Now, I would like to think that I am a pretty strong minded person. It takes a lot to persuade me to do something. In fact, often times if I realize someone is trying to get me to do something I have a tendency to do the opposite. I have to admit though, that there have been some occasions where I did find myself going along with something other people wanted to do and it didn't turn out so well.
A few years ago my family had taken a trip to Gooseberry Falls. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it's a series of waterfalls in Two Harbors Minnesota and a great place for families to take their kids to play in the warm pools and small falls. Of course the small pools have to be filled by something and that's where my cousin and I got into trouble. We decided we were going to find the source of the rushing water.
It didn't take long to find the thirty foot waterfall and we eagerly decided to climb to the top and look down. Once there my cousin pointed out a log that was stuck on a rock a few feet down the falls. He told me to grab and and me being the daredevil I am, decided to do as he had requested. I stepped out onto the moss covered rock and the rushing water caused my foot to slip and for me to fall. I slid about five feet or so down the falls before my feet hit a rock and I was able to stop myself.
My cousin quickly helped me back to the top of the falls and we made our way back to the family who were playing in the safe areas below. I don't think anyone saw me nearly fall down the waterfall and I'm happy for that. Not only would it have seriously hurt me, but my mother would have been very angry.

Lesson To Be Learned
Take a moment to think about what you are about to do before you do it. It may save your life.

Exigence; A Means of Expression

Yesterday I experienced something interesting. There was a man standing in the center of campus with a large cross yelling about God and how we need to be saved by him. I know that freedom of expression is perfectly fine in this state, but I was surprised to see how easily and bravely they were standing in front of everyone trying to recruit people to join their church and give their lives to Christ.

Most people, I saw, were walking past and once out of earshot they would say something extremely rude about him. I have to admit, even though I am a Christian, and even though I feel strongly about expressing my religion, I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable in this situation. The man expressing himself obviously had a strong belief in what he was doing and I respect him for standing up in front of everyone, telling of his love for God, but even so, it didn't seem appropriate to me at all. I have read stories and seen things on the news of people protesting on college campuses and I shouldn't have been surprised to see this, but I was.

My reaction to the situation was similar to everyone else's. I paid him some attention, but I was on my way to class and didn't want to get roped into what he was saying, making me late. So I avoided eye contact and walked around the area he was in just in case he decided to spot me and try to flag me down. I believe he was standing for a good cause and was doing his best to recruit people into his faith group, but I'm not so sure he was going about it the right way. Pressuring people to do something doesn't really work and I don't know if he didn't know that, or if simply his love of God was so powerful that he didn't care much about what people though of him. I would like to think it is the later.

The outcome of the situation was that I didn't get stopped by the shouting man and I wasn't bothered by it after class was out. He had moved on to another spot on campus, or decided to pack it up and go home. I'm sure a few others responded, allowing the man to speak to them about his youth group and taking the flyer's he was passing out, but I can't imagine too many were, judging by the amount of people passing him by.


Lesson To Be Learned
When someone is practicing their freedom of expression I would suggest avoiding the situation completely in order to get to class on time. But if you do have time, take a moment to pause and hear what the person has to way. Who knows, you might learn something.

First day of College

As a High School senior we dreamt about this day for years. The first moment when we are finally out on our own, able to make our own decisions, and have no one around to tell us what to do. It seems so perfect.

Unfortunately, my first day of classes was not all it could be. It all started when I moved to campus. The first night I ended up with a parking ticket. Yes, that was wonderful. Not only do I have to pay this ridiculious fine, but now I have to figure out where to go to pay for it. Step one of MSU stealing my money had already been started. But this wasn't the first day of classes, oh no, this was two days BEFORE classes started. now lets talk about the first day of class.
I didn't have to be in class until 10:00 so I was thinking I would be able to sleep in and enjoy myself. Nope. I had to pick up my parking permit. Somewhere between the cashiers office and my car I managed to lose my MavCard which meant no food, access to my dorm room, or any other building for that matter. Not an hour after losing my card I managed to lock my keys in my dorm room. It was shaping out to be a wonderful first day of class. Luckily I actually made it to the right room on time, but to add to the day, I walked into the class as the class before me was just finishing. Met with strange and confused looks from everyone, I quietly took my seat and buried my head in my bag. That seemed to work until class started.

I still had the dilemma of how I was going to eat that day, so I ended up having to purchase a new MavCard for $15. I was locked out of my room still and my roommate was nowhere to be found. so once more, MSU took my money by making me pay another $5 to rent a room key just so I could get into my room, scrounge around for five bucks and then return the key ten minutes later.

Aside from the trauma of losing everything that was important to me, I would like to think that I had a good first day of classes.



Lesson To Be Learned:

Keep your MavCard and room key on the same lanyard and keep them with you at all time. Also having your roommates number is a good idea as well.