Your Words. My Words

The acquisition of knowledge used to be only by word of mouth, then came books, then computers and the internet and now the joy of twitter. The exchange of information and ideas these days is endless as is the amount of information out there. Twitter has opened a whole new world to me. The freethinking, the collaboration, the respect amongst the tweeps is refreshing. (At least the 300 I presently follow.) The knowledge and insight I have gained in the area of education is bountiful. Whether it be @SirKenRobinson, @pmcash, @dougpete, @KimMcGill, @gcouros, or the many others (not to offend any of you) the thoughts and articles they write make you think and inform you. When one's words make you think I ask myself would I every be able to write something like that?

All too often when I write and ultimately when I speak, I reference others. You will notice the majority of my tweets are retweets or my blog articles are filled with links. (I like letting people know what is happening and why.) Do I not have any original thoughts of my own? Am I too afraid/self-confident to let my thoughts be known? . Here is an example: I can't remember who's tweets or articles I read these from. 'Just Do It' and 'Don't Be Afraid to Fail'. Those two articles helped to bring me to where I am now, tweeting & blogging as a School Board Trustee. 'Just Do It', if you don't start, you can never finish or accomplish anything, whether big or small. Right now I have started something big. 'Don't Be Afraid to Fail', you always can learn from your mistakes and don't let your failures stop you from moving forward. Don't be afraid to start something for fear of failure. When you are surrounded by people who are knowledgeable and care, they are there to assist you and the failures are few.

Someday I may write that original tweet or compose that thought provoking article. For now My Words maybe Your Words but they are Good Words.