As school gets started, we all get into a groove. We wake up, we go to school or to work, we learn or work all day, we get home, do our homework, eat something, go to sleep and begin again the next morning. It can get rather monotonous day after day of the same basic schedule every day.
Even the people we interact with can become stale. Seeing the same people in the morning, the same people at lunch, the same people in the evening. It can get rather tedious.
This was happening to me today. It was a rather boring Monday, and everyone was going about their regular week. As I was walking to my lunch table, I saw a member of the staff at my school. I know her from around the building, and she is always friendly, but today she looked a little down. As I past her, I stopped and asked her how her weekend was.
Instantly, her face lit up and she smiled. She replied that she had had a nice weekend but it was short and asked me how my weekend had been.
This whole interaction took less than 20 seconds. There were no insightful conversations, no deep intellectual thoughts. But it was my favorite part of the day.
There is a concept that I learned in my time on youth group board called disrupting the pattern. This exercise teaches me to do things that one does not encounter on a regular basis to make some one's life a little nicer.
This experience with the staffer at school is a perfect example of this. I disrupted her monotonous routine by simply stopping and giving her the time of day. In truth, I did it for selfish reasons: It makes me feel as good to see someone else feel better as it does for them to feel good in the first place. But being able to make this woman's day a little more meaningful helped her to feel like she mattered to someone, and helped me to feel like I've made someone feel important to me.
So tomorrow, do something small to disrupt some one's monotony. Do something, even the most minuscule of actions to make someone feel good about themselves. Hopefully, the same will happen to you.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Part 4: Now is better than ever
This is the fourth in a four part series of posts that deal with some of my most significant feels about change in the current world.
Over the past three weeks, I have been very critical of a lot of things. Some people may not have agreed with me on many of my ideas; in fact, there are some that won’t agree with ANY of the ideas I put out. That, though, was not the point that I want people to take away from all of this. The point that I am hoping to make is that there ARE things in the world that need changing. There are areas where the world still needs fixing; our society needs to be brought together. Finding those areas that need attention and planning initiatives to ease the problems is what is the most important thing.
There is a phrase that I have heard frequently when discussing the ideas for these blog posts. That phrase is “That isn’t how the world works”. Frankly, I’m sick of that. That is no longer a good enough excuse. When we say “That isn’t how the world works”, we are accepting the way things are now, and refusing to allow ourselves to get any better. We are standing in our own way, preventing change that can lead to better. I agree that is important to understand how things work as of now, but to use that as a reason NOT to work harder and not to fix it is frankly not ok. The world is what we make it.
Every step that we take toward solving a problem is one step closer together.
These past few posts may sound as if I am sounding like a socialist. That is not the case. Pure and simple, I do not feel that things in the world are the way they should be. I feel like certain people are not getting a fair shot at life and are not being allowed to live the best way that they can to contribute to society. I feel that we can make strides toward helping to fix these issues and giving everyone the chance to have a chance. What they do with that chance is up to them.
Good enough is no longer good enough. It is time we start making this world the best that it can be, and the best that we can be.
Over the past three weeks, I have been very critical of a lot of things. Some people may not have agreed with me on many of my ideas; in fact, there are some that won’t agree with ANY of the ideas I put out. That, though, was not the point that I want people to take away from all of this. The point that I am hoping to make is that there ARE things in the world that need changing. There are areas where the world still needs fixing; our society needs to be brought together. Finding those areas that need attention and planning initiatives to ease the problems is what is the most important thing.
There is a phrase that I have heard frequently when discussing the ideas for these blog posts. That phrase is “That isn’t how the world works”. Frankly, I’m sick of that. That is no longer a good enough excuse. When we say “That isn’t how the world works”, we are accepting the way things are now, and refusing to allow ourselves to get any better. We are standing in our own way, preventing change that can lead to better. I agree that is important to understand how things work as of now, but to use that as a reason NOT to work harder and not to fix it is frankly not ok. The world is what we make it.
Every step that we take toward solving a problem is one step closer together.
These past few posts may sound as if I am sounding like a socialist. That is not the case. Pure and simple, I do not feel that things in the world are the way they should be. I feel like certain people are not getting a fair shot at life and are not being allowed to live the best way that they can to contribute to society. I feel that we can make strides toward helping to fix these issues and giving everyone the chance to have a chance. What they do with that chance is up to them.
Good enough is no longer good enough. It is time we start making this world the best that it can be, and the best that we can be.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Part 3: College Prep
This is the third in a four part series of posts that deal with some of my most significant feels about change in the current world.
Teenagers are expected to go to college. College has become an absolute necessity for all young people after high school. I see that as an excellent thing. I love the idea of more people receiving a higher level of education.
Students look at college as a great way of getting an education, as well as a great place to get a whole bunch of other things, including a plethora of social experiences. But colleges don’t always look back the same way. Often times, students are a dollar value to a college. We, as prospective students, are a number, a business investment. This is not always the case, but unfortunately it is the case sometimes.
Students, therefore, need to be much more selective about which college they choose to attend. This is most specifically important because college is just that: a choice. The possibilities are endless as to the locations one can attend. Someone can attend anything from an Ivy League school to a Big 10 school, to a private, small college and even a community college. The bottom line for the students is that college is a stepping stone for becoming professionals in certain fields of trade.
Universities should shift some of the focus as well. Some colleges spend so much money and time on athletic programs when there are thousands of bigger issues at play. Why spend so much extra money to make an already large stadium all the larger when that same money could have gone to technological advancements in science equipment or into scholarships toward making education less of a financial detriment to families.
Life is not always fair, but education should not be something that is a frustration and burden upon the people who are out attempting to get a good job or delve into a new market. Universities should be focusing on sculpting the young people of this nation to become the doctors who will save lives, the politicians who will lead justly and intelligently, the authors who will inspire, and the artists who will bring beauty to the world. There is no price-tag that can be attached to the value of a person bringing light to the world through their chosen area of expertise.
Teenagers are expected to go to college. College has become an absolute necessity for all young people after high school. I see that as an excellent thing. I love the idea of more people receiving a higher level of education.
Students look at college as a great way of getting an education, as well as a great place to get a whole bunch of other things, including a plethora of social experiences. But colleges don’t always look back the same way. Often times, students are a dollar value to a college. We, as prospective students, are a number, a business investment. This is not always the case, but unfortunately it is the case sometimes.
Students, therefore, need to be much more selective about which college they choose to attend. This is most specifically important because college is just that: a choice. The possibilities are endless as to the locations one can attend. Someone can attend anything from an Ivy League school to a Big 10 school, to a private, small college and even a community college. The bottom line for the students is that college is a stepping stone for becoming professionals in certain fields of trade.
Universities should shift some of the focus as well. Some colleges spend so much money and time on athletic programs when there are thousands of bigger issues at play. Why spend so much extra money to make an already large stadium all the larger when that same money could have gone to technological advancements in science equipment or into scholarships toward making education less of a financial detriment to families.
Life is not always fair, but education should not be something that is a frustration and burden upon the people who are out attempting to get a good job or delve into a new market. Universities should be focusing on sculpting the young people of this nation to become the doctors who will save lives, the politicians who will lead justly and intelligently, the authors who will inspire, and the artists who will bring beauty to the world. There is no price-tag that can be attached to the value of a person bringing light to the world through their chosen area of expertise.
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