A Second Chance

This assignment was to write about anything we have learned or experienced in class. To share with others what we have learned from class and what opinoins we have. I sit here trying to decide what to write and it has become impossible for me to choose. The neon sign that keeps popping up in my head says, " You cant pinpoint one thing. You've already learned so much in only a few weeks. This class is changing your life." Scary to think about but its actually true. Sociology is making me think of things i havent bothered to ponder before. So i decided to start at the beginning and share with you what my mind went through as we completed our various assignments and class activities. Lets start with what i call The in Class Judgement Acitivity. We were to choose 2 descriptions out of 10 that best described ourselves, without telling anyone what they were. Then our teacher picked 3 students for us to judge and then determine what their characteristics were. The conclusion of this activity was that we all failed at guessing who those people we had never talked to, or seen before, were like. We judged them based on their clothes, the spin they did, or something they said 5 minutes earlier. I walked away from this activity thinking jeez i really judge everyone i know, and incorrectly too. Maybe i should give that person another chance and see what their really like. Ive already started talking to people i normally wouldnt and learned that woah they are actually nice! Shocking! This activity gave a whole new meaning to Dont Judge a Book By its Cover. Next was a homework assignment called I believe. We were to write a paper about anything we believed and why. I wrote my first I belive in about 30 minutes. Really thinking wow i nailed this. Arriving to class i learned that my paper meant nothing. It wasnt even ME. I lied and created this person i wished i was. When our teacher gave us a second chance to write something else i grabbed at it. I ended up writing a paper that made me cry. Depressing yes. But it truely felt like me. I had a great chance to really asses myself as a person and think about what my true inner feelings were. Besides this i also got the chance to hear some of my fellow students papers. Again going off my previous snottiness i judged people thinking this persons paper is going to suck! zone out time. However i was floored when beautiful words flowed from said persons mouth. It really taught me that i shouldnt judge and that there are hidden moments within everyone. The final activity i want to talk about is the Boat Activity. We had to eliminate 7 people from a boat that was overflowing. I was a part of this activity and unfortunately one of the people that was kicked off the boat. While in the activity i was only focused on staying alive and keeping my spot. But later listening to my teacher talk about the things we said during that activity i was disappointed. We all judged people because of their age, their marital status and other ridiculous things. It is such a terrible activity because in my mind everyones life is precious and just how do you judge the value of someones life. It really left me thinking about how everyones life is precious, even the poets! Everything in this class so far has taught me so much and i think by the end of this semester i will be a totally different person. :)