Seeing Is More than Just Looking

Hey ya'll, It's me again!

I've been thinking for a while if I have one individual on my floor that has gone "above and beyond", exhibited "great leadership skills", etc, etc that people are usually nominated for as a resident or person of the month.

In doing so I thought about an event we had on my floor earlier this month. I had one of those "aha!" moments and I planned an elaborate event that would talk about identity and diversity and individualism and rumors and gossiping and ah it was going to be amazing. As usual, though, things in my life never go as planned and I didn't have as many people show up as I wanted to....

Right as I was going to cancel the event, Samantha (Sam), one of my residents, asked me what the envelopes were for. I explained to her that I had planned on doing a "cultural envelopes" event where we would 1. decorate the outside with images that show how we think people see us and then 2. decorate the inside with words that express things most people don't usually see. She asked me why we weren't doing it and I said "Well no one showed up so I didn't think anyone wanted to do it..." She responded, "Can I have one and a magazine? I'll do one once I finish my homework."

We spent the next hour working on our envelopes and slowly others began to join...

Sam working on the inside of her envelope

By the end we had 13 people get up in front of the group and share their envelopes.

Suzi sharing her envelope to the group

As the hour came to an end, those involved were silent and engaged in what their fellow residents had to say about their identities.

I learned more about my residents and floor-mates that day than I had in the weeks proceeding.

Nick working on the outside of his envelope

So, instead of highlighting one individual who "exceeded expectation" blah blah blah, I wanted to recognize all those on my floor who took time out of their busy schedules to be open-minded and learn about the individuals around them. 

Often times we look at each other and spend time having fun but don't really see the people around us.

Thank you Sam for encouraging me to not give up and a big thank you to my residents who participated in the activity and saw their fellow floor-mates that day.

til next time,

RA-nnah