Congratulations to Ryan Marchant, our December Scholarship Winner
Question: If you founded a university, what class would you make mandatory for all students?
Seeking Common Ground
If I were fortunate enough, to found a University, I would be able to influence it’s mission. For me there would be one class which would be mandatory for all incoming students. It would be this: Learning to Seek Common Ground.
When I was in Jr. High, I found myself being bullied by a boy who had targeted me . I never understood why until I realized that he was different from me in almost every way. I was shy, he was not. I had two good friends, he had many. Our worlds were completely different that collided in our 8th grade year.
Four years later, there are two days that I will never forget in my relationship with Steve. First, is when I was bullied at the bus stop in front of other students and was completely humiliated. The second day is when Steve and I said goodbye at our high school graduation.
We were not upset because we were graduating, but because the next day Steve and his mother were moving miles away and I was loosing one of my best friends.
I left the bus stop four years earlier on that dreadful day and went home to hide and never leave the house. However, after talking with my parents I realized I needed to change my mind. It was a “ a-ha” moment. My parents challenged me to “seek common ground” with him. It made me to keep an open mind and stay positive as I tried to reach out to him with small acts of kindness. They said they wanted me to “see the world through his eyes”.
With that challenge came a promise; If I would do that, I would how much we had in common. This seemed ridiculous to me. I felt like our common ground would only be “a few inches”. At first it was. I then found that the “the circle of our similarities” was much larger than I imagined. Our common was not the size of a laptop computer, rather the size of a high school gymnasium.
Therefore, time to register for “Communication 101: Seeking Common Ground”. You will learn to listen which is the greatest skill in communication. You will be asked to set aside prejudices and preconceptions. You will be challenged to see the world through eyes of others and embrace your humanity and common goals.
