Last week, I talked about five things I was thankful for in the year 2011. With 2012 upon us (here; with us now), it is of course time to make some New Year’s resolutions. Here are a few of mine:

1. Exercise more. I discovered recently that, although I wish otherwise (want something else or something different), I am getting a little older every year. My doctor that says the best thing for me to do is more exercise.  I already exercise everyday on a treadmill (a machine for walking), but I could stand to do (could benefit from doing) a little more, especially after all of that pumpkin pie I ate over the holidays.

2. Eat more pumpkin pie. Eating pumpkin pie is one of my favorite things in the world to do. So, hey, if I exercise more, I can eat more pie, right? Of course, if I eat more pie than I do now, I will need to exercise even more, but that just means I can then eat more pie and then…well, you get the idea.

3. Learn something new. I am what my father used to call a “professional student” – I was in school for so many years that it seemed as though that was my “career.” But the truth is I really do enjoy going to school and learning something new. Last year I took a couple of classes at my local community college, and I had a lot of fun, even though I was by far (easily) the oldest person in the class. I plan to do that again this year.

4. Spend less time watching television. It is too easy to sit down and spend half of your evening watching the silly programs that are on the TV. That time can be better spent talking to my wife and my family, reading a good book, or eating pumpkin pie.

5. Suffer fools (more) gladly. Fools are people who are do things we think are stupid or who might annoy (bother) us with their silly actions. To suffer usually means to undergo (experience) pain, but it can also mean to tolerate, to put up with someone. Gladly means happily.  There is an old expression that we should learn to suffer fools gladly, meaning that we should be more patient and kind to those whose behavior (actions) we don’t like, who are foolish, or who bother us in some way. I think we can all afford to do (are able to; will benefit from) that. We can make the world around us just a little bit nicer by being nicer ourselves.

What are five things you want to do more of, less of, or differently in 2012?

~Jeff

Photo credit: Treadmill by McQuillan

This is the last week of the year – the week between Christmas and New Years, between December 25^th and January 1^st..  This week many of the articles you read and television programs you see will fall into (belong to) two different categories (groups).

Articles and programs in the first category look back (to an earlier time) and reflect on (think carefully about) the previous year (the year before). Articles like this often try to identify important ideas, products, or people from the previous year. Sometimes they suggest lessons that we can learn from what happened during the last year. Jeff’s last blog post – Top 5 Memories of 2011 – falls into this category.

The second kind of article or program looks ahead (to a future time) to the next year and suggests resolutions (promises we make to our selves) – promises to be better, do more, eat less, or try something new. Some people jokingly (trying to be funny) insist (to say something strongly) that resolutions are made to be broken (not kept).

A few days ago I was intrigued (made curious) by a reflective article I saw called The Price of Greatness. To be more precise (accurate), I was intrigued by the title (name) of the article.

It’s easy to understand how the writer, Mark Sigal, is using the word “price.” He doesn’t mean the amount of money you have to pay to become great. I’m pretty sure (certain) he doesn’t believe that  money can buy greatness. No, when Sigal uses the word “price,” he means the time, effort (work), sacrifice (deciding not to have something so you can get something more important), and all the other things that are required (necessary) to be great. Greatness is not cheap (not expensive)! It always has a cost.

Mostly I was curious about how Sigal used the word “greatness.” I wondered (asked myself), “What is his idea of a great person?”

What do we usually mean when we say someone is great? Does it simply (only) mean that they are above average – being better in some way than most other people? Or does it mean that they have been very successful, based on (determined by) how much money they have or how popular or powerful they are?

As I read Sigal’s article, it became apparent (clear) that he was using “great” in a unique (special or certain) way. In his mind, a great person is someone who does something significant – something that is important because of how it will influence or affect people in the future. In other words, greatness is the ability to benefit (improve the lives of) other people many years into the future. I like this definition.

This idea of greatness is not new. In fact, it’s very similar to the idea of wisdom that you find in some ancient (very old) poetry. There, a wise person is often someone who creates long-lasting value, or benefit, for other people. If we think this way, a great or wise person could be almost anyone. It doesn’t have to be someone who is rich or famous. In fact, it could be you or me.

~ Warren Ediger – creator of Successful English.

Photo by W. Ediger.

One of the more famous works of fiction (novels or stories) written in English about Christmas is Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. In the story, the main character (person), Ebenezer Scrooge, is taken by a ghost (the spirit of a dead person who comes back to Earth) to recall (remember) his own childhood. There are both good memories and bad memories for Scrooge, as I suppose there are for all of us when it comes to (as it relates to) recalling our days as children. Allow me to share some of mine with you as many of us prepare to celebrate Christmas this week.

Like many children, I have happy memories of Christmas as a child. Being the youngest of 11 children, I was born into a family that already had many of its own Christmas customs (practices; traditions) established by the time I arrived. As with many families, we had a Christmas tree, but since real trees were expensive to buy every year, my parents had an artificial (not real) tree. The first one I remember wasn’t even green – it was made of metal! But it didn’t matter to me or my family – Christmas was a special time of year with or without an actual tree.

We would spend time during the first week of Advent (the four weeks before Christmas) putting the tree together and decorating it. My mother made lots of ornaments (small decorations that hang on a Christmas tree) by hand (by herself, without a machine) which we put on the tree. The tree was put in the corner of our living room, and underneath (below) it, you would put the wrapped (placed in color paper) gifts you were giving to other members of the family. Since our family was so big, we actually picked names out of a hat – that is, we put everyone’s name on a piece of paper, then into a small hat, and then selected the person we would buy a gift for.  This was also how my mother chose my first name, Jeffrey, when I was born, but that’s another story (a different story I won’t tell now)!

All of my siblings (brothers and sisters) and I had a Christmas stocking (a large red and white sock with your name on it).  The stockings were hung from the stairs leading to (going up to) the second floor. On Christmas morning, Santa Claus (well, I now think it was probably my parents) would put a small gift in the stocking, in addition to a wrapped gift under the Christmas tree.

The entire house was decorated for Christmas. On the outside door hung a Christmas wreath, a round, green circle made from parts of a (real!) tree. In one of the windows, my father had a large plastic Santa Claus that had a light inside of it so you could see it at night.

Most importantly, in our dining room, there was a manger or Nativity scene.  A manger is technically a small box used to put food in for animals, but it has come to represent the place of the “first Christmas,” where Jesus, the founder of the Christian religion, was born. (Nativity comes from the Latin word natus, meaning born.) Tradition has it (it is said or thought) that Saint Francis of Assisi created the first Nativity scene back in the thirteenth century. A manger or Nativity scene usually includes small statues (objects that look like people) of Jesus’s mother, Mary, of Mary’s husband, Joseph, and of Jesus, along with some animals (see photo above for an example). Nativity scenes are now found in churches and, as was the case for my family, in many homes.  Amidst (in the middle of) all of the buying and gift giving and celebrating of Christmas, the manger scene was supposed to help my siblings and I remember what the holiday was really all about.

To those who will celebrate it this weekend, I wish you a very merry Christmas – and a happy Hanukkah to those who begin the Jewish “festival of lights” celebrations tonight.  As we enter this holiday season, I invite you to share some of your memories or current customs in celebrating this time of year.

~Jeff

 Photo credit: Nativity Scene, Wikipedia

From time to time, ESL Podcast blog readers have asked where I find my ideas. The answer is really quite simple: every day, as I scan (look quickly at) the articles that come to my computer, I look for article topics that interest me and that I think I can make interesting to you, the readers. If you’re a regular (someone who does something often) here on the blog, you know that I’m interested in the arts, music, and people.

A few days ago I saw an article title – The Art of Listening – that stopped me. I wondered if it might be something I could use in my teaching and writing. Listening, of course (certainly, obviously), is how we get most of our spoken fluency (and that’s why the ESL Podcast is such a great gift to English learners).

The article, however, went in a totally different direction (it was about something different). The writer, a Western artist working in Mozambique, built (based) the article on a modern African parable (a story that teaches a lesson). In the article he tells how he, and others, had taken a break (stopped to rest) from a rehearsal (practice) for a theater performance. He writes:

It was a hot day, and we were taking a break from rehearsals so we fled (ran) outside, hoping that a cool breeze would drift (move slowly) past. The theater’s air-conditioning system had long since stopped functioning (working). It must have been over 100 degrees (F., about 38 C.) inside while we were working.

He writes that two old African men made room for him on the stone bench they were sitting on. As the writer sat next to them, he listened as they talked about a third old man who had died recently.

“I was visiting him at his home,” one of the men said, “and he began to tell me an amazing story about something that happened to him when he was young. But it was a long story. Night came, and we decided that I should come back the next day to hear the rest. But when I arrived, he was dead.”

The writer needed to return to his rehearsal, but didn’t want to leave the bench. He wanted to hear how the other man would respond (reply). He writes, “I had an instinctive (not conscious) feeling that it would prove to be important.”

Finally the second old man spoke. “That’s not a good way to die – before you’ve told the end of the story.”

The writer goes on to say that he thinks that we could call our species (all people as a group) “homo narrans” – the story-telling person – rather than “homo sapiens” – which in Latin means “wise man.” “What differentiates us (makes us different) from animals,” he writes, “is the fact that we can listen to other people’s dreams, fears, joys, sorrows, desires, and defeats – and they in turn can listen to ours.”

In the Christmas story I grew up with, angels sing a song of desire, hope, and even promise. The great German composer George F. Handel translates it this way in his work The Messiah: “…peace on earth, good will* towards men.”

I often think that if we listened more than we talked, if we were more interested in hearing the other person’s story than telling ours, that song might some day come true.

If I may (if it’s okay) – since I am one who celebrates Christmas – I’d like wish you a merry Christmas. And if you don’t celebrate Christmas, my family and I hope that this holiday time at the end of the year will be a very special time for you and your family.

*Synonyms for good will include words like compassion, goodness, kindness, thoughtfulness, understanding, and neighborliness.

~ Warren Ediger – creator of Successful English, where English learners can find clear explanations and practical suggestions for better English.

Photo by bigdmia is used under Creative Commons license.