Showing Compassion... Through It All
Being perfect can be defined as being free from all flaws, both physically and emotionally. I am nowhere near perfect, as I experience shortcomings daily.
Being genius can be defined as portraying an extremely high level of intellect, far above the natural intelligence levels of others. I am nowhere near a genius, as I never exceed far beyond my peer’s capacities of learning.
Being powerful can be defined as having a strong influence on large groups of people. I am nowhere near powerful, as the only platform that I seem to have is a small number of followers on social media.
Being compassionate can be defined as showing care and kindness to others, regardless of their levels of imperfection, intelligence, and powerlessness. I consider myself to be a compassionate person. I am literate in showing compassion to others.
"I am literate in showing compassion to others"
I am very lucky to have grown up in a household where my parents taught me all about compassion through loving me and my brothers unconditionally. No matter how we performed in the classroom, on the basketball court, or on the baseball field, we knew that as long as we had given the task our all, we always had a safe and compassionate place to go home to. While attending a public high school in a rather well-off part of Greensboro, North Carolina, it would have been pretty easy for me to lose myself and the core values I had when it came to loving others, spreading kindness, and simply being good. Although some of my closest friends turned into people that they were not necessarily proud of, this did not stop me from being there for them when their lives seemed to reach an all-time low. After all, compassion is about showing support and giving love regardless of the situation at hand.
Picture above are my mother, my little brother, myself, my older brother, and my dad. These are some of the most influential people in my life and have continuously shown me compassion.
My literacy in compassion includes being a reliable and forgiving friend. In high school, I always had a smaller circle, which I believe helped to shape me into an extremely loyal and reliable friend, sister, and student. For example, during my senior year of high school, one of my best friends got involved with the wrong crowd. One night, I was on my way home from the movies trying to meet my curfew when I got a call from an unknown number. I reluctantly picked it up and had a conversation with a drunk girl who was barely making out coherent sentences. I was informed that there was a party, my friend was unconscious and that I needed to get in contact with her parents. Without a second thought, I drove straight to her parents’ house, broke my curfew and told them about the situation. Through this experience, I was able to support my friend in a way that she had previously never been supported in, as she had never been in such a bizarre situation. Looking back on the situation, both my friend and I learned more about compassion and friendship than we realized at the time. Although my friend who made a mistake and was outed from her newly made so called “friend group”, I stuck by her side even though she felt as if she were anything but perfect, smart, or powerful. I became more literate in showing compassion through this experience by being there for a troubled friend in need.
"My friend and I learned more about compassion and friendship than we realized at the time"
It is an extremely upsetting feeling when those who you hold close to your heart tell you crushing news. I have always held a distinct place in my heart and an abundance of patience for those who have special needs. Throughout my time in middle and high school I made it a personal goal to be a friend and ally towards those who were often times looked down upon because of the things that they simply could not change. One of the friends that I made (who has special needs) in the eighth grade will occasionally text me selfies, invite me to watch her perform in plays, and inform me of the good things going on in her life. However, recently she texted me and told me all about how she was getting bullied in her classes, but she was afraid to tell her teachers or anyone of authority. After receiving this news, I reached out to my mother who works at my old high school and asked if she could get one of the guidance counselors in on the situation. The next day the counselors were actively making sure that my friend was being treated properly and was okay. It turns out that there was not a bullying situation going on after all. However, each time that she texts me that she is getting bullied or anything of minor or major concern, I will let someone know back home who can help her if help is actually needed. The imperfections that these students face are not something to be made fun or ignored for, but rather something to be appreciated and cherished. My literacy in compassion increased due to this experience as I was able to give help without expecting any in return.
In the future, I will continue to show compassion and love towards others within my home, workplace, and community. In order for me to become this person, I am going to have to continue to grow as a person and student, through positively impacting my peers through showing kindness and assisting others, while finishing my schooling. I am going to show my current and future family an endless abundance of love and support through the highs and lows. For example, I will support my children in the decisions that they make regarding sports they want to partake in, subjects that they want to study, and clubs they may want to join or create. In the workplace, I will be a supportive coworker and be accepting and open-minded to the ideas of others. I will work as a chemical engineering where my main goal is to engineer medicines that will help those who are sick. Through my work, I hope to positively impact the world around me by producing effective drugs. This will improve my literacy in compassion, as I will be working to improve the well-being of others, without knowing anything about their levels of perfection, intelligence, or power.
Authors Note:
By completing the literacy and learning narrative, I was able to affectively define who I was, currently am, and strive to be. I also had to address how I would become the person that I hope to become. I was able to take away a couple of important things from doing this project. One thing that I learned was how to structure this kind of essay. I also learned how to effectively catch the reader’s attention through having an interesting and unique hook. In my writer’s webpage, I chose to bold and quote statements that I felt were important that the readers see, even if they were just skimming. I also chose to include a gallery of photos of my family, as I feel that they are the ones who instilled compassion and love into my lifestyle. I also decided to line the sides of my webpage with vertical patterns to keep the readers eye moving in a downwards direction. Additionally, I included some vector art in attempt to make the webpage itself look less boring and have more pops of color. Another element that I chose to include was a picture of a quote regarding showing compassion. This quote summarizes what compassion is and ties into what the topic of my project 1 is. I chose to do this after the paragraphs where I was talking about my friends going through troubles because I did not want to put pictures of my friends as I was talking about some of their struggles. Additionally, I chose to use colors that are subtle but included some pops of color. Finally, I chose to keep the same color scheme throughout my whole webpage as I think that it will make my webpage look more professional and pleasing to the eye.