#BlogElul Day 4: Understand (A Day Late)

Maturity is owning that sometimes it won't all get done,
but acknowledging that it still needs to happen.

I missed this blog last night for a few reasons. First, because I got home super late after an experience that speaks to "understanding" at a deeper level. Second, because I completely forgot about it. Not for the entirety of the day (I had actually planned to write a post yesterday as soon as I got home from the play, but after hours of data entry, blogging seemed like not the world's best use of time. So I admit it: it's a day late, but the intention is still there...and the reflection may be better after 24 hours. 

Yesterday I watched a one-man play called Wrestling Jerusalem, a show that displayed seventeen diverse perspectives of the conflict in the Middle East. Was every single perspective displayed? No. Were all of the audience members enthralled? No. But I was struck with a new level of understanding from a few things that happened yesterday evening. 

I attempt to come to most conversations/experiences/interactions from a place of understanding; a challenge when you're aiming to build relationships/learn a new place. I saw a wealth of understanding hit our students and staff last night (at least one perspective usually struck a chord), but it was the interactions with the students and staff themselves that pushed my own levels of understanding. 

Whether it was a conversation about architecture and alumni near a doorway, questions about directions, propsals, or genetic testing on car rides, hearing about future plans for international travel, or being questioned about my own motivations, aspirations, and understandings of the campus, I have begun to slowly understand my surroundings. 

This is where I work! :-)

It seems to me that the best way to increase our understanding is to open ourselves up to the conversation...to process and understand that our different perspectives may lead to differing realities, and that the bridge to that comes from the dialogues we share and the experiences we discuss together. All in all? A good evening.