The reading for today, "Curing the Ophellia Syndrome," had a lot of really good points. One thing that I felt was very applicable to me was how it talked about not doing something just because that's what everyone around you does or believes. One of my biggest complaints about BYU is how I feel like so much of personal agency is taken away. This is not a bash on BYU, and I completely understand why the rules are the way they are so I don't need a lecture on that, but from an outside point of view, it really does seem like the rules/honor code/socially accepted norms really do take away a lot of choices for people. It is crucial to remember that even if you are being told what to believe and how to live, you have to figure out what you actually want for yourself. For me, I have to frequently remind myself that I'm allowed to have my own opinions about things, even if the culture around me doesn't agree on those opinions. I think that's an important thing to remember in the Field, it's important to not just wait for someone to spoon feed us the information or tell us exactly what to do every day. We have to be able to think for ourselves and use our brains to decide what we should be doing, how we should be using our time, and what is going to make our experience the best one for us.
Another great idea that came to me while reading this article was about the importance of journal keeping. The author talked about how he wrote for five or ten minutes about his thoughts and feelings and things that were going on in his life, for himself. Currently, I am the world's worst journal keeper. But I think as I go out into the Field, it will be nice to spend a little time each day or week just writing about what I am feeling and thinking. Obviously, we will be keeping lots of notes on our observations and projects, but just writing down your thoughts can really help you to be aware of yourself individually.
I also loved his suggestion to view everything from a different point of view. I think that is one of the most important goals for me personally as I go to Tonga. I don't want to view everything from my Amercian, egocentric, LDS point of view. One of the most challenging things to do in my opinion is to step back and view the same situation from someone else's point of view. This weekend, I watched a movie about this girl that was killing men. Obviously, throughout the movie I was thinking of her as this bad person who was pretty much a heartless monster for killing so many young men. So when I heard her story (about how she had been raped when she was in college and when she went to the police they wouldn't do anything because the young man who raped her was from a very socially elite family in their town) I tried to look at the situation from her point of view. Instead of thinking of her as a monster, I actually felt a lot of sympathy and could understand how she came to be the way she did. Anyways, the point is, I think it's important to view situations from the perspectives of other people. Or as Atticus Finch said, "you never know somebody until you put on their shoes and walk around in them for a day." Hopefully, we will get to walk around in other people's shoes a lot in Tonga!
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