Dr. Wesley Giselle (uneducated guess at spelling) spoke in last Tuesday's Honor's Forum... I always respect speakers who make an effort to get a group's attention, but I can't say whether the way Mr. Doctor started off his presentation directed my attention onto what he had to say so much as scarred me for the rest of my natural life. I don't know what possessed him to start off his powerpoint with a huge picture of a horrendously inflamed and morbidly distorted scrotum, but buddy, he sure did it. And after he clicked away onto his next point, I couldn't get the image out of my head. It was like I had stared at a light too long, except instead of blotches of light, I was seeing ... EGH.
After that unfortunate side effect calmed down, I actually got to listening and found that he had an interesting story to his life. Now, I messed up my legs, so I haven't actually gone running since November, but running for fun is definitely something I can relate to. As it happens, Mr. Doctor was a big fan of running too at one time. When he was young - I'm going to say fourteen or fifteen - he got into a serious car accident and was basically told that his leg was ruined. This would be devastating to anyone, let alone someone who lives to run. But then something happened to completely alter his course in life. A doctor (now a close friend and personal mentor) came along, took a muscle from Wesley Giselle's back, and placed it in his leg. Not only did this ingenious move give Wesley a new chance to eventually lace up his overpriced Nikes once again, but it became the reason that Mr. Giselle is a general surgeon today.
I really liked Mr. Doctor's stance on mentorship. He explained that a mentorship is a chain - your mentor has probably been mentored by someone else. I've never thought about that before, but I guess it's common sense. It kind of makes me wish I had a mentor, but I don't really know what I'd need one for. Still, I really admire disciple-like relationships, and it sounds like Mr. Doctor really has that with the surgeon who changed his life so many years ago. He said he loves that guy, and that a mentorship is "probably the most important relationship you'll ever have." Now, that might explain why he's on to his second wife now, but in the broader scheme of things, and with the commitment someone in his profession must have to his career (say 80 hours a week), I'd say he's not far from right.
He identifies himself with his career, which is a new concept for me, especially since he said that is how his family sees him, too. I'm not saying that his is a skewed perception of identity, but it is something that took me a minute to wrap my head around. When I look at my dad, I don't think, "Oh, there's that electrical engineer," and I hope that in eight years when I'm mulling over my identity, I can come up with something besides [insert vague, uncertain future job here]. That sounds dissatisfying to me. But in the words of whoever told Mr. Doctor this: "There are few possessions in life: one of them is a rewarding career." I enjoy that statement.
Not only was Mr. Doctor soft-spoken, but he was also short-winded. I sort of wished his lecture would have lasted a little longer, because he was throwing in some gems. The ensuing discussion after his talk sort of unravelled into personal questions, and finally ended with his planting yet another disturbing image in our minds before sending us packing. I just don't understand his method.
It turns out being exiled from campus for a week means the next week's fun is destined for Hades. I have barely stopped playing catch-up.
This weekend, however, was a great distraction from the homework I should have been doing. I went with the Alternate Fall Break group to Harvest. We were told that we were going to be staying in a "manse" which obviously I imagined to be a small mansion. Actually, it was an abandoned Presbyterian preacher's home, with paper-thin walls and no hot water. It was really awesome though. I just felt sorry for the people who were trying to sleep while we were up past midnight playing Kemps both nights. In Kentucky we called that game "Kent." Anyway.
Friday, we split into small groups, and my group went to this warehouse FULL of donations. It was our job to sort all the clothes/shoes/accessories, box them up, label the boxes, and get them out of the way. We took one look at that endless pile, thought a collective "that's not gonna happen," and then got to work. I'm not going to lie, it was a little depressing being stuck in a warehouse all day, doing repetitive tasks and inhaling dust from the 1980s for seven hours. Sometimes it felt like we were never going to see the light of day again. Seeing how much we had accomplished at the end of the day, though, made me realize that we had made a difference - not only in the lives of the few volunteers at that warehouse who would have to do all that work by themselves, but also in the lives of people all over our country who really need those things we boxed up. Later that night during group reflection, I saw that daunting industrial room full of donations as a picture of the destruction the storms had left behind. The empty room at the end of the day sort of looked like hope, like tragedy could eventually be put behind North Alabama.
My next day of work was less psychological and more physical. At first, the site I was placed in was boring. Some of the plans fell through and most of us just weren't really needed at the house we were building. We picked up the trash from construction, and I did get to do some electrical wiring in the new house they were building, but that lasted about thirty minutes and then it was back to being in the way. Finally, before our lunch break, I was brought over to the wood-splitting site where they could actually use help. I have never done so much heavy hauling in my life. I mostly womanned the splitting machines, and if you didn't already know, I'm going to tell you: those things are AWESOME! 35 tons of sheer danger cracking open logs at your command. It was hard work for hours. :)
"You can run away with me any time you want." - My Chemical Romance
:K
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