There are two things you can be absolutely sure of whenever somebody starts a sentence with the words: ???I don??™t like to brag, but . .???

 First, you can be sure that some serious bragging is about to follow.  And second, you can be sure that the part about not liking it is a lie.

So I??™m going to be upfront about this.  I??™m about to brag ??“ big time.  But I??™m not going to lie to you.  I like it. Besides, Mom always said that it??™s not bragging if it??™s true.

And this, I swear, is true: my youngest daughter, Elizabeth, has a perfect record in high school.  Absolutely perfect.  She hasn??™t received a grade lower than an ???A.???  She hasn??™t missed one question on a test, nor has she received a single citizenship demerit.  She hasn??™t been cut from a play or beaten out for a position in a choir.  Her only struggle is lunch: she can??™t seem to get through the line on time.  But it seems to me that if she can handle plane and solid geometry, she can eventually figure out lunch lines.

And then there??™s Jonathan, our youngest child.  Believe it or not, he has the same academic record going in junior high.  Not only that, but he hasn??™t missed a class ??“ he hasn??™t even been tardy.  And he hasn??™t missed one homework assignment deadline ??“ a dramatic departure from his standard operating procedure in elementary school.

Yes, it??™s true.  I have great kids.

Of course, it??™s also true that this is the first week of high school for Elizabeth, just as it is Jon??™s first week of junior high, and there haven??™t been many assignments, nor have there been any tests.  But I still feel pretty good about how they??™re doing so far.  And the way I see it, if they can make it through the first week of high school and junior high, respectively, with a perfect record intact, there??™s no reason why they can??™t make it through the second week successfully.  And then the third.  And then the fourth, and so on all the way through the first semester and on to the end of the year.

At least, that??™s what I told them tonight as we sat together to set goals for the coming school year.  We looked at the year as a blank piece of paper ??“ fresh, clean and new ??“ and we decided that it is now up to them to determine what sort of story would be written on that paper.  Will it be a success story, liberally laced with achievement, accomplishment and good citizenship?  Or would it be a tragic tale of unmet goals and unfulfilled potential?  It??™s completely, totally, 100 percent up to them.

Of course, that??™s pretty much the way it is for the rest of us in our lives, too, isn??™t it?  Every new day dawns with fresh possibilities, every new month begins with a bright and promising first day, every new year rolls in filled with resolute potential.  The canvas is blank, free and open to the first deft strokes of our brush.  Whether we will paint a masterpiece or something less than wonderful is entirely up to us.

???The Mona Lisa??? or ???Dogs Playing Poker????  The choice is ours.

Thankfully, it??™s a choice we have the opportunity to make every day, every week, every month, every year of our lives.  And the really terrific thing is, if we don??™t like the way our painting is turning out we can fix it.  Change it.  Tweak it.  Adjust it.  Or move on to something else altogether.  It??™s our painting.  Our choice.  Our opportunity.  Especially on the first day of school.

And that??™s not bragging.

Joseph B. Walker
valuespeak @ msn.com