Integration 4 Fr. Kevin Sandberg Integration Four 16 April 2022 Becoming A Servant Leader In the first week back after Spring break we began learning about what it would be like to walk around in somebody else's shoes for a day. We were talking about this in terms of empathy and I think this module really ties into the idea of social change. At the time we were asked who’s shoes we would be inclined to walk around in to become a better versed person. I wrote about how I would walk around in the shoes of a Ukrainian citizen and six weeks later I would still do the same. These people are suffering awful and incomprehensible losses and they are being uprooted from their homes. In the six weeks since I last wrote about Ukraine, the situation has worsened significantly. Six weeks ago Ukrainian men were leaving Ireland to go fight for their own country, and since many have unfortunately passed away. How are any of us ever meant to understand this level of loss? In class we watched a video of a woman cleaning the hospital in Ukraine and she claimed “my mop is my weapon”, all of these people were trying to do whatever they could to help their own people and keep those sick and injured people safe. This woman was a prime example of a selfless leader, similar to Ukraine’s own president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who didn’t flee Ukraine when he got the chance, but stayed for the good of his nation. Being in the shoes of these servant leaders would be my worst nightmare, but we have too much to learn from these people. There are Ukrainian citizens moving to Ireland and they are so grateful to be there, they are teaching us something about what it means to be grateful for the little things in life. They are just happy to be with their families and many of them aren’t even with the men in their families. While we can’t physically walk around in the shoes of these people we need to be making a conscious effort to do as much as possible to help them and to show them solidarity. I can imagine that the article from Dean G. Marcus Cole in Week 9, describes what many of the surviving Ukrainians are feeling, in that “We must do something. There is something each one of us can do” and we should be feeling exactly like this too, in order to make a difference. In Week 10 we learned all about the concept of accompaniment. I was really delighted to learn about this topic as I believe it will be one of the sole reasons for us becoming selfless, servant leaders. The author, Steve Reifenberg wrote about getting sick in an orphanage where he was volunteering in Chile. This experience helped him to realize that he thought of himself as a sort of white savior who was going to help the children but they ended up helping him significantly more than he ever would have imagined. This reminded me of a time where I was in India and they told us that we wouldn’t be allowed to take any photos of the volunteering work we were doing there because of “whitewash”, which is when white people would go to developing countries and post pictures of their volunteering all over their social media. They explained that this really takes away from the work that we were actually there to do, and I’m really glad they told us this because it was probably one of the bigger life lessons that I learned in my teenage years. The reading helped me to realize that, in order to be a good accompagnateur, one needs to be selfless, caring and not concerned with their own self image when helping those around us. There are many ways that we serve as accompagnateurs to those around us, as long as we are doing it completely selflessly. I plan on doing this by completely helping my sister as she goes through her big exams this summer, as Steve Reinenberg says in “Teaching Accompaniment: A Learning Journey Together” , “We need to walk together and learn https://law.nd.edu/news-events/news/dean-g-marcus-cole-i-am-george-floyd-except-i-can-breathe-and-i-can-do-something/ https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/35982/files/770254?module_item_id=199797 https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/35982/files/770254?module_item_id=199797 together, and maybe, together, envision and create something better”. I also think that this can very much be applied in the situation in Ukraine, if people in power come together to help Zelensky, the impact of the war can be massively reduced. In Week 11 I read Anna Haskins’ talk called “Educational Inequality”, and it was under the module on building an anti-racist vocabulary. I picked this video to watch as I wasn’t really sure what it would entail, and looking back on this that was quite naive of me. This video linked directly into the conversation surrounding our capacity for social change. Coming from Ireland, where everyone has an equal opportunity to attend school, I was thoroughly shocked and saddened when watching this video. Professor Haskins talked about African American children not being on the same playing field in terms of education for many different reasons. If their parents are incarcerated they are much less likely to attend school, and black inmates make up 40% of inmates in American prisons. This makes the black children severely disadvantaged which is a huge social issue. She went on to talk about how the prison system is beginning to get to the root of the problem, by placing a higher value on education within prisons. Watching this video sort of made me reflect upon myself and realize how much I don’t really know about racism in America. This is a topic that I realize I really need to educate myself on, not only for my own good but for the good of others. I believe that the likes of professors such as Anna Haskins are the perfect examples of who we should aspire to be like in terms of shining a light on such issues of social change. I also think that this slightly ties into what we learned in week 4 of moreau about “The Gifts of a Mentoring Environment” by Sharon Daloz Parks. I believe that we should look to people such as Professor Haskins for mentoring if social change and justice is something that you are interested in. It is all about looking for mentors in the right places. https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/35982/modules/items/174623 https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/35982/files/580889?module_item_id=180911 In week 12 we read “The Good Life Method” by Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko, and this week was heavily centered on wisdom. This module really got me thinking about how people's life experiences lead them to be wise in many different ways. The example I used in my writing from that week was that the current children of Ukraine will be wise beyond years, in terms of resilience and bravery, much more so than any of us will ever be. I think the quote from Meghan Sullivan in this article is very prevalent to the Ukrainians, “We cannot predict which kinds of sufferings and loss we will have to face, or even when death will come”. Unfortunately these children didn’t have any say in gaining this wisdom but rather it was forced upon them. Oftentimes people grow through what they go through and these circumstances are often terribly sad. This module made me think about who I turn to for wisdom. I turn to my parents and grandparents for advice about things that they have all been through, and I realize that I am lucky enough to have my parents and grandparents around to share this wisdom with me. But I think the most important thing that I learned about in terms of wisdom, is in order to become wise yourself, you have to surround yourself with experienced and wise people from many different backgrounds. In order to be wise you must also learn from your own mistakes and that if you repeatedly make the same mistake, you are unlikely to become wise. In week 13 we read “Stalking” by Annie Dillard in a week that was all about transcendence, which I believe is the perfect way to wrap up a year of learning to better ourselves and take this knowledge outside of Notre Dame. We were tasked to talk about how far up the mountain of life and the college journey we are this week. This week I talked about how many of us had to sacrifice a good bit in our lives in order to be here at Notre Dame, but how it is all so worth it looking back after just one year. Having one year done, I think that we can really look back and see how far we have come and how much I have changed in just the span of one https://philosophybreak.com/articles/the-good-life-method-interview-with-meghan-sullivan-and-paul-blaschko/ https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/35982/files/580892?module_item_id=180918 year. From where we are standing there is also so much to look up and forward to. I think the most important thing that we can do with our Notre Dame education is to take it outside of Notre Dame and to share it with others and with the world. I think about how much social change could be made if we took our strong convictions into the world and acted upon them just as we have been thought to do.