First of all, Happy New Year. It’s good to see you!
I hope you are anticipating many exciting things in 2009.
For many people around the world, New Year’s is an invitation to make a few changes in their lives, to begin again, to have a fresh start. People make resolutions–promises to themselves and others–that they will change in some way. You may have heard this famous quote:
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
It is attributed to Mahatma Ghandi, who lead change in India in the first half of the last century through non-violent protest. He made big changes, but the world improves through little changes, too. Here’s another quote from Edward Everett Hale:
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something I can do.”
So, what would you like your family, school, community, or country to be like in the coming year?
Maybe you want to live in a world that is
- more kind
- safer
- more environmentally healthy
- happier
What ONE small, specific change can you resolve to make in 2009 that will make the world–your world–a better place?
Blog about it on your blog and then leave a comment here so we can all read about your resolutions for a brand new year.
Image: Glasses by Estherase
Entries (RSS)
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Jan,
This is a great article. You inspired me to post something onto my blog as well. One specific change I plan to make is to be positive in my thoughts, ideas, and conversation as much as possible. I think that be speaking and thinking positive, I can not only change my life but perhaps those around me as well. LaQuita
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January 4th, 2009 at 5:11 am
Thanks, LaQuita,
Your comment reminds me about some research I read recently that suggests that working (or learning) with positive, happy people is more likely to affect us in a positive way than working with unhappy people will cause us to be negative or unhappy. It is by a small margin, though, so I am determined to keep a more optimistic attitude, for others’ benefit, as well as my own!
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January 6th, 2009 at 4:09 am
Wow! I really like this blog! I think it is also a way to help the earth by making blogging friends alllllll the way across the earth. So all I can say is wow! Anyways… My opinion on making the earth a better place is to make the earth a safer and cleaner place, and enviorment. I don’t really have a sugesttion for how to make the earth safer, but I do know how to make it more clean. All it takes is one person to make a club and start cleaning. Simple as that. But! It gets better. Then since they clean up peoples yards and the communitey’s places. Then they collect money from people being nice and generous and they start to get better equipment. Then they use the equipment to do a better job. Now remember this is only just one communitey. But then word starts to spread and a bunch of people start to come and join. Then inspired and amazed people hear about whats going on and start their own club. then it continues untill it reach’s the other side of the world and baboom babing! You have a nice enviorment for you people!
So those are my opinion’s!
Hope you use it! Cya!
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January 6th, 2009 at 10:11 am
I want to make the world a better place to live in by not littering and making parks more people-friendly. I will also reduce pollution in anyway possible.
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January 6th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Hi!
This blog is such a good idea, it helps us keep up with our blogs after we ran out of ideas and staying in touch with the friends we’ve made during the competition.
I would like our country to be safer this new year because with so much crime, violence and other bad influences out there, it can be unsafe for the younger kids. I don’t think it’s right to have kids grow up in an environment that contains so much influence since they could follow in the wrong footsteps. Also, too many people are getting their lives taken away from them over dumb decisions, situations, or nothing at all and I think it isn’t right to have people live through this. So hopefully the world will be getting to a better place and we can all live our lives safely.
http://asia1e09.edublogs.org/2009/01/05/my-world/
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January 6th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
@ Michael, you have made some excellent connections. You can see that our positive efforts are not wasted, which is really important. I like the idea of having blogging friends allll the way across the earth!
@ Kevin, avoiding littering is a conscious act that supports our communities and environment. Not contributing to the growing pile of garbage is a positive step we can all take, and it makes a huge difference!
@ Asia, I am glad you like this blog–I do too because, as you said, we are “staying in touch with the friends we’ve made”. It has already made the world seem a lot smaller to me.
I value a safe community too. One small way to keep neighbourhoods, schools and communities safe is to create positive connections and friends among people, so no one feels isolated. That is a big challenge, but I think all of us can make a difference be being aware of others, and caring about what happens to them. Thanks for making me think!
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January 7th, 2009 at 6:10 am
Thank you for this beautiful blog! I’ve been showing it to some of my young students today and I clearly felt that they really care about what such places for sharing, collaborating and making friends represent for the future of the world. I mean, aren’t we building peace, cleaning up the “pollution” of human loneliness and implementing a safer world by creating these on line communities of friends?
One of the things I value most is the fact that all this happens in total freedom! It can’t be imposed or forced upon, it’s something purely genuine that springs from the heart and the good will of each person involved.
Thus, for this brand new year, I sincerely wish that each one of us rely on all the others so that the best of us all will come together.
stora Ines
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Jan Smith Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 8:26 am
I think you are a philosopher! Yes, blogging does have the potential to make us rely on and connect with a community of friendship. I agree we are building the links to community every time we read, comment, and post. Each student who has received a comment from you has appreciated it!
One thing my students have asked is, “Does ’stora’ mean Mrs.? Does it mean teacher?’ We have noticed that you sign with a lower case stora and an upper case Ines. Is Ines your first name, and what does “inpi” mean? This may best be answered on your “About” page, or you can let us know here. As the saying goes, “inquiring minds want to know!”
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January 7th, 2009 at 9:25 am
I want to make the world a better place by recycling more and being more caring for our planet. For starters i bought a new bag for school made of organic cotten. My family and i are also helping by timing our showers and recycling our cans and bottles. Every little help makes a big difference in the world. If everyone helps then we can get the job done faster!!
samm<3
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Jan Smith Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Hi Sam, it sounds like your whole family is involved in making a difference. I try hard to bring my lunch in reusable containers each day. We also have a school composting program. I like the idea of going a step further and thinking about how and out of what the the containers were made. Bravo to you!
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sam Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 11:18 am
thanks for the comment. yeah my family an i use plastic containers alot. i personally dont like left overs but my family does so we put the left overs in containers.
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January 7th, 2009 at 9:38 am
[...] the question in a comment here and here. Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and [...]
January 7th, 2009 at 10:09 am
my new years resolution is to not get angry at my parents and not get frustrated often.
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Jan Smith Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Hi Dale, sounds like you’re really thinking about the people you are closest to. These deep, personal changes are hard but make such a difference in our lives and the lives of friends and family. Best wishes with your resolution.
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January 8th, 2009 at 2:53 am
The way I want to change the world is by making people around me happier and making them give less focus on the boring and mundane things in life.
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Jan Smith Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Ryan, can you say more on your blog about this? I like how you want to take attention from the mundane things–how will you do that?
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January 8th, 2009 at 4:56 am
Whenever I think about what I could do to make the world a better place, I think of the movie Pay it Forward. If everyone helped out every once and a while and then they “Payed it forward” the world would really change. So this year I’m going to try to do my best to pay it forward, and I hope everyone else does the same.
-Mallorie
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Jan Smith Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Mallorie, your blog may be a great place to keep track of these subtle gifts to the future. Who knows what great things will come from your thoughtfulness?
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January 8th, 2009 at 8:46 am
What I plan to do is recycle, plastic is just a flat out Earth killer, and it would be great to get rid of it.
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Jan Smith Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Yes, plastics are everywhere. We use them in so many situations–while there are alternatives in many situations, could we really get rid of it? What do you think?
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January 8th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
My family recylces often, and instead of throwing away biodegradeable things to put into a landfill, we have a compost that does the job and then gives us soil for my mom’s garden.
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January 9th, 2009 at 7:23 am
I would have to say that the one thing that I think needs fixing in this world is animal welfare, its getting really bad now and i want for 2009 to end it or slow down the amount of animals that are dieing of it.
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January 9th, 2009 at 9:14 am
One thing that my family can start doing is to start recycling. I recycle all of my water bottles at home but that’s it. Together, we can recycle all of the reusuable items at our house!
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January 9th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Simply amazing. I really like the new blog. The Earth on top looks nice and symbolic! In the coming 2009 I plan to make a difference. I Resolve to make a difference to other through my actions. I will be kinder, more thoughtful and a better person. No one is a bad person, but I simply wish to make a bit of a difference to the kid who no one talks too. I plan to make at l difference to a least one person in the year to come.
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Jan Smith Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Glad you like the look of the blog, keep the feedback coming. About your resolution: being a kinder, more thoughtful person is bound to affect many more than one person this year. I bet it already has.
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January 10th, 2009 at 12:44 am
One thing that our world could do would be to nicer to one another. There are many people that judge you for what you look like but it’s what matters on the inside. I want people to stop looking at me for what I look like and look at ,e for what really matters.
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January 10th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Hey great question to ask the thing i want to change the most is my personality sort of just the way i act around people i wont to be know differently from what i know as
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January 10th, 2009 at 9:03 am
One thing that every one should do is not judge eachother because we’ve all grown up in different situations and life styles and we all have something that we aren’t proud of in our lives. We are also all different in our own way and we should not be judged for those traits that make us our own person.
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January 11th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
I want to improve my life because if I don’t change myself how can I improve my thinking about the things that I do want to change.
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January 11th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
I know it sounds corny but I am going to tell the truth more often. Even for the little things like if I ate breakfast or not. I think this will help me improve on the decisions I make so I won’t be put in a situation where I feel tempted to lie.
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January 12th, 2009 at 8:27 am
For my New Years Resolution, I want to have a ore positive outlook on life, even if something b ad or upsetting happens in my life, because I know there is no need in worrying about something because it is not going to change the outcome of what will happen.
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January 12th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Kathryn, this is a really good resolution for all of us–my friends say “don’t sweat the small stuff”. I think that having perspective about what really matters would make everyone’s life a lot less stressful!
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January 12th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
The changes i want 2009 is the world to be safer and more environmentally friendly. Soon their might not be a world(I hope not) but you never know with all of our pollution and economy going down in a spiral. We need to act now and think of what needs to be done to get the world back on its feet again. So lets all take are part and doing the little things like recycling and maybe picking up few bits a garbage.
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Jan Smith Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Cody, I have a friend who is in her 70s who says there should be five R’s: reduce, reuse, and recycle…but also reject and repair. Reject buying something that is over-packaged or comes from too far away, or is made in a way that harms workers or the environment. And repair what you have rather than replacing it. She still mends socks, gets her shoes re-soled and generally fixes things to make them last as longer. What do you think of her ideas?
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January 12th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
What a great post. We wrote some New Year Resolutions on our blog http://year5.chorltonparkblogs.net , but having read this excellent post I will share it with my class and try to get them to reflect on some of the things you said here. Please visit our blog and leave a comment if you have a moment.
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January 14th, 2009 at 8:07 am
I am excited for the compition.
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January 14th, 2009 at 10:52 am
the one thing i want to do is to become a better soccer player so i can achieve my goal to become the best soccer player in the world
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