CHANGE YOUR WORLD

An Attitude of Gratitude
Christmas is one of my favorite times of year.  I love time spent with family and the joy in my children and grand children's eyes. Christmas can also be a painful time for many people, like the Zags in their loss against Portland State,  like a Division I NBC camper who just blew out her knee.  When I was young, Christmases were very tough on my family because we were extremely poor and Christmas can exacerbate the struggle of having little to no money. 

One of my heroes is a person named Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  He was an American, a teacher and a poet.  Some of his famous poems are  Paul Revere's Ride and The Song of Hiawatha.

On Christmas day two years after his beloved wife had died in a terrible accident, Henry was walking through the town where he lived and heard Christmas bells ringing.  He had just learned his son had been severely wounded fighting for the Union.  The civil war was months from its conclusion and no one knew how it would turn out.  He sat down and even though he was in deep pain and sorrow, he wrote one of the most beloved Christmas poems in American history.

This season, whether your life is full of joy, full of sorrow or somewhere in between, we hope the message from Longfellow will encourage you to keep doing what is right, not just what is easy, to believe in yourself and not lose your self-confidence, to serve others rather than only thinking of yourself, and to be an encouragement to all you meet.

Here is three year old, Isabella.  She is reciting the poem written on Christmas Day 1864.  I hope you live with the same joy and passion with which she delivers her poem.  This season, when you are playing basketball, going to school or doing what you are talented at, I hope you will remember to shine and give it your all.

Have a great holiday and we'll see you at camp this summer!
Fred Crowell
President and Founder of NBC Camps