What Did Your Parents Most Want You to Be?

You can watch the video here!

My Beloved World

Here at the university, we had the glorious opportunity to have Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor visit and speak to us. I just wanted to take some time and talk about her wisdom and advice as we embark on our own personal lives. Many of the things she shared had a strong impression on me, and I wanted to talk about some of those main themes. I'd like to begin with a quote:

"So many people grew up with challenges, as I did. There weren't always happy things happening to me or around me. But when you look at the core of goodness within yourself- at the optimism and hope- you realize it comes from the environment you grew up in"

"My hope is that I will take the good from my experiences and extrapolate them further into areas with which I am unfamiliar..."

Ms. Sotomayor spoke strongly of finding goodness and staying true to goodness. She expresses that no one has it easy in life, and although our struggles are all different, we all struggle. But the defining characteristic of these struggles is what the do for you. Being able to rise out of struggles, and change in the process is the part that shines light upon your life, and brings you optimism and hope. The environment we come from, or the environment we live in, although it may be challenging or frustrating, we can have courage as we face them, and as we keep an open perspective, and a shifting attitude towards the positive, our minds are filled, and we rise above our challenges and our weaknesses.

I appreciated how she shared with the audience the idea that no matter what circumstance you come from, you can achieve great things. She acknowledged that difficulty can arise, and we are all blessed in different ways. But the key is being able to find the ways that you are blessed, and stay in the territory of hope. Then, you can achieve what you are determined to achieve.

She made sure that we understood that in being a judge, and being a lawyer, one of the most important things she has to do is place herself in others' shoes. However difficult it may be, she can't look at a situation from the outside, but rather see where this person is coming from, and what this person feels and why they did the things they did. From there, she uses her values and morality to determine the rest.

Then, there is the idea of staying true to yourself. She shared that you need to continually strengthen yourself, and continue to be better yourself. Rise from your challenges, strengthen yourself, surround yourself with hope and optimism, and use those to strengthen your values. The stronger person you are, the easier it becomes to help others.

Of course, she discussed that very idea of helping others. She expressed that is the true purpose of life-- to strengthen a community by helping neighbors, family, and friends. By becoming a global citizen, and making the world one dynamic community by serving all those around us-- locally, nationally, and internationally. What impressed me is that not only did she speak of the value of serving others, but she expressed it through her very example. She didn't just talk the talk-- she showed sincere care and love to the audience. She treated each question with heartfelt consideration, and treated each person with kindness and love as she addressed them. She even walked up into the stands to sit with the audience. To her, the glory of standing on a stage and giving a speech wasn't important. She wanted to interact with the people, and show that she was one of them. I was very impressed by her humility.I had the interesting perspective of having my father work with her as her medical escort on her visit here. He shared with my family exactly how humble she was, and how kindly she treated everyone she came across. She requested pictures with those that worked with her, and shook hands with everyone she met. She held conversations with those around her, and met new people-- was sincerely interested in what these new people had to share. To her, every soul was important. That, to me, is a stronger way to preach of service than giving a speech on it. Sonia Sotomayor was, through her daily actions, an activist, and she stood up for the values she believed in, and did what she knew was right. She believed in service, and she acted upon those beliefs. She truly believed in and acted upon honor and respect as she treated those around her as people with a strong individual worth.

Thank You, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, for visiting and speaking to our university!

I Have a Nightmare

Respect. Honor.

One day, they might diminish. The world somehow dwindles the value on respect and the value on honor. The value on kindness, even. It seems that now, in the quickening pace of the changing world, people pick and choose who they will be kind to. Who they will respect. Who they will honor. Who they will protect and defend. And even what for that matter. This is a nightmare that I have.

Can you picture a world where no one respects another? Where no one truly holds to values?

Well. Picture This.

A group of high school students sitting at a lunch table. They wear expensive clothes, they have expensive things. They come from well-known families. They are popular. Across the lunchroom sits a lonely kid, no one to talk to; no one to laugh with. To the popular, he looks "socially awkward," but maybe he's just like the nerds I discussed in my last post. Maybe he just doesn't know anyone to talk to; to share his passion with, yet. But the popular kids won't talk to him. Never. This kid is too weird; too awkward.

Respect. Honor.
One day, they might diminish.
This is a nightmare that I have.

Picture This.
A woman, feeling independent, feeling liberated, and who is not about to be under the rule of "any man" turns against her husband and yells at him day in and day out. Who is the one ruling in this situation? Who is the one discriminating?

Respect. Honor.
One day, they might diminish.
This is a nightmare that I have.

Picture This.
Someone, race, ethnicity, gender, nationality aside, is pushed aside while attempting to walk into a building.

Respect. Honor.
One day, they might diminish.
This is a nightmare that I have.

Picture This.

Some discuss racial groups. Some discuss gender groups. I don't care about groups. I care about people. 

But I believe in hope. Martin Luther King, Jr. Had a Dream. My nightmare doesn't have to be a nightmare. It can be a dream too. I believe in hope. I believe in the possibility of happiness, of joy, of respect, of honor, of kindness. I believe in honesty, I believe in responsibility. And I believe the world, too, can accomplish joy. Have faith, have hope.

"I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight!! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand..."

- Aragorn, Speech at the Black Gate,

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King