Recently I was walking in the back entrance of the Student Centre and I saw a person unloading some heavy, blue coolers. My initial thought was “Oh, that looks heavy! I should ask to see if she wants a hand.”
Almost immediately, I thought “No, no, she probably doesn’t want my help; it’s fine for me to keep going my way.” But as I opened the door to the stairs, it hit me –Why not?
I realized that there was no reason for me not to offer assistance to this woman. What was holding me back was my thought of impending social awkwardness. Yet it was not awkward, she gladly welcomed the help I offered with happy surprise.
This is one example of the countless situations where I struggle to climb my Great Wall of Boundaries daily.
Boundaries like this from my experience thwart us and the person we choose not to encounter from a very real and beautiful human experience of positive interaction.
We all have our own Great Wall of Boundaries that we are struggling to climb and are sometimes afraid to see what lies on the other side – what will happen if we take that leap of faith.
As we are all getting into this busy season of essays upon essays, endless midterms and all of the long days that accompany life as a student, I believe it is a good time for us to remind ourselves that we are here together and we should choose to do more for each other.
