Awareness and Diversity

In class it was interesting to go over the awareness assessment that each of us filled out. Many of us had similarities and others were different. From mine, I will work on being more pyisically aware of myself. I walk around campus as much as I can, hardly ever taking the bus, but my eating habits are another story. I am going to try harder to watch what I eat, meaning less junk food, smaller portions, and fewer late night snacks. :)

But another kind of awareness that we went over and I think is very important, is diversity. It's so important to see others for who they are, and not what they look like or where they come from. We can see so many differences between ourselves, even just in our class, but when people see others of different races, it so often seems like differences are expected. I don't understand why it's such a big deal then when we, in our class, all look alike and have somewhat similar backgrounds, but we are still so vastly different.

The article that Allie sent out, Unpacking the Knapsack, was really powerful. It's amazing all the things I find myself taking advantage of. There are so many things that I do that I never even give a second thought to. It just floors me that I can be so ignorant of these things while so many others of different races and ethnicities are forced to face them all the time. I really work not to, but sometimes I still find myself judging others based on stereotypes, rather than getting to know who they really are, and just because it's so "obvious" that they are different from myself. I can't even pretend to try to put myself in their shoes, it's just something that I think is beyond what I could ever even begin to understand, but I can't imagine that I would enjoy what many people go through every day.

I am so blessed, but now I just need to work on being a blessing to others I come across. I think I can at least begin that by setting aside my judgements and any stereotypes I have been raised with. I won't pretend to be on the same level as someone else, but I will treat them as the equals that they are.