Hello my dearest blog readers! I come to you on this snowy Sunday to bestow upon you all a LIFE UPDATE. Please, keep your seats and contain your excitement.
I have successfully completed my first week of the new year, and I think it went quite well. But right now I want to give you a little glimpse into one of the classes I took last semester. It was a Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) seminar, and we met once a week. My roommate and friend Hannah was in the class with me. Our class discussions were about ourselves and our classmates, how we all saw the world and lived in it differently, and how we could use our different strengths to be good leaders.
Unfortunately, Hannah and I had made a habit the first few class meetings of walking in a minute or two late. So I walked into my third or fourth class a full five minutes early, without Hannah. She had another obligation the hour before, and would come separately. I felt safe in presuming that--because I was now early-- she had been a negative influence on me and my punctuality, and thus I removed all the blame from myself and onto her.
Once everyone was present and settled in, our peer mentor (who lead the class) informed us that today we would be asked some questions which required us to take a stance and talk about it. You know, the kind where you choose "Agree with," "Do not agree with," or "Unsure."
If I had been presented with the scenario "This activity will go over well and without a hitch," I would have placed myself firmly in "Unsure." The questions we were asked were sensitive, dealing with perceptions of women, sexuality, etc. And though we were a group of women, we were still diverse, and very opinionated. I feared, when we were presented with our first scenario, that the resulting discussion would be more like chaos and anarchy.
But for the next 50 minutes I was pleased to see rational discussion from my peers (and myself! I participated). Though we represented a vast array of opinions and backgrounds, everyone was conscientious toward others. A disagreement didn't take the form of "you are wrong, I am right," but as "I had never thought of it that way, allow me to explain how I have always seen it." It was refreshing, and made me a little bit less cynical about human nature.
Plus, it totally affirmed my belief that women are well-suited to run the world.I had a wonderful time in that class, and I am sad that it is done. But I am glad to have taken it, and I know I have grown as a person as a result.
With diplomacy,
Maggie
