Hanging out with the Wrong Crowd

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you, too, can become great." Mark Twain

We teach our children to be careful about who they hang out with, and we take a dim view of their friends who we feel might be a bad influence. But you know, that really never ends. As adults, we need to take care of who we spend time with, too. Inevitably we become like those around us. Everyone has an influence on us, no matter if we are fourteen or forty. Marshall McLuhan said, "We become what we behold."

How about you? Do you surround yourself with people who help you become all that you can be? Or have you been hanging out with the wrong crowd?

Susan

Your Greatest Ambition

"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." Helen Keller

It is always a delight when a text pops up on my phone from either of my newest texting buddies. Both bright and beautiful fourth graders, they are my grandniece and my granddaughter. When I was a kid, the adults who were a little awkward conversing with children would usually ask, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" The other night my granddaughter texted, "Do you want to know my greatest ambition?" Well, obviously I did, and she told me about a new career idea she had. After a little back and forth on that she asked, "What is your greatest ambition?"

Isn't that a wonderful way to phrase the question? We all must somehow make a living, and it would be ideal to have our greatest ambition be something we loved to do, and the added bonus would be the pay check. Our greatest ambitions could also be hobbies, volunteering, travel, and I imagine the list would just go on and on.

Fourth graders totally understand that life is a grand adventure, that dreams come super-sized, and that even grandmothers have great ambitions.

Susan