Thoughts on Grace - Seniors are people too
She was ugly.
She was in shock.
How did she end up in her mother's body? She looked like the crypt keeper!
Parent Trap then explored the daughter's life and the mother's life from a different perspective. A very different perspective.
They switched bodies.
Painful situation through painful situation, the daughter realized that her mother's life wasn't near so easy; the bills, the psychiatric occupation responsibilities, and the family obligations all piled up. And the mother understood that high school was not as easy as she thought, and a teenager's life is filled with pressures she could not imagine.
Not a bad lesson to learn.
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In the same way the daughter and mother underestimated each other's life, Seniors and Freshmen also too construe each other's positions.
Freshmen Assumption - they don't know anything, they need to be pampered, spoon fed, and always need reassurance. There can never be enough friends, fellowship, and efforts given to them. Freshmen will always have issues they do not recognize, and need to be shown it.
Senior Assumption - they know everything, they are leaders, and should put on some sort of effort, and they need no encouragement. They have enough friends, food, fellowship, and efforts should be given to those who are more fringy. Seniors have no issues.
How generalizations shall be the end of Christianity! We are people. We are particular persons. May we treat each other as such!
Seniors - How many seniors are burnt out from leading small group, or having to organize events. The smallest dorm swipe with a smiling freshmen face will cheer them up. How special seniors feel if invited by freshmen! Seniors are perhaps the more fragile of the two, because they understand the weight of the future.
Work. Money. Grad School. Grades. Keeping up friends that are continually more busy.
And on top of that, they understand the obligation to take care of those younger than they, and they are desperately trying to do everything.
Freshmen- Yes it is true that they need to be taken care of, especially at first, to be given wisdom and such. But they are not idiots, they will find their way, very quickly, and adapt very well. They ARE capable of being given responsibility, and are more than happy to lend a helping hand. Staff fear freshmen will fall away or are non-committal because of their fellowship attendance. Give them time! They are very capable people.
Some think that freshmen have no friends at all, and must always be reached out to have friends and contacts. On paper, its the opposite. Freshmen all together have hte most generic classes and have the most contact with random other people on their floor. If they can't find someone to relate to in that wide of a personality pool, who are you, that you are so special?
Overall - Time is not a maturity tool. Events and actions are the building blocks, not time. Those objects TAKE time, but time itself is no measure. People that pay their way through school grow up much faster than those who don't, no matter how many years it spans. Its the depth of events and interactions that build people.
All that to say: What is hte difference in 1st years and 4th years?
Academics - its a huge Difference.
Instituitional Familiarity - its huge Difference.
Personal Development - Almost none.
Seniors can easily relate to depression in freshmen. Feeling betrayed by friends, or feeling like you have no friends at all relates to all ages. Dealing with sin, personal shortcomings, or bad expectations, these battles do not die with age, if anything they are amplified. People's problems are not that far apart.
It would be ironic, but maybe effective reach out to tired seniors. Tired seniors who have given their life to school and realized they have so little left, and find it refreshing to see/know a people that still want to be friends with everyone.
Freshmen activities are meant to reach out to those who are fresh and new. But if you think about it like this:
Freshmen - new to school, new to freedom, new to the buildings
Sophomores - new to taking care of younger frosh, new to planning ahead, new to taking school serious
Juniors - new to apartments, new to worrying about internships, new to worrying about work
Seniors - new to worrying about jobs, new to leading small group, new to no longer being lead
Summary: Push Freshmen Outreach Events, just realize that its everyone's first year at something.
She was in shock.
How did she end up in her mother's body? She looked like the crypt keeper!
Parent Trap then explored the daughter's life and the mother's life from a different perspective. A very different perspective.
They switched bodies.
Painful situation through painful situation, the daughter realized that her mother's life wasn't near so easy; the bills, the psychiatric occupation responsibilities, and the family obligations all piled up. And the mother understood that high school was not as easy as she thought, and a teenager's life is filled with pressures she could not imagine.
Not a bad lesson to learn.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the same way the daughter and mother underestimated each other's life, Seniors and Freshmen also too construe each other's positions.
Freshmen Assumption - they don't know anything, they need to be pampered, spoon fed, and always need reassurance. There can never be enough friends, fellowship, and efforts given to them. Freshmen will always have issues they do not recognize, and need to be shown it.
Senior Assumption - they know everything, they are leaders, and should put on some sort of effort, and they need no encouragement. They have enough friends, food, fellowship, and efforts should be given to those who are more fringy. Seniors have no issues.
How generalizations shall be the end of Christianity! We are people. We are particular persons. May we treat each other as such!
Seniors - How many seniors are burnt out from leading small group, or having to organize events. The smallest dorm swipe with a smiling freshmen face will cheer them up. How special seniors feel if invited by freshmen! Seniors are perhaps the more fragile of the two, because they understand the weight of the future.
Work. Money. Grad School. Grades. Keeping up friends that are continually more busy.
And on top of that, they understand the obligation to take care of those younger than they, and they are desperately trying to do everything.
Freshmen- Yes it is true that they need to be taken care of, especially at first, to be given wisdom and such. But they are not idiots, they will find their way, very quickly, and adapt very well. They ARE capable of being given responsibility, and are more than happy to lend a helping hand. Staff fear freshmen will fall away or are non-committal because of their fellowship attendance. Give them time! They are very capable people.
Some think that freshmen have no friends at all, and must always be reached out to have friends and contacts. On paper, its the opposite. Freshmen all together have hte most generic classes and have the most contact with random other people on their floor. If they can't find someone to relate to in that wide of a personality pool, who are you, that you are so special?
Overall - Time is not a maturity tool. Events and actions are the building blocks, not time. Those objects TAKE time, but time itself is no measure. People that pay their way through school grow up much faster than those who don't, no matter how many years it spans. Its the depth of events and interactions that build people.
All that to say: What is hte difference in 1st years and 4th years?
Academics - its a huge Difference.
Instituitional Familiarity - its huge Difference.
Personal Development - Almost none.
Seniors can easily relate to depression in freshmen. Feeling betrayed by friends, or feeling like you have no friends at all relates to all ages. Dealing with sin, personal shortcomings, or bad expectations, these battles do not die with age, if anything they are amplified. People's problems are not that far apart.
It would be ironic, but maybe effective reach out to tired seniors. Tired seniors who have given their life to school and realized they have so little left, and find it refreshing to see/know a people that still want to be friends with everyone.
Freshmen activities are meant to reach out to those who are fresh and new. But if you think about it like this:
Freshmen - new to school, new to freedom, new to the buildings
Sophomores - new to taking care of younger frosh, new to planning ahead, new to taking school serious
Juniors - new to apartments, new to worrying about internships, new to worrying about work
Seniors - new to worrying about jobs, new to leading small group, new to no longer being lead
Summary: Push Freshmen Outreach Events, just realize that its everyone's first year at something.
posted by Tim Lee at 1:50 PM
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