{"id":9251,"date":"2014-05-05T13:37:38","date_gmt":"2014-05-05T18:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/?p=9251"},"modified":"2014-05-05T13:37:38","modified_gmt":"2014-05-05T18:37:38","slug":"mottos-shape-our-daily-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/?p=9251","title":{"rendered":"Mottos Shape Our Daily Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cassi<\/a>

Junior Cassi Quissell competes in Indiana’s State Gymnastics Meet on March 26, 2014. Her favorite motto, “When you\u2019re not preparing for a championship, someone else is,\u201d inspires her everyday. Photo contributed by: Cassi Quissell.<\/p><\/div>\n

By Emory Smith<\/em><\/p>\n

Many philosophers including Aristotle say, \u201cWe are what we repeatedly do.\u201d People are also what they repeatedly think, read, and say. Common mottos in daily life may influence one\u2019s actions and dictate how one should act.<\/p>\n

Businesses, countries, states, celebrities and society have mottos, but so do ordinary people. At Plymouth High School, students have personal mottos. The motto that Junior Cassi Quissell\u2019s lives by is, \u201cWhen you\u2019re not preparing for a championship, someone else is.\u201d She said, \u201cThis is my motto because I have to train everyday for my future goals.\u201d She said her coach, Sandy Sampson, gave her this motto to keep her focused. Quissell said her motto brings the image of \u201can athlete working hard everyday to make it to the championships\u201d to her mind.<\/p>\n

Junior Samantha Grant\u2019s adopted motto is \u201cI was born to make mistakes, not fake perfection.\u201d She said, \u201cLife inspired me to keep this motto because it’s true. We can’t fake perfection. We can only be ourselves, and sometimes we make mistakes.\u201d When she hears her motto, Grant thinks of a \u201cbig smile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophomore Austin Dixon believes \u201cthe duty of the youth is to challenge corruption.” To follow through with this, he lives by the mentality of \u201cfight the good fight, take down those who oppose good, and fight the man while we’re young.\u201d Dixon said that his favorite motto was inspired by a \u201cvery very wise man,\u201d and Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” \u201cFists held high,\u201d is the image that comes to his mind when he considers his motto.<\/p>\n

Plymouth High School\u2019s Director of Guidance, Mrs. Portteus, said that one of her many mottos is, \u201cLive above your circumstances.\u201d She said, \u201cIt’s a culmination of things I’ve read. I think it’s important to accept each day just as it comes. Part of my faith.\u201d Mrs. Portteus says her motto to herself a lot and uses it to comfort others as needed.<\/p>\n

English and Yearbook teacher, Mrs. Schmeltz, said that her mom has a motto that she loves. Her mom says, “Do the best you can, it’s all you can do.” Mrs. Schmeltz said, \u201cI love this motto because as long as you are doing the best you can with where you are and what you have, then what else can anyone expect?\u201d Another thing that Mrs. Schmeltz remembers about her childhood is, \u201cShe also never says goodbye. Mom always says see you later, and I know that she adopted that motto from her aunt, who also never said goodbye because she was the kind of person who was always looking ahead, never thinking about things ending, but instead focusing on the future – such an optimist!\u201d When Mrs. Schmeltz thinks of these mottos, sunshine comes to her mind. That is why \u201c[Mrs. Schmeltz says] do your best to [her] students every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The common motto, “KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON,” hangs in Mrs. Gifford’s room. Mrs. Gifford says, “No matter what happens, we need to keep calm and carry on.” Photo by: Emory Smith<\/p><\/div>\n

Though one might have a personal motto, common mottos are quoted more often. Dixon considers common mottos such as \u201cKEEP CALM AND CARRY ON\u201d as \u201coverused, overrated, and nullified.\u201d Quissell said, \u201cI think that they are good, but very over used.\u201d Grant said, \u201cI honestly don’t care for them. They aren’t original.\u201d Dixon said that quoting his motto to people \u201cdoesn’t make it any more true in the real world until I take my stand.\u201d Mrs. Portteus said, \u201cI like that one, but I hesitate when mottos become mass mentality. We each need to think things through for ourselves.\u201d Mrs. Schmeltz said, \u201cI have a board on Pinterest that has a scary number of quotes – probably over 900 now. I write them on the white board outside my classroom. Those quotes are wise words, and I hope they strike a chord with students. The right words at the right time can really make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Emory Smith Many philosophers including Aristotle say, \u201cWe are what we repeatedly do.\u201d People are also what they repeatedly think, read, and say. Common mottos in daily life may influence one\u2019s actions and dictate how one should act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-9251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feature","tag-may-2014"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9251"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9251"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9258,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9251\/revisions\/9258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}