Friday, February 4, 2011

I can only pick three?

Today in my Persuasive Discourse class, our first assignment was to write down three things that we felt strongly about and who or what influenced our feelings about the them.

For anyone that knows me well, you know that this is a very difficult task. My mind started to get ahead of me as I tried to think of the three biggest things that I felt strongly about. But is biggest the best word? Maybe most important things? I couldn't decide.

Our teacher urged us to finish up so we could get started, so I quickly jotted down three things that I felt like were a good representation of the types of things I feel strongly about. I decided on Auburn, global aid/relief, and following your goals/dreams. They ranged from the practical, everyday things that I actually encounter regularly, to things that were of a much larger scope and more on the civil rights end of the spectrum, to things that are better described as ideas, concepts or intangibles.

As our teacher asked for volunteers to share their three things, I listened to some of the lists that the other students were giving. Some of the things were somewhat predictable like gay rights, abortion, drinking, etc. Others were original and lighthearted like cooking and reading, but yet the reasons behind them gave them real purpose and meaning. Still others were personal and deep like their religious beliefs, personal faith journeys and relationships with family and friends.

When I shared mine, I wondered if anyone in the room had struggled to make their list like I did. It wasn't going to be taken for a grade or anything of the sort, but I knew that my list was a representation of myself and the things I valued most. I questioned if someone might judge me for not saying, "My relationship with Christ," or think I was too naive and had my head in the clouds for saying that I was fed up with complacency and wanted people to follow their dreams.

At the end of the exercise, I finally figured out that it didn't matter. To be honest, I don't remember the point of the assignment as it related to the class, but the lesson I took away was probably more important anyway.

I don't think it matters what were on the lists. No matter how much or little importance any of us might have given to any various item, it only matters that the item mattered to that one person. Everything needs someone to care about it. How boring would the world be if we all only cared about the same three things? It's because we all have different passions and points of interest that the world is filled with amazing people trying to do amazing things.

I'm pretty sure almost everyone knows the story of the boy on the beach and the starfish. The boy was walking along the shoreline and came across hundreds of starfish that had washed up on the shore and were dying. One by one, he began to carefully pick them up and throw them back into the water. A man noticed what the boy was doing, and he turned to the boy and said, "What are you doing? There is no way you'll be able to save all those starfish. Just leave it alone. It doesn't matter." But as the boy picked up another starfish and tossed it back into the waves, he replied, "It matters to that one."

That story has taught me a lot about always supporting the things you believe in, regardless of whether other people think it matters. Who knows? I might even put "starfish" at no. 4 on my list...

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