My History With MS – No, not really, ya sucker.

I am such a rebel. I didn’t even have a real blog to write, I just felt like being an arse and killing this little trend we have going.

So since I am here, might as well say something?

This weekend was a wild one. School is almost here which means Orientation for first year students at the university will begin in a matter of weeks. What could that possibly mean for a Junior like myself? Well, since my first year, I have been pretty involved with the Orientation process. I participated in the events during my first week of class, and last year, much like this year, I will be a Frosh leader. My partner and I will be in charge of about 15-30 students, and helping them make a fun transition from high school to university life.

This weekend was leader training, and despite it being quite of bit of lectures and speeches, it was a really entertaining session. Some of the speakers really opened up about their experiences in not just university, but life in general, and used those stories to teach us lessons about being a good leader.

One session that really kind of spoke out to most of the leaders was Equity training. We started off all standing in one long line, while the person leading the session read out a statement. It would go something along the lines of “If you feel like you can walk down the street holding hands with your significant other without the judgement of others, take one step forward” or “If alcohol abuse has been a problem in your family, take one step back”.

There were almost 60 statements read out loud overall, with subjects touching on heterosexism, economic class, race and ethnicity, gender, religion, and so on. Even though some of the statements prodded at rather personal details of your life, no one seemed to have any outward concerns with just taking that one step. Of course, you at any point, could choose to not “answer” a statement by not taking a step even if it applied to you.

It was really very eye opening to see how despite everyone stated at the same point – university students in leadership training – we all end up in different places because of where our experiences take us. There were some people who took so many step forwards they hit the wall and couldn’t go any further. Some people took so many backwards they were tripping on chairs we had pushed back. Yet, these people who seemed to be in a better standing in life had no problems being friendly with people way at the back. We sort of realized that despite the fact that we may all seem the same, and we treat each other the same way, we cant ignore the fact that differences do in fact exist – some are visible, like race, while others aren’t.

I also really liked that we got to see that even people who took lots of steps forward took steps back too, and vice versa. Everyone has aspects of themselves that are strengths, and everyone has parts of them that may hold them back.

By the end of the exercise, the once straight line was now broken up. We now knew that acknowledging all these differences was okay, but that the end of the day, we all started as equals, and for the purpose of leaders at least, we stay equals.

Yah, I dont even know why I wrote all that. It may not even make sense. BUT. It had a huge impact on me. I wish this kind of equity training was given to all students at my school, because frankly, people who volunteer for Orientation and make it past the interviews aren’t exactly the type of people with a hateful disposition.

I dont know how to end this. I feel awkward. Like I forgot my lines in the middle of a school play and the teacher is urging me silently and uselessly in the back to keep going and not run off, but the kid in charge of curtains totally closes it anyways.