Throughout daily life we are all presented with new and random experiences, new people, challenges, opinions, information and obstacles for us to overcome. It is up to us if we want to acknowledge these new and unfamiliar, and unplanned experiences into our life. These everyday challenges, the meeting of new people, ideas, and information can help us grow as individuals. Individually speaking these challenges can makes us stronger, more helpful, smarter, friendlier, and more aware of current problems facing our communities and the world. We can also hope to inspire others who have witnessed our actions, so they too in everyday life can grow as human beings, and members of a community. Today’s world is overly passive; we walk around numb to our surroundings, on our iPods, cell phones, and any other technology that can separate ourselves from our surroundings. We ignore the people we walk past, the infinite flow of information and knowledge that comes our way, and the happiness and intrigue that comes from meeting new people, all for what? We are missing out on too many valuable experiences because we act like we don’t have the time, we aren’t impressed, or we just plain don’t want to deal with it. I believe that embracing new and spontaneous people, experiences, stories, information and challenges will make you a better person and it will make you a better citizen and role model.
I’m from Long Beach, California, basically I feel like I am light years away from my home and the culture I was used to for 18 years of my life in Southern California. When I came to Syracuse University for my freshman year I had that same exact feeling multiplied by 10. I was nervous to do almost anything, yet I tried to keep my cool, but I had a shell that was present when meeting new people. I realized that to get a full and amazing college experience I would have to just dive right in with anything I did. I am now a senior and I am the captain of the Syracuse University Men’s Crew Team, I have participated in numerous Athletic Volunteer events, I have attended the career fair and interviews every year, and I have had an awesome time with new friends and new classes and information that I am involved in every day.
I have noticed throughout my college experience that you meet great new people almost every day. We have new information and challenges presented to us both in the classroom and out of the classroom. Yet I see so many people who don’t care about the things that happen around them, the people outside of their clique that they could meet, paying attention and contributing new ideas to a classroom discussion, taking on a challenge rather than blow it off, and fear of failure in any given situation. This is what really makes you weaker, or maybe even worse it just keeps you the same as you ever were. Arnold H. Glagow said it well that, “it is harder to conceal ignorance than to acquire knowledge” (Answers.com). The bottom line is that we try so hard and waste so much time trying to look nonchalant, being unaware of things happening around us, or ignoring the new interesting people. We are not only hurting ourselves but the others that we could be influencing in a positive way.
The problem is ignorance, and people’s ability to ignore, and to see only what they want to see. This is a problem throughout the world, and everyone deals with this shortcoming, almost daily. If you aren’t an outgoing person already, strive; take little steps to move outside of your comfort zone in social situations, challenges, and in learning situations. You will find out much more about yourself in these steps than not doing anything at all. Embrace what is new in your life and/or try to learn from it so that it makes you a stronger and better person in your community. If everyone took some of these small steps, who knows what kinds of social interactions and progresses could be made on a global level?