My social studies students at the Lenoir County Early College High School often hear me provide an affectionately titled “Dr. T Rant” when I feel strongly about a particular topic or situation. Most of the time, these rants are merely my attempt at trying to encourage high school students to think about life within a different context or experience and go beyond a myopic view that most of us tend to have about life happening around us. 

Often times, they expand on part of my classroom daily announcement entitled Dr. T’s Thought for the Day in which I typically take my daily musings and formulate it into a quote that students can ponder at the beginning of the class period. 

Admittedly, some of my thoughts are on the philosophical side, such as: 

• At the core of anything is perhaps the seed for everything.

• Knowing who controls your destiny is the first step to being able to control your destiny.

• Find something in your life that is immovable, so you can always look at that as your reference point.

These thoughts do allow me a unique teaching opportunity of encouraging students to dig deeper into their personal worldview and consider their life within a much broader framework. Teaching Civic Literacy this semester has provided me with lots of content to contemplate and my thoughts have been broad in scope.

During the week of Thanksgiving, the Dr. T Thought for the Day was simply “Thankfulness is a choice.” Just as I discussed with my students, I also encourage my readers to take a moment to honestly consider this statement in all of its powerful simplicity. 

A statement my students hear often from me is that “You are only in charge of yourself and you cannot control anyone but you and your actions and responses.” 

I emphasize the words in bold because the simple fact of the matter is that we are the only ones who have the power to make a choice in how we will choose to respond or act. Whether it is a struggle at home, a friend group, work/academic difficulty, or a combination of things, it boils down to whether or not we as individuals are willing to act in a positive way to find a solution or resolution to the issue. If at the moment, no immediate settlement is available, then we can still choose a course of action that allows us to remain mentally and emotionally healthy. 

Regardless of the situations and circumstances we might be facing and the tremendous pressure that our society is under, we all have a choice of what to focus on. We can choose to become overwhelmed with the seemingly massive influx of negativity permeating our society or we can decide to celebrate the amazing accomplishments of our children, parents, and friends, during a very tough few years. 

I will not deny that it has been a difficult season for many of us, but as I told my students, I will purposely and consciously choose to find the positive aspects that I can be thankful for. It is quite literally my choice of what I will choose to focus on. I encourage you to do the same during this season of Thanksgiving.

On a final note, I’ve listed 10 more Dr. T Thought for the Day from this past semester just to provide a bit more fodder for discussion and publicly apologize to any parents of my current and former students for the wacky ideas their student might be coming home spouting. My hope is that these thoughts are making my high school students think deeply about their life... And possibly offering to do the dishes, take out the trash, and pick up their laundry every once in a while. We can all hope for miracles during this Thanksgiving season, right?

“Feelings are neither right nor wrong... They just are. It is what we do in response to those thoughts which defines us.”

“Social media can be a blessing or a curse... It is up to us to determine which one it will be.”

“Tests provide merely an evaluation of where we are and what we might know at a particular moment... Not a definitive representation of who we are as individuals.”

“Only we can defend the reasons for why we do something... However, once we have acted, others are given the opportunity to form their own interpretations for our reasons.”

“Unless you take time to learn what your rights are, then you are willingly giving away your right to have those rights.”

“When life seems overwhelming, sometimes the best thing to do is stand still and stand firm.”

“Focusing on what you have to do instead of what you get to do can make a big difference in your feelings about completing that task.”

“Anything worth doing is going to be hard. If it is always easy for you and never forces you to learn or grow, then you will never know how much you can actually accomplish.”

“Volunteering is one of those unique opportunities in life that actually allows us to receive just as much as we give.”

“Media is a double-edged sword. It can both defend and injure with one swipe.”

Dr. Travis Towne is a social studies teacher at the Lenoir County Early College High School in Kinston. He taught for more than 16 years in a variety of settings, including junior high, high school and college. He has been married for 22 years and has three daughters (one adopted). He also works part-time as the Chief Livestream Engineer for Magic Mile Media and Neuse News. He is an Army veteran with service during Operation Iraqi Freedom and volunteers as a drummer and technical facilitator for Tanglewood Church of God. You can connect with Travis on Facebook atfacebook.com/travis.towne.18 or on LinkedIn atlinkedin.com/in/travis-towne-69106443.