Wow. Right now it's 65 degrees in Scottsdale, and 64 degrees here in Denver. I never thought that would happen in May.
I expected today to be an ordinary Thursday, but a few extraordinary things happened.
First, in psychology, I learned many interesting things. We are learning about mental illnesses. Today we learned about multiple personality disorder, phobias, and generalized anxiety. Based on what we learned today I don't think I have a phobia (of loud noises) or generalized anxiety disorder. I don't think I have a phobia because I don't think it impairs my functioning. Daniel disagrees. Whatever I guess it doesn't really matter. It's not like I'm going to get treatment because I don't like it when balloons pop. That's stupid. But it was really interesting learning about multiple personality disorders. We watched a video of this guy, Tony, and he had 53 different personalities. Some of them were different ages, like children, and some were even women. One of them, named Dede, is a 'caretaker' personality. She keeps track of all of them and makes sure that an underage personality doesn't come out when he is driving and stuff like that. Really creepy stuff. And the sad part is that the disorder develops most often after a severely traumatic experience in childhood and it's the brain's way of coping.
Second, my lab (last one!) ended really early so I got to have lunch with Daniel. That was nice, because I don't usually get to see him on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Then, in my American Religion class, we had a guest speaker come in. His name is Vincent Harding and he was a close friend of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. He marched with him in the 60s and helped write his speech that he gave at Riverside. He is now a professor here at our (Methodist) school of theology. He just might be the wisest man I have ever met. Everything he said sounded like he had rehearsed it. His answers to our questions were all so thoughtful and deep. The things he said made me really want to work towards peace. He was so interesting, I could sit there and listen to him all day. I was the first student to ask a question, and before I could, he insisted that before he talks to anyone, he wants to know thier full name and where they grew up. When he answered my question, I felt like he was thinking carefully about every word he was saying. He was answering as if I had just asked him the meaning of my life. It was like I really mattered and he cared about me for those few minutes. Since our class was about American religion, our questions focused on the role of the black church and christianity in Dr. King's life and the civil rights movement. It's really interesting to me how little we learn about that side of his life work. Everyone knows that he worked for civil rights, but not a lot of people think about the fact that he was a reverend and all his speeches were filled with allusions and quotes from the bible. And it makes me wonder if he were around today, would people be turned off by his christian background? Would they listen as readily to his message? Would he have as many devoted followers? I'm not sure about that. Well, anyways, Mr. Harding had a lot of interesting things to say about Dr. King's life then, and about our current society now. I'm tempted to take a theology class just so I can have him as a professor.
One of the most important things that he said was a different take on a familiar passage of the bible. He took that passage about how the church is the body of Christ and that each body part has its specific function. A knee doesn't do the same thing as an eye, etc. He said that he believes this is how the world is. Each person has a function and together, as a whole, we work in perfect harmony. And just like he wouldn't want his intestine to change to perform the same function as his teeth, he also doesn't want a Buddhist person to change to be a Christian. In our amazing diversity, we all work together to worship God.
He also made an analogy to describe why he hates the word "tolerance" so much. A girl in our class asked if he thought we would ever be completely tolerant of other races, religions, etc. He explained that he never hopes for 'tolerance'. It's like going out into a garden and saying "I tolerate that yellow flower, that blue flower, that red flower". That's ridiculous! Flowers are not tolerated, they're beautiful. And beauty is to be celebrated. He wants us not to tolerate each other, but to celebrate each other.
Another surprise I got was when I got back home tonight, I had a package that my parents ordered. The RHA (Resident Hall Association) puts together little bags of snacks and candy and food that parents can order for their student during finals week. My parents ordered me the junk food version and Daniel the healthy version. We'll just share both though. It's nice to know that they are thinking about me and realize how stressful finals are. And it's just something that makes me feel like they are closer to me and more involved in my life. I will be very happy to go home and see them in two weeks.
Still waiting to hear about the two jobs. It's driving me nuts!!!
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