This entry has been a long time coming. On February 23, 2007 my son and his kindergarten class celebrated their 100th day of school. Among the many activities they did to commemorate this event was writing in their journals. These journals have been kept from near the beginning of school and were used to both recorded what they have learned and also to help teach them the basics of writing.
When I arrived home from work my son was beaming. The day had been fantastic. School, friends, the 100th day celebration...everything. As he told me about the day and what made it so great he said, "Do you want to know what I wrote in my journal?" I quickly replied, "yes" and this is what he told me, "100 days ago I did not know how to read, write, or subtract or add numbers. Now I can read, write and subtract numbers. I love school." Immediately I was proud, amazed, and so happy that he had had such a good day, but like the sun hitting your body on a cool morning...although you immediately feel the burst of warmth, it takes a minute to sink in. What he said would take some time to sink in.
The meaning and implications of his simple journal entry stayed with me for several hours...my mind always going back it. I became amazed at the notion that 100 days ago he could not read, write, or do math and now he can. The transformation in just 100 days was life changing for my son. Millions of people throughout the world are illiterate. If they could only read and write they could learn from the past and write their future. They could reason more informatively. If they could count, add, and subtract they could judge, measure, and weigh differences of all types, and in so doing they could change their circumstances, they could change their standing in the world - for the better. For nearly the entire night and through the next day I was consumed by the thought of 100.
The entire next day I was consumed by the idea of what could be accomplished in 100 days. What could I do if I set a goal and focused effort on it. Could it change ME? Could I have a life changing transformation in 100 days? That day I started what would later be called "the next 100 days". Since that day I have lived life pretty much as normal, going to work, watching the kids, taking out the trash, but one thing is different. I have been working toward changing, learning, being something I have never been before - with a specific goal in mind. Not someday, sometime, somehow, but rather "in the next 100 days". I figure that if I live until I am 80 years old, I will have 164 "100 days". If I did just one thing I have always wanted to do in each of those 100 days - how rich would my life be? If 100 days is long enough to take a five year old from not being able to read, write, and do math to doing all three, then it is certainly long enough for me to change some aspect of my life, to reach a goal, to achieve some milestone. In fact, it is long enough for us all do do something great. So I say to you "What will you do in the next 100 days?"
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4 comments:
You are the man. I hope the vision catches on...
I am now in my 59th day of the 'next 100 days' I told you in the beginning, details were to come...that was a bit of a hedge just in case I didn't follow through, I could have settled for something pretty simple, like walking 1000 steps a day or reading the newspaper every day...things I do anyway. Big Noble Challenge!!
Now I am half way into it, I can admit that the challenge has been more than fun and invigorating, it has been amazing. I have managed to get halfway through The Great Teaching Course on Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics by listening to lectures at an hour a day and working out while doing so...I have read half the book, "Einstein" the Biography, which is amazing, I have taken a virtual tour of the Louvre, and I am well into committing 100 of my patients to accepting the Next 100 day challenge in life style changes, and they love it! I am on my way to completing an Oil Portrait in the classic Renaissance style (inspired by my trip through the Louvre), and can't wait to start the next 100 day challenge because I already know what I am going to do! Thank you, Staten, for inspiring your parents to inspire their parents and all their friends to make our futures a little more meaningful and a lot more enjoyable.
My husband's aunt posted me this update on the challenge:
On June 18th I posted this comment on behalf of my friend who took the 100 Day Challenge that Amy wrote about in one of her blogs:
“Count my friend Kathy B. in. She is 60 years old and committed to take and pass her GED tests within 100 days. Good for her!”
Well, I am here to report that on August 16th, 2007 Kathy Barlow has now received her GED!
This has been a life-changing event for Kathy who always felt less than her co-workers because she hadn’t finished High School. So now she has raised her head high and accomplished this feat.
Just to show you what’s up next for Kathy, she has enrolled in the CNA Nursing Program at our local Community College and begins classes in the Fall. She knows she can do it! How about that?
As for me, I am still working on my 100 Day project of digitizing my family slides and would estimate that I am about 80% done. More on that when I am finished.
Hooray for the 100 Day Challenge! Thanks Amy for the nudge!
I have taken the challenge to accomplish several things in 100 days. Thanks for using this medium to inspire people to be better.
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