Tuesday, September 30, 2008

A talk with the Jesuits

On September 25th I attended a breakfast with Jesuits for my FE100 class. Our FE class instructors were trying to give us an opportunity to socialize with them in a less formal environment. It was a good opportunity to ask them about Jesuit education and learn more about what Loyola has to offer, not only academically but also spiritually like community service and reflection. We asked them about what they liked other than doing what they do as part of the Jesuit education. One of them said he was a chef, I found this very interesting because we can see that everything is related even if the connection is not so clear. He said that he loved cooking, but he did not do it as a career because of the marketing and how the industry wanted chefs to be. He said that he did it because he liked the feeling of sharing his talents with all the people he appreciated. I found this to be really humble of him and as an example to all of us to do something we like, not because of the money, but because we love to do it. Mainly they talked about getting involved in Loyola, studying abroad, and getting the best of our education.
As soon as we started talking, they told us to get involved because it is the best way to get to know people and learn. Since I first came to this school, I have heard from many people, faculty, students and teachers the same idea. They talked about how important community service is not only because we provide food or clothes, but because we learn about other people who need our help. They said that the most important lessons are not from the classroom, but from the experiences that will eventually shape us as responsible adults; this is one of the ideas that caught my attention the most. In the poem by Andre Marvell “To His Coy Mistress” he talks about love, maybe it is a different kind of love that what the Jesuit talked to us about, but it is still love, Marvell talked about time, and maybe sometimes we think we are so busy in school, but we should dedicate some of our time for people who need our help. It is very important for us to be involved in school because we will physically help people, but most important, we relate to them in ways we never thought possible.
Another way for us to learn and get involved is by studying abroad, father Jack told us that we should get out of our comfort zone and go to places which we have never thought of. Maybe not just going to comfortable places like France, England or Ireland, but places like Thailand or China. According to him, seeing and experiencing other cultures will help us appreciate our own and learn from those who do different things than us and live differently. I can relate to this when I went back to my country this summer I was not used to it anymore, it was very hard for me to adapt again, even though I lived there for fourteen years. It was out of my comfort zone and I did not like it the first days, but then I saw all the good things that my country had to offer and then I loved it.
It was very interesting to get to know all of them and hear what they thought about Jesuit education and everything that Loyola had to offer. I also remember one of them saying that we paid $46000 a year and we might as well take advantage of all of this. I should say again that the most important lessons come from outside of the classroom and they are right. We have to enjoy everything that this school has to offer and get involved in community service and other extracurricular activities, not because of the money but because we will learn from every experience.

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