Think Before You Speak

Growing up, I went to a high school where I was the minority. Our school was 65% black and 35% white. I played on the basketball team in which I was the only white girl. I would say maybe more than half of my friends growing up were black. My sisters are six and seven  years older than me so when they went to our high school, the ratio of black to white students were flipped. For some reason, my one sister is very stereotypical when it comes to racial issues. She used to (sometimes still does) say a lot of racist comments that would enrage me. I never once let her get away with this. As soon as she said something I didn't agree with, I was the first one to call her out on it and ask her why she would even think or say that. In the beginning she used to just get very defensive, which led to many arguments between us. After awhile, I think me standing up to her made a difference. I remember one time I was driving her and her friends somewhere and she made a comment and instantly apologized for it. I don't know if my remarks changed her way of thinking but I do know that I made her think more before she speaks. I hope her resistance to these unnecessary comments will lead to a different set of beliefs. I know this isn't a huge step but it's a start...

Change

When I was younger, my mom and I used to go for a walk around our neighborhood almost every night. In the beginning of our walk, right by our house, was a creek. People loved to litter in this creek and before my mom and I started our walk, she always made me help her pick up the trash and throw it away. When I was younger this used to be an annoyance to me because I didn't want to pick up other people's trash. Today, that experience has the opposite effect on me. If I see trash on my way to class, I make sure to pick it up and throw it away in the nearest garbage can. Now littering has become an annoyance to me. I do not understand why some people just decide to make the oval or the sidewalk their personal trash can. I know that me picking up a few pieces of trash a day isn't going to clean up the whole world but it does two things. One, the trash that I pick up is that much less trash floating around. And two, I hope that when other people see me picking up other's trash that maybe it will influence them to also. Adler talked about that dog he saw in Israel that everyone kept walking past and I think that analogy applies to a lot of issues in the world and especially with littering. All of the trash that I pick up means that numerous people before me continued to walk past it, thinking that someone else would pick it up. When I'm walking with my friends, I do receive some negative feedback. Most of my friends ask why I'm picking up other's litter and then they usually say that's gross. It's not like I pick up other people's trash and then eat a sloppy joe without washing my hands. I haven't done this yet but one Saturday I want to invite my friends to come walk around campus/High Street with me and pick up as much trash as we can in a few hours. Hopefully this will have a domino effect on my friends and bystanders watching. Maybe one day, every first Saturday of the month will be known as Pick Up A Piece Of Trash Day. Besides that, I can't really think of any long term goals I have for this issue except that I hope picking up litter really will start to spread among others.

Communities

Because a community can be defined as, "a group of people tied together through some defining link. . ." I feel like the list could go on. But here are a few of the communities that I belong to, the Ohio State University Community, the Upper Class Learning Community, the Office Assistant Community, the Buckeye Connections Community and ServeCorps Community. For the first three communities, the main way I engaged in those is through participation. Whether it's taking classes here at Ohio State or going to social or athletic events. For the Upper Class Learning Community, I attend programs that the RA's throw and I attend work as well as social events for the Office Assistant Community. To be in the Ohio State and Upper Class Learning Community, I also pay a fee to be a part of them. For Buckeye Connections I volunteer my time to help the program, staff and participants. Through ServeCorps I also dedicate my time to the various events we have had so far, along with attending class every Friday. So far when ServeCorps has sponsored certain events, I have helped advocate these events by telling my friends and posting information about them on facebook. I think with all of these communities, the only way I can become a more active citizen is through learning. I can't continue to further my efforts unless I know what each community's needs are. One need for all of these communities is social capital. The more people that we know, the more likely they are to help us down the road which will in return benefit numerous communities. I think we can increase our social capital by talking to people. For instance, when I volunteer at Buckeye Connections, I can tell the staff members about my experience with ServeCorps. And when I am at ServeCorps I can talk about my experience with Buckeye Connections and so on... Knowledge is key. People cannot help fulfill other community's needs if they do not even know about the community in the first place. So I guess my answer to the question is word of mouth.

Service Site

So far at my service site I have had a blast. I go to the RPAC every Friday for two hours before class and basically just hang out with the participants. There are about 6-10 participants there every Friday from ADD (Adults with Developmental Disabilities). Fridays are their fitness days so we either play tennis, ping pong if it's raining, run on the track or just hang out in the Nike Lounge Room in the basement of the RPAC. So far every Friday it has been the same participants; Leena, Alex, Jane, Matt, George and Andrew. I treat each of them a little different because just like everyone else, they have their own personality. For example, Jane is older than everyone else and likes to talk more about her school work, chores and health. Leena on the other hand, is just like one of my friends. She loves to laugh, goof around, dance, sing and meow. I think one of the biggest things I've learned so far though is to not treat them as if they do have a disability. In the beginning when we would play tennis, I used to always go get the ball for Matt and Jane when they missed it but I realized through class that I don't need to do something for them that they can do for themselves. Once I realized that, I stopped treating them as if they were a kid and started treating them like they were my friends. The most interesting thing to me from volunteering through Buckeye Connections is how high functioning all of these participants are. Even Andrew who is in an electric wheelchair, can't talk or eat without a feeding tube, can still do quite a bit. In class we always talk about how we shouldn't treat others differently based on their race, class, ability, sexual orientation, etc. . .and I agreed with that before volunteering and even more so after my experience thus far. These six talented adults have showed me that they can still do pretty much everything an "abled" adult can do. I have incredible respect for them and because of this service site, I think I look at people who are different than me in another light now. I always knew that just because someone is different, regardless of how, that it doesn't mean anything but this experience has just made that belief SO much stronger. The only difference I can really think of is the issue of race, class, gender and sexual orientation. In class we have talked about how these identities have and still do create certain social statuses in life and stereotyping. But with Matt, George, Alex, Andrew, Leena and Jane, these aren't issues. They could care less about any of these things and they treat each other, the staff and the volunteers all the same regardless of any of those characteristics. It's kind of a a nice change of pace to volunteer in a such an innocent and carefree environment.