Who are we really?

Okay...I admit it. I love reality TV. Tonight I was watching "Beauty and the Geek" which I think is an interesting social experiment. Put 8 "beautiful" women and 8 "geeks" in a house together, pair them up and put them to a variety of tests. The "beauties" find out things about themselves that show that they are smarter than they think. The "geeks" fins that they can be socially acceptable and have more to offer than just their brains. Through the course of this social experiment, there are changes, growth of all parties.

I think about how this applies to all of us, how we have visions of ourselves and how those visions grow and change as we get more information, as we see things from the outside.

I look at myself and where I was years ago. Today I was talking about how things were 5 years and 20 pounds ago. Why is it that women judge time by pounds? Really they have nothing to do with eachother. do men judge themselves by how much hair they had? 5 years and more hair ago? Why are these things important?

Why do we judge? Why do we care? Shoudn't the quality of person be the most important?

I think about my students. Yesterday afternoon I had a meeting with my National Honor Society students. I know that I mentioned this yesterday, but hat I didn't talk about is how that meeting made me feel. I felt a connection to the depth of their honor. A place that made them feel special. It was, at times, overwhelming. They are already talking about activities that honor others, tell them that someone is thinking of them. Their is joy in honoring others and my students, some of the poorest, most impacted by violence, apathy, drugs, and abandonment think about how others can be honored. Honored for being at school, honored for their birthday, just a note to say, "We have noticed you and we care."

That is what I think we should be about. Not how many pounds heavier we are, how much hair we have lost, what we wear or how much money we have, but the quality of person that we are.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
~Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)

I guess that about says it all!