Alejandro Castillo 12/3/2021 Moreau Integration Two How do I Respond? In life, I believe that it is not necessarily what happens to us that matters. What matters to me is how I/we respond. Sometimes we cannot control unfortunate events that are inevitable. In order to keep myself mentally stable at any point in my life, my general approach is to look at the positives. There are way too many things in life that I tend to forget about. When something goes wrong, circling back and thinking about how fortunate I am usually puts me back on track. Thinking of positives is one part, but another part is short-term memory. I say short-term because this is what my coaches used to tell me in high school games. If I made a mistake, I needed to recognize it, not do it again, learn from it, and move on to the next play in a short period of time. Otherwise, the game will pass me by if I let one mistake decide how the rest of the game will go. I feel like the same thing applies to life because if all we think about is one mistake that we made in the past, then we will be stuck there. I believe life will pass us by and leave us behind if we let it. This is why short-term memory and having a positive mindset has gone a long way for me. In today’s society, everyone is competing to be the best at everything and be the most successful. I feel as if we can get too caught up in this competition at times to the point where we forget about doing what is best for ourselves versus doing what will make others perceive us the way we want or are expected. Many times I (I am sure this goes for others as well) find myself accomplishing something that I did not enjoy and feeling as if I have not really accomplished much on top of that. This reminds me of Week 9 when I watched Elizabeth Cox give a TedTalk about impostor syndrome. I am guilty of impostor syndrome to this day which I have mixed thoughts about. Although, I am not sure if I would say that I have impostor syndrome or the mindset of never being satisfied (always wanting more). It is a back and forth thing that goes on in my head where I think I am not good/cool enough which either brings me down or motivates me to want to do better. As Elizabeth says in the video, it is best to just talk to others about how you feel because that is the only way that people can potentially help you. This brings me back to the topic of being vulnerable with others to help strengthen relationships. I suppose it might be embarrassing to talk about some sensitive topics going on in my life, but if I keep them to myself then I feel that it will weigh heavily on me. Along with challenges going on in my life, there are many challenges that my community and all of society faces which need to be addressed. As Father Jenkins puts it, “If we can help solve the problem of hatred, we have a chance to come together and solve all the others.” I agree with this quote and we should act on it. For myself personally, I believe that not everyone can be a hero so the best way to go about acting upon the problem of hatred is to start with ourselves. This reminds me of Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson. The lyrics beautifully say, “I'm starting with the man in the mirror; I'm asking him to change his ways; And no message could've been any clearer; If they wanna make the world a better place; Take a look at yourself and then make a change.” We cannot preach or try to tell others that what they are doing is wrong and hateful if we, ourselves, are not loving and being positive. In today’s society, there are so many different cultures with all types of perspectives, opinions, backgrounds and much more. I feel that it is easy to think that our personal ways that we live by are the only ones to live by and therefore thinking that anyone who lives differently is wrong/weird in some way. It can be hard to build perspective if we are only around certain people all the time. This can lead to young people only assuming what they know to be the truth and the full story which can offend others that come from different perspectives. I believe this is how racism comes about which brings me to a part of Professor Agustin Fuentes’ talk about diversity. It says, “They are due to social, historical, political, economic, and experiential contexts and are changeable.” This quote gives me hope because it is changeable. I also have hope because being at Notre Dame has and will continue to introduce me to many different perspectives. Building my perspective will help prevent me from making overgeneralizations and be able to connect with a wide range of people. Hope is a very important and powerful tool that I believe we can and should use. Without hope, I feel that I am setting myself up for failure. For example, I think and hope that I am going to play well before a basketball game. If I do not have any hope in myself or my team, then I most likely will lose before the game has even started. For me, it is all about mindset and approach. Like I said in the beginning, a positive mindset goes a long way for me. I think everyone should always have hope and a positive mindset. One of the main things that I want to do in my life is educate people who do not have the opportunity to be educated which brings me to a quote from the Holy Cross and Christian Education text. It says, “The work of education is essential to the life of the Church and its apostolic mission of going out to all the nations proclaiming the gospel as Jesus instructed his disciples to do in his final commission.” With this being said, this quote inspires me to want to incorporate my faith into educating others. Although, in order to educate others, I have to be educated. Fortunately, I am in a position where I can be educated tremendously so I have hope that I can fulfill this goal of mine.