#ler114

What really resonated with me was when Pam Fessler started discussing about how she was shy but used it to her advantage. She took something that she initially thought was a fault and made it advantageous. I thought that it was a really interesting way to view one’s characteristics. I am also shy, and for the longest time had thought that it was the worst thing ever and only detracted from my character. Now, however, I m beginning to view it in a different manner and think about the ways in which I can use it to my benefit. I think that this is a very important thing to do and wish to encourage others to view their ‘faults’ in a different and more positive light. 

The speech that Wendy Cai-Lee gave me a lot to think about. It both inspired me and left me wanting for more. I really admired her tenacity and her ability to rise up from her difficult circumstances as a young child, being an immigrant in America and having to learn everything over again as well as having to take on large responsibilities at a young age. I think it is amazing that she has come this far from where she began, and it definitely inspires me. She is the personification of the idea that you can do anything that you set your mind to, despite your circumstances. I too hope to one day be able to just take control and keep working towards my future goals without allowing anything else to hold me back. But on another hand, I wish she had given us more of an idea of how to accomplish this. Yes, she did explain to us all of the amazing things that she accomplished through her hard work, but she never got into how she was able to become exposed to these opportunities in the first place. I appreciate her thought in wanting to motivate us, but at times that only goes so far. I feel like to truly be successful, a little guidance is needed as well. 

I actually really enjoyed the racial caucus group exercise. Before we did it, I really felt isolated and alone because I thought that I was the only biracial person in the class. I honestly did not even think that a biracial group was going to be created, and even when it was created, I figured that there was only going to be a couple of members in it, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised. In our group, I found that a lot of the struggles that I faced growing up as a biracial child were not only specific to me. A lot of the other members of the group faced those struggles as well and it was refreshing to know what I truly was not alone in my experiences. Just being able to talk about my struggles and have others relate to them as well as being able to relate to others made me feel so much better and took a large burden off of my shoulders. I feel like the exercise not only taught me about the different struggles of different racial groups, but it taught me a lot about myself. I tend to isolate myself and keep my struggles inside, thinking that there is no possible way that others are experiencing these same things. However, through this exercise, I learned that even when it seems like I am the only one going through these things, I am not, and I hope to be able to open up to others more and share my feelings. 

Another aspect that affected me greatly was hearing Lauren’s description of her times working as an escort for a planned parenthood clinic, and how angry mobs of people would crowd around these women and curse at them, calling them horrible names, without any knowledge of what the women have gone through nor the circumstances behind this decision. It baffled me, and makes me so disappointed to live in a world where people can openly be so cruel and hurtful and think that their actions are perfectly fine and justified. I wish that people would stop caring so much about what someone completely unrelated to them does to their body. People have so many opinions about things that have absolutely nothing to do with them and it infuriates me. Its not like these people are going to help or support any of these women with their children if they do not have an abortion. I just wish people could learn to be more accepting and less judgmental.