My TIB Rough Draft (verrry rough)
I believe that no matter what respect for others, namely women, is a value that should never be compromised. As a woman it pains me to see the instances of crimes against my fellow sisters. This generation has seemed to have forgotten that we ALL come from a woman and that fact in and of itself demands a certain level of respect. I believe that the importance of the female has been forgotten. Domestic and verbal abuse. Sexism. Rape. I believe that the perpetrators of these crimes lack the fundamental lesson instilled in me and my siblings as children: That a woman is to be treasured and respected. It has always been my thinking that seeing my mother work so hard as a single mom fueled my respect for her.
Since I was around 9 years old I have seen my mother work twelve hour shifts on little or no sleep in order to provide for me and my two siblings. Even though she would come home run down and tired she still somehow mustered up the strength to get us to school and get everything in order in the house before she left for work that night. What I came to realize as I grew older was that the choices that my mom made were all because of her love for her children. It was the strength that fueled her and for that I thank her.
On the issue of respect I will never forget my mother’s famous words, “Behavior is learned”. It’s a phrase I’ve heard repeated throughout most of my life. My mom likes to say that people’s values don’t just come from anywhere that they are instilled in them at a young age by their parents. Therefore it is no surprise that I believe in respect for women because I had my own mother to give me the foundation for that value. This value has undoubtedly translated into my adult life and is the reason why I feel the need to speak out when I see something that disturbs me.
Read MoreA Night with a Legend
So as many of you probably know I usually write these posts on the *illustrious* lives of untouchable celebrities. But my post this week focuses on something that happened right here in our community. This past Monday the Grammy award winning singer John Legend came to PSU as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series. Me and a group of my friends braved the cold in order to get the chance to be up front and center for his performance. Unfortunately, as the line outside Eisenhower auditorium got longer and the crowd more rowdy a stampede ensued as soon as the doors opened resulting in complete chaos.
It wasn’t all about piano playing and singing for John Legend’s purpose at Penn State. The topic of his speech was the importance of education. He urged the audience young people at various crossroads in life to remember the opportunities they have been afforded in life and how lucky we all are to be at this university. He juxtaposed this advice with descriptions of children with next to no opportunities in the area of education and explained that not everything is equal when it comes to the futures of our youth. This tied into the charities that are very close to Legend’s heart: The Show Me Campaign and Teach for America. With Teach for America, Legend is a board member while he is the founder of the Show Me Campaign.
Finally, the evening closed with John Legend performing five of his most popular songs with help of the many young girls in the audience, myself included. When the night was over the one thing I took away from the event wa show inspiring it was to see John Legend; a man with so much influence and talent use his rhetorical platform to bring awareness about education inequality in our country.
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