What gives you life?
What shapes who you are?
These next few weeks, we will hear from your peers and professors about what gives them life, what animates them to do the things that they do. You may agree, disagree, or find yourself doing both.
Each week, we will focus special attention on one of the conversations listed above: Kindness, Learning, Meaning, Mortality, Music, and Passion. You can watch any of them any time. However, when you open “Read this Week’s Conversation,” you can connect with an ongoing conversation about that particular topic.
We begin with Dr. Scott Henderson, professor of Education, who shares with us the significance of kindness.
(A big thanks to Joshua Whiffen, ’12, and Taylor Senseney Crouch, ’13 for all your hard work on this!)
Furman students did a great job putting this together! Here’s an additional thought about kindness: The word “kind” is closely related to the Middle English word that means “kin.” Thus, to be kind to someone is tantamount to treating them like a member of your family. I suppose that if we think of everyone as being part of our family, then that means we ought to be kind to everybody.
Another thing I’ve thought about lately: I need to do a better job acknowledging the kindnesses that I encounter on a daily basis. Evil gets too much publicity as it is.
“There are three ways to ultimate success:
The first way is to be kind.
The second way is to be kind.
The third way is to be kind.”
Fred Rogers
I thought it was profound that you linked calling with identity because I think such a connection allows your calling to seep into and envelope all aspects of your life. I also thought it was nice that you shared some of your hobbies because in my opinion our hobbies are something we discuss far less frequently than our calling yet they play a valuable role in our identity as well. You can interact with someone for a while and never learn about their hobbies because it seems like trivial information but I think we lose an enriching aspect of relationships when we leave out that element of what we enjoy, the element of play. I’d never heard the Lord’s Prayer discussed that way before with the focus on emphasis but that was insightful too. I liked that you linked it all together in a selfless chain of reaching out to others, leaving an impact on their lives without seeking self-glorification.
I really enjoyed this video and appreciate your sharing all of that Dr. Henderson.
Laura Bardin