I've been debating on whether or not I should write and post a blog entry about this, but I feel like it needs to be said. It helps me to write out my feelings more than saying it so here we go....
So two things happened this week, both of which are hard to comprehend. The first thing is that one of my co-workers was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. They caught it early so we're all positive she'll make a full recovery. Sometimes when my office sits down for lunch we'll talk about the steps she'll take to get rid of the cancerous cells or ask her questions, and what surprises me is that she's open about it. So open that she makes jokes and is smiling all the time. Well, that's always been her personality. Since I met her on my first day I noticed she was always bright and funny and had a smile on her face and didn't seem upset over anything. She calls her diagnosis "her speed bump in life". She's basically facing it head on and with one step at a time, with a joke or a funny comment alongside her. The second thing that happened this week is that one of my friends from Hollins passed away on Friday in a car accident. Everything in life was working out for her. This does prove that life is short. I worked with her on campus for three years and I had a great time. She and another co-worker got the entire office to really get into online Family Feud. So much so, that we would yell to each other from across the hallway for help on a top 5 answer about baby books, for example. The outpouring of response, messages, and prayers from Hollins members towards her family made me come to terms about the school. The school is a tight community. I'm not going to lie, but I questioned the school about something for a long time. Mainly because its a single-sex institution and mainly because it was all female. Girls are cliquey. Hands down, girls are cliquey and its how we survive through life. We make friends with people who are basically exactly like us. When I first was attending Hollins people would tell me "there's no cliques here and everyone is a sister to someone". In turn, I'd think: "there are no cliques? really? are you sure? there are no cliques at all?" Not to be a pessimist as to what I was told, but being a realistic teenage girl who noticed cliques forming even as young as lower/elementary school. The school is right though: we are a community. With the passing of my friend, I saw numerous Facebook and twitter posts about her or in her memory. Some of these were from people I knew most likely hadn't ever met her because she graduated a year before I did and so left before they arrived. Seeing this act made me very happy because it shows that whether or not you know someone, like someone, or are very close to someone, the school can come together from various places and on various social media platforms. With both of these news this week, it really puts a lot of things into perspective. It helped me come to terms about my life, my friends, my family, the direction I'd like to go in, the career I want, my "happily ever after", etc. A lot of small things that we, as humans, tend to blow up over or dwell upon are just not worth it. So, on that topic, who cares if someone borrowed a book and accidentally lost it? (okay, I might care) Who cares if someone drinks the milk and only leaves a smidge left? Who cares if a book you ordered online didn't arrive in the estimated arrival time-frame and actually arrived two days later? Is it necessary to have fights when you're tying to help someone assemble a piece of furniture, or help them move to a new house, or help them tend to their yard work? Unless of course you're my sisters and we fight over insignificant stuff all the time. Which, over the years, I realized we mainly argue because we're essentially saying the same thing but in two different ways. Also, we tend to prolong out arguments by restating our ideas over and over again. For example: Speaker 1: "I know, but....." Speaker 2: "I know, but....." Speaker 1: "I know, but......" Luckily for us we get over things like this in about five to ten minutes and then we're back to laughing and talking like crazy. What it all comes down to is perspective. It is how you choose to let even the smallest of things cause a big reaction out of you or just roll it off your back and move on. Something could seem so big at the time, but in reality it could be a small blip on the radar or a bump under your bike tire. --SJ
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"Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you." - Walt Whitman Archives
January 2022
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