Appreciating others through understanding them

By Ellen Carpenter
College of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
October , 2010

Today’s class helped me open my eyes a little bit. I always knew that one should never compare their life to another as they don’t know what the other person goes through at home. Today’s class reinforced that statement as I would have never guessed that some of the people had the types of home lives they had. I think that at least once in every person’s school life, the higher levels of course should have some sort of similar activity as this puts things into perspective for some people afterwards.

I realized today with all the craziness going on in my own family lately, I should be nothing but thankful that everyone is healthy and there are no life threatening sicknesses. If one has this, one pretty much has everything they need, and if they don’t see that, it can always be worked on. If the opportunity to have this type of activity is able to be given to each college student, there should be some sort of community service, or related activity outside of the classroom setting. I genuinely feel that once a person walks a mile in someone else’s shoes they will never wish they lived that other person’s life. This may help people gain perspective in other aspects as well.