And actually meant it? Not just, "hey, how was your weekend?" But "I could tell you're having a rough day, would you like to talk about it?" A true caring for the individual?As a college student, I deal with my professors a lot, obviously. Goes without saying. But it's easy to fall into this mindset of "that person that gives me bad grades, even though I didn't really study for that quiz." They're more than that, they're a person just like you, if just a little farther ahead in whatever field you're studying in.
I've been working this semester on stepping out of my comfort zone in my schooling, in making sure to talk with my professors, get to know the people that sit around me, etc. Well, today was an odd day in stepping out. My COMM 1010 professor is a grad student that you can tell has those days she just doesn't want to be there. Well, today, I walked up to her and said "I'm probably out of line here, but how can I help you? Is there anything I can do? I can tell when you're having a rough day, is there some way that I can help?" She was taken aback to say the least, as you can imagine. She seemed pretty grateful, though, that a student was willing to get the guts up to go and talk to her about something like that. I dunno, maybe she'll fail me later down the road, but maybe I helped her not feel like her class is so pointless.
But this ties closely with the thoughts of Altera. Our website says " ... focused on transforming “other” into neighbor..." and I think that this is an example of such a thing. We talk about changing people, about "Love God, Love People", but how often do we really do that? I don't want this to sound like me riding around on a high horse, but I want to challenge you. Step outside your comfort zone, show someone who totally wouldn't expect it that you care about them as in individual.
~Joe
(PS: My title comes from the fact that I was driving when I was thinking about this, and I had nowhere to write my notes, so the result is the pictures in the post.)
