Sociology Realizations

I absolutely love my Sociology class. The things that we talk about are so true, are so real, that they really hit home for me. We act like we are fine on the outside, yet we hide behind the familiar and the ‘normal’ way of life so that we don’t have to talk about what hurts us the most. I want to share with you some of the things discussed in class that have really touched my heart.

1. Picture this: on stage, there is a backstage and a front stage. The front stage is where the actors want you to see all that they had prepared to reveal to you. But the purpose of the backstage is to remain a hidden, unknown, secretive place where things can and maybe should remain a mystery. Let me ask you, how big is your backstage? How much of your life are you keeping from everyone, living each day terrified that someone might find out what you’re hiding behind that curtain? How long can you keep performing on your front stage, knowing that you will soon have to return to all the secrets that you hold in your backstage? Will you let someone in? What would it take to let someone into that part of your life?

P.S. Yes, this is one of my poems.

2. I would not be the woman I am today if it wasn’t for the events of my past: triumphs, failures, friends, lost friends, all the good and the bad that have mixed together to form whatever it is that I’ve become. But given the chance, would I have chosen that? Would I still have chosen to go through some of the hardships and pain, knowing what wondrous results came of them? I hope I would say yes, because some of the people and things (not material things, more like lessons learned and other knowledge) that I have today, I would not give up for anything.

Now please, don’t use this idea as a way to look back at your life and wish it were different. That’s not what I’m asking of you. What I am asking is that you look at the events of your past to see how they’ve shaped and defined you. Not to look at failures and hard times as times of weakness and despair, but look at those times and know that they made you stronger. Embrace your past, because that was the path that brought you to your present, and is preparing your way to your future.

3. Each person will affect about 10-15 people over the course of their lifetime. What do you want to pass on to those people? What kind of example do you want to be in their lives?