Make it a Great Day...

Every morning at school, there comes a point where I decide I actually need to enter my classroom and not stand out in the hall talking with my fellow teachers. That point is usually when the principal's voice crackles to life over the intercom and gives the students their morning announcements. There's the usual listing off of events, congratulations to so and so at such and such sporting event, and of course the pledge. However at the end of these everyday topics, the school counselor will share some words of wisdom.


No matter what the message, from being a good student to seeking advice about bullying, the message ends with a simple phrase, "Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours."


I often find myself saying the ending along with the voice over the intercom. The kids look at me like I'm crazy. But I don't care.


Because of this routine in hearing those words repeated, there are times throughout my day I'll find them running through my head... "Make it a great day..."


Which gets me to thinking, how do you make a day great? There are rainy days, week days, school days, and dog days, but you don't make any of those days that specific kind of a day. Those days are simply that kind of a day. But a great day, that is something to be made despite of the inherit type of day it may be.


It starts with a choice of perception. I believe that a great day starts not with the first interaction it encounters, but rather with the choice to look upon this day as one that will be different from the rest, that no matter what, it will be made a day of days. Then from the perception grounded in perseverance and positivity it develops into a great day.


However, I am inclined to believe that it cannot truly be a "great day" if it is only great for one person. There is no true greatness to be had in isolation. Besides, if it's only great for one person, that means it's not-so-great for most everyone else.

I'm left to conclude that in order for it to be a truly great day, I must determine it to be so at the onset, as the sun rises and the gray morning twilight gives way to it's warmth. And I have to choose to make it great not just for me, but for someone else as well, so that we might have something to share and talk about at the end of it, when the sun sinks slowly, reminiscing on how great of day was made.

Make it a great day...