My
biggest learning experience this semester thus far surprising does not even
involve the classroom. After starting the semester, I realized that I do not
associate myself with an extremely diverse group of people. In order to better
understand issues associated with different social and cultural groups, I made
the decision to go to a group that unites LGBT young men from ages 18-29 called
DFW Fuse. While at first glance, the group does not appear to be tremendously
diverse because it consists solely of LGBT men in a restrictive age group, it
contains people of all racial, ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic
backgrounds.
Through
a CLP seminar on privilege, I engaged in an activity where we could measure our
privilege in comparison to the other cohort members in attendance. Out of the
approximately 35 individuals in attendance, I was the fifth most privileged. If
I were straight, I would have been the single most privileged person in the
room. That was the eye-opening experience of the year for me. That’s when I
chose to try to be more understanding of groups of individuals that are not
given privilege in our society.
When I finally decided to go to the group, I
walked in to meet two guys, aged 26 and 29 who are both homeless. I talked to
them for the next three hours, learning their perspectives and lifestyles. In
one night, I was able to hear perspectives about people who have been kicked
out of their homes by their parents, financially cut off by their families, and
unable to find employment. Regardless of each person’s socioeconomic status,
every guy there had a story. There were stories ranging from an individual
whose parent’s did not accept him, so he found sanctuary in higher education
and is now pursuing a PhD in Zoology to an individual who someone who was
kicked out of his home as a teenager, was never able to keep a job, relies on
government assistance, and is now a homeless heroin addict. While I am
obviously unable to learn empathy in one day with these diverse individuals, I
feel like I learned a lot that day. I plan on visiting the group at least once
a week, and maybe I will eventually become a regular. I still have much to
learn, but hopefully this will help.
Quite often our most powerful learning experiences indeed take place outside of the classroom when we encounter someone different. Thanks for the great blog post. This was particularly sensitive and well done.
ReplyDeleteAustin,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I want to say good for you for putting yourself in an unfamiliar (and probably slightly uncomfortable) situation. I personally have a very small comfort zone and hardly ever put myself in situations I do not feel comfortable in.
In high school (I went to a tiny private school from kindergarten through graduation and diversity was not our forte), we had a day called "diversity day" dedicated to understanding and embracing what makes us different. I'll be honest...I thought it was going to be some "kumbaya let's all love each other because we're all different" sort of thing but I was pleasantly surprised. One of my favorite activities we did in our small groups (about 10-15 students and faculty members) was an exercise that showed us that gender is not black and white. They had us stand on a base line in the middle of the room. About ten feet away on one side was a red tape and on the other, yellow. If we identified with a statement we would take a step forward or back based on the instructor's directions. The statements ranged from "If you take more than 10 minutes to get ready in the morning, step backward" to "if you like sports step forward" and so on and so forth. Although now it seems obvious, they didn't tell us what the red or yellow tape meant. At the end of the exercise, the student and faculty members were strewn across the floor, some on the red tape, some on the yellow, but mostly people stood somewhere in between. "Gender is a continuum" the instructor explained. I was closer to the male side than the female side which didn't surprise me too much as I don't consider myself to be too girly. Anyway I thought that experience was really interesting and it obviously made a big impact on my life today.
After that, I realized how lucky I am that I'm a girl. While it wasn't at all embarrassing for me to be toward the "male" side of the spectrum, many of the guys who ended up closer to the female side seemed a little embarrassed and some of their "friends" even made jokes. These kids don't have to deal with that every day unlike a lot of people across the world. I realized how lucky I am which was a really amazing feeling. It's so easy, for me at least, to feel like I have such a rough life because of little obstacles I face every day, but it's truly refreshing to see how lucky I am.
Thanks for sharing this experience.
Ali Rafetto