The Big Picture!

In chapter 9, there is a various amount of stories that have to do with people who work out side the box and are with people who they would not normally do work with in order to get a specific job done. Sony Vetra said " ..our problems aren't always the same as those of blak men, and they certainly aren't always the same as those of white women. Sometimes these groups work together. Sometimes they work apart. To me, that makes people stronger." I personally think with this quote it shows that we should not only stay in our bubble of friends,family and peers but expand our minds, and know that if we gave someone out of the ordinary a chance to speak there mind as well we might not agree on EVERYTHING but we can always work together to understand one another. Getting other individual point of views, may not be what we always want but it may be very well needed to show that there is more to the world then just the thoughts we have in our minds. This also ties into the quote from Loeb, " The more we listen to those whose experinces and perspectives are unfamiliar, the more we realize what draws us together." We push people away because of there race, gender, sexuality, religion, etc. but we never realize how much positive information we can get out of them, if we just gave them a chance and listened.

In my life, I was not very open to understanding everyone else's point of view, it was either "my way or the highway" i did not care who you were, or where you came from, it was just the attitude i lived by. However, growing up and taking different challenges under my belt such as school,work,relationships, friends,etc. helped me realize that i can not beat the world with my two hands and my own brain. I can put a dent in it and help make it a better place, however i need and WANT other peoples experinces to show me that, some way or another we really can lean on one another for support, and if we show it or not, we really want and need the support from one another. The reason I think I am so open to different people's opinions and ideas now is because I think I put my self through that. In high school I started out at a school that the majority of students were of white ethnicity's and each race,gender,sexuality,etc. would start splitting up into there own cliques and only talk to white people if they were white or mexican if they were mexican. The cliques would get to a breaking point that if you played a certain sport, you would only talk to people in that sport, or theater or something along that lines. I enjoyed the school,and the environment however in high school i wanted to be open to meeting new people no matter where they came from. My junior year of high school i decided it was best for me to transfer schools and start fresh with new people, and see if my openness would be more accepted. I moved to a school were the majority of students were african american and mexican and i was not to sure how i would be accepted. However, I walked in the first day with a positive attitude and slid right in with many different types of people. Everyone knew everyone else at this school, and I am not saying they knew there personal life's however it was nice to find people who accepted me for me and no matter if i was a white athletic girl, I was just trying to get to know many sides of many different people in the world. The change to many people was not so drastic however to me it made a big effect on me, because it showed me that there are people who will accept you for you, know matter who you are. We just have to be ourselves and let the rest fall were it may.

I can honestly say I have met very many DIFFERENT people in my young life, and I am open to meeting so many more. The thing i think about when working with new people, is I just have to stay positive and be open to change because the world changes every day and I have to keep two feet on the ground, and one day we as a city,state,country,world, will not view one another by race,sexuality,religion,etc. but we will dig deeper into the views,opinions,and answers each one of us has to share!

I would like to thank SLICE teachers, professors,leaders,and students because with out you I probably would not have become more of a stronger person in a few short weeks. We have all been through the full schedule of papers,service,blogs,and even just hanging out but together as a group we have opened up and become more of a family, then just a normal college class! =)