!)?  Will you tick off that you helped save a life by becoming an aid worker, or a nurse, a doctor or a paramedic etc? Will you tick off that you went to space? Will you tick off that you raised a healthy family? Will you tick off that at every opportunity all through high school you stuck up for the kids that got picked on? Will you tick off that you represented Australia at the Olympics? Will you tick off that you influenced a generation by becoming a teacher? Will you tick off that you painted a picture that ended up in a gallery?

Will you tick off that you invented something that every person in the world will be using by 2030? Will you tick off that you learned another language? Will you tick off your bucket list that you contributed toward turning around climate change and global warming? Will you tick off that you were the first female Australian Prime Minister? (Sorry boys!)Will you tick off that you wrote a book? You get to decide what goes on your bucket list…

Will you tick off that you visited your grade six teacher in 2059 when he is an old and wrinkly man sitting in his rocking chair wondering what you did with your life? Ha Ha Ha…

(Mr. Shingles)

My point is, think big! Think enormous! Bigger than my examples, because it is only our minds that limit us. Think about the influence you can have on the world. Because you can start making those decisions now. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t achieve much because you are young. Some of the most amazing, hard working and inspirational people I have met since being in Nepal have been your age. They keep smiling even though they are impoverished and of ill-health. Most don’t have adequate education and most children who do go to school endure backbreaking work before and after school on the farm, family home or business. They don’t have the opportunities you have but they have a spirit and energy that does not give up and that hopes for a brighter future. You can be part of a bright future!

Congratulations for finishing a successful 2009 and I hope you are thinking big about 2010!