Belongingness

I can’t stand it when I hear, see, or sense someone being discriminated against, no matter what the reason is. Race, skin color, intelligence, wealth, family, hobbies, mental disorders, and any thing else it is simply wrong. Although my own experiences don’t come close to the stories of the people I read about, I still know that one of the worst feelings is feeling like you don’t belong. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs includes love and belongingness before self-esteem, and I think this shows it’s importance in personal development. [1]  Anthony Luckett wondered “what life would have been like had [he] not lived with that tangerine family.”[2] I wonder too; what would he have been saved from had he been raised in a loving home? Family has sucha  powerful role in a persons life, and in most of the essays, something always came back to their family. I am so thankful for my family and the love they gave me, and continue to give me. My family is the only place I ever feel like I belong. I’ve always struggled with friends, and until a year ago, I never really had any. I don’t know what it is, but I never feel like people like me and I never find friends who care the way I do. This has been my struggle. I always feel judged, and like I can’t be myself. But then I started to realize that I am who I am, and I have my family, so I’m not afraid to be different and to be proud of that. My family is my safe zone, they love me no matter what I do, who I am, or what I look like, and I love them no matter what too. But I am being to realize that I cannot depend on my family alone, I need branch out and meet people, and until I came to this university, I didn’t want to.

Diversity was something I heard U.T. had, but it didn’t mean anything to me.  But I’ve discovered it means more to me than I could imagine. It means that each person I meet is different in their own wonderful and unique way, and that is what makes diversity beautiful. It is beautiful that we are each different, and it is something to be praised not rejected. Diversity means we can each teach someone, or show someone something new and different, everyone can bring something to the table to share, and most of the times the other person can connect to something they personally feel, creating unity. Because everyone is different, it leaves no room for discrimination. Sure, not everyone will like everything about a person, and that is okay, but making them feel like less of a person is not okay. Difference should be embraced, like speaking “Spanish in order to help retain [one’s] culture and heritage.”[3] Or looking at a difference in race just as a person would look at the difference in “the color of [one’s] eyes or preference in music.”[4] I feel like at this university, I fit it because I am different. One of the most important things I’ve learned this year is that people are different and that is a beautiful thing. This may seem simple, but discovering that has made life so much more enjoyable. I feel like I really have grasped what it means to listen empathetically. I will always make an effort to understand a person before trying to get information that will help me first. We all have a story, we are all different and we all belong here, every life is precious. [5]

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[1] http://socioloquy.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/maslow.jpg

[2] Anthony R. Luckett, “Multihued” in Leadership and U.T., ed. Jerome Bump, (Ausitn: Jenn’s Copy & Binding, 2008), 863.

[3] Miguel Ramirez, “The Unknown Want,” in Leadership and U.T., ed. Jerome Bump, (Ausitn: Jenn’s Copy & Binding, 2008), 854.

[4] Alessandro Melendez, “Living between the Lines,” in Leadership and U.T., ed. Jerome Bump, (Ausitn: Jenn’s Copy & Binding, 2008), 842.

[5] http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x83/winwin1111/unity.jpg

Past Present Future

Inscribed on the W.C. Hogg Building are the words of Alfred Tennyson: “O earth, what changes hast thou seen!”  (http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/wch.html) 

Although this quote was by Tennyson, it connects both the ideas of Darwin and Tennyson. First it reminds us of the past because this part of the world was once under the ocean and it has now become a community full of building and roads. Darwin’s theory of evolution explains to us how we got were we are today. It is interesting to know we have gills and tails in our mother wombs, and to me that confirms that we are all connected- every earthling. Darwin gives and interesting idea for the past while Tennyson gives an interesting aspect for the future; that we may become extinct. Tennyson calls us to look to the future, and consider the possibly of our own extinction. So either way the quote reminds us that we must appreciate our past and how we have become the beings we are today, be thankful for what traits we have, and we also must understand that the future is unknown, and we must appreciate each moment. I agree with Lisa that the Hogg's Building has seen its share of change; different people, different weather, and all the other things that change from day to day. Although it doesn't know the whole story, it helps us in this chapter of our life to connect the past and future and appreciate the present. Just like the shell, it reminds us of our pilgrimage and encourages us to enjoy each day and keep the future in mind.(http://www.artselect.com/Adrian-Burke-Sea-Shells/Art/a23112.m181880.sf415.w345.h345.jpg)

The Creator and the Created

Imagine the world before we knew it; before “beaches… hardened into stone”[1] cold buildings and “long street[s]”[2], back to Genesis where “God created the heavens and the earth.”[3] [4] Now picture our world today, and ask yourself what has taken place? [5] The answer is evolution, and as Kat said, “One of the most apparent divisions is that between creationism and evolution.” Therefore I do not accept Tennyson’s idea for a solution, for I want to build a bridge between creationism and evolution, connecting the different views. I have found that sometimes the best answer is not to side with one or the other, but with the continuities of the both sides.

Tennyson wanted to “contemplate all this work of Time,”[6] as Darwin contemplated “how infinitely complex and close fitting are the mutual relations of all organic beings to each other.”[7] Though their explanations differed, I got a feeling from both that Nature allowed us to evolve where we are today. Darwin believed natural selection was the driving force for evolution. He said, “Nature… cares nothing for appearances, except in so far as they are useful to any being.” [8] In a similar way, Tennyson imagined Nature exclaiming, “‘A thousand types are gone;/ I care for nothing, all shall go.’”[9]  Although Tennyson thought man was Nature’s “last work”[10] and Darwin believed it was the greatest work so far, both saw that it was Nature who decided what would happen.

Once we realize that we are not in control, we can see that “All we are is dust in the wind/ Everything is dust in the wind.”[11] [12] I believe we get too ahead of ourselves, and we think we are in control, but we need to be reminded that although we influence nature, we cannot control it. NATURE IS IN CONTROL. We are just one part, one aspect of the story. Tennyson wrote, “O earth, what changes hast thou seen!” This helps me to realize that although we can use science to guess what happened before and predict what may happen, we do not know. It is not a bad thing that we do not know. If we knew the answers to questions like this, there would be no place for faith. The faith that God created nature, and God is nature: he evolved us from dirt, and our bodies shall once again become dirt.

So to me, there is no need to separate evolution from creationism. Where Darwin and Tennyson’s ideas began and ended differ but what is important is what connected them: Nature. As both Darwin and Tennyson realized, earth has changed, and will always be changing; it might mean we evolve to a new and more efficient being, or it could mean we have reached the end and our skeletons will form with the earth to continue the story. “Nature [is] like an open book;”[13] telling the unimaginable story the Creator has made about the created. [14]

 

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[1]  Loren Eisley, “The Firmament of Time,” in Leadership and U.T., ed. Jerome Bump (Austin: Jenn’s Copy & Binding, 2008), 1059.

[2] Alfred Tennyson, “In Memoriam,” in Leadership and U.T., ed. Jerome Bump (Austin: Jenn’s Copy & Binding, 2008), 1087.

[3] Genesis 1:1 (The Jerusalem Bible) in Leadership and U.T., ed. Jerome Bump (Austin: Jenn’s Copy & Binding, 2008), 1060.

[4]http://www.slona.net/resources/images/content/special/radio/water_world.marked.png

[5] http://www.isrealli.org/wp-content/uploads/davos.jpg

[6]  Tennyson, 1088.

[7] Charles Darwin, “The Origin of Species,” in Leadership and U.T., ed. Jerome Bump (Austin: Jenn’s Copy & Binding, 2008), 1064.

[8] Darwin, 1066.

[9] Tennyson, 1085.

[10] Tennyson, 1086.

[11] Tennyson, 1086.

[12] http://abcotv.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/tornado1.jpg

[13] Tennyson, 1090.

[14] http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/IMC/2054~On-the-Way-Open-Book-Posters.jpg

Trees are the Bee's Knees

I would love to live somewhere “with fine trees in groups and groves and avenues.”[1] From what I have seen, Oxford seems like a place I will have to visit, for it “is [a] scarce spot in the world.”[2] [3] As you can see in the botanical gardens, nature is allowed to simply grow and flourish. It is amazing to me that we don’t appreciate the natural world more. But here in Austin, Texas, many people do show love for the environment. The Oxford Botanical garden pictures reminded me that there was one right down the road! The Zilker Botanical Garden is a wordless place: no words can describe its beauty, for it gives a “natural man contentment.”[4] [5] As our class walked along Waller Creek, I reconnected with my love for tree climbing, (although it was mainly statues that day) seeing everything in its natural environment, and just feeling a sense of euphoria from nature. I made a promise to myself that I would make time to come to the creek with my camera and just be in nature’s presence as I remind myself that, as Samantha said, we are “all part of nature.” While reading, I felt a new connection with the creek: “a child walks and runs up and down the bed of a creek.”[6] As a child, I spend most of my time at the creek behind my old house playing in the bright warming sun, fishing for minnows and crawfish, covering my body in clay at clay land, climbing up a rope to the caves, imagining I was lost and had to survive, making grilled cheese sandwiches on a sun heated metal sheet, and even being chased by snakes! [7] As we discussed early in class, we don’t want to lose the kid in us, the free-spirited, imaginative ball of energy, and nature allows me to never lose that because it feeds my “natural appetite for discovery, [my] primitive curiosity,”[8] and my joy for life. [9]

            Joseph Jones “traveled extensively throughout the world,” so I trust that he knew a good creek when he saw one. I think Jones was right: we need “to cultivate a fresh acquaintance” with nature “for our own mental health.”[10] I feel very passionate about “preserving every natural pocket”[11] of land, and this is perhaps where the wind will blow my career. I, like Jones, consider nature “a positive agency of survival,” so I feel an even stronger desire to daily take the time to become formless, and nameless and just be one with nature. [12]

“Waller Creek began as no more than trickle along a stretch of Cretaceous limestone,”[13] and because nature was able to take its course, it is an amazing place today, where I hope to have many significant experiences that help shape me as I create myself at this University.

 

 

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[1]  “Site of a University,” in U.T. and Leadership, ed. Jerome Bump (Austin: Jenn’s Copy & Binding, 2008), 315.

[2] “Site of a University,” 317.

[3] http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/302/scheduleframeset.html

[4] J. Frank Dobie, “The Mustangs,” in U.T. and Leadership, ed. Jerome Bump (Austin: Jenn’s Copy & Binding, 2008), 748.

[5] http://www.soulofthegarden.com/Images/April04%20ZilkerOriental.jpg

[6] Joseph Jones, “Cretaceous Limestone Gutter,” in U.T. and Leadership, ed. Jerome Bump (Austin: Jenn’s Copy & Binding, 2008), 666.

[7] http://www.grilledcheeseinvitational.com/images/newlogo.gif

[8] Jones, 666.

[9] http://www.picturevictoria.vic.gov.au/site/coburg/images/16942.jpg

[10] Jones, 666.

[11] Joseph Jones, “Preface Codger on the Rocks,” in U.T. and Leadership, ed. Jerome Bump (Austin: Jenn’s Copy & Binding, 2008), 661.

[12] http://www.thegreatillusion.com/mother%20nature%20new.jpg

[13] Joseph Jones, “Cretaceous Limestone Gutter,” in U.T. and Leadership, ed. Jerome Bump (Austin: Jenn’s Copy & Binding, 2008), 663.

Proud to be a Longhorn

As I watched Tech score in the final second of the game, I felt a deep pain in my heart. Although I was a defeated Longhorn in Raider land, I wore my burnt orange proudly.[1] While I was in Lubbock, I realized how glad I am to be a Longhorn, and I was dying to get back to the school, the people, and the city.  Longhorns have a “fighting spirit of progress”[2] and they make their way no matter what. It’s no wonder we have a longhorn as our mascot, but there are some characteristics I would have never thought we shared. I learned, from the marvelous Frank Dobie, longhorns have “strong attachments to their accustomed home,”[3] and it made me realize the same is true for longhorns at U.T.[4]

I have not been at U.T. very long, but I have fallen in love with Austin, and I know I want to live here if I don’t end up on the other side of the world. A lot of the Texas Ex’s I know have stayed in or around this area, and I think it is because U.T. was their accustomed home where they found life-long friends. College transforms you from a kid to an independent adult, and when you come to a place as amazing as Austin, it is hard to want to go anywhere else. Just like the story of Sancho, a person comes to U.T falls in love with the amazing people and spicy culture, and always has a sense of home here. Even when they can’t be here, they “raise [their] head as if memory and expectation were stirring.”[5] I have a much greater meaning as a longhorn than I did before, but with that I am disturbed by some of the things that have happened to our mascot.

The first Bevo “was served as barbecue to over one hundred guest”. I was absolutely disgusted when I read this not only because I had just developed a whole new respect and love for longhorns, but also because it just does not seem right. I liked to think our mascot was “lovingly cared for and protected,”[6] just as the Hindu’s treat cows. Although the Hindu’s cow has much more significance than a mascot; cows are “a gift of the gods to the human race.”[7] At the Diwali fest, I talked to Acharya Gulati and he taught me the importance of doing good things and not expecting anything in return, just as God gives us everything we have for nothing in return.[8] I know how important a gift from God is in Hinduism, so a cow must be very sacred. Although I do not expect U.T. to have the same view for a longhorn, I do believe we should respect our mascot more.

Respect for an animal that is just like us, on a journey through life with our home in our hearts and “true lover[s] of freedom.”[9] I think one of the reasons Frank Dobie was considered such an amazing teacher was because he realized that “only the sense of being in place gives… natural man contentment.”[10] As I sit in the six-pack in front of the tower, I am filled with warm fuzzies because I am a part of this University. Being away from my home at U.T. in Lubbock was not fun, but just as this reading has lead me to a new sense of being a longhorn, I will continue to always represent my school and never forget it is the place I was reborn.

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[1] http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2008/10/30/PH2008103004344.jpg

[2] U.T. and Leadership, (Austin: Jenn’s Copies & Binding, 2008), 733.

[3] U.T. and Leadership, (Austin: Jenn’s Copies & Binding, 2008), 716.

[4] http://www.theamundsons.com/photos/2006/texas%20longhorn%20with%20rose_1%202.jpg

[5] U.T. and Leadership, (Austin: Jenn’s Copies & Binding, 2008), 720.

[6] U.T. and Leadership, (Austin: Jenn’s Copies & Binding, 2008), 713C.

[7] U.T. and Leadership, (Austin: Jenn’s Copies & Binding, 2008), 713B.

[8] http://kalakar.co.in/Greet/greetings%5CDiwali.jpg

[9] U.T. and Leadership, (Austin: Jenn’s Copies & Binding, 2008), 744.

[10] U.T. and Leadership, (Austin: Jenn’s Copies & Binding, 2008), 748.