iExam 2

As students at a Jesuit university it is important we build on their traditional techniques and implement it into our own lives. For the second iExam, we were asked to observe our behavior for one day and only say what is kind, useful, and true. From the surface, I predicted this would be easy for me, but I came to realize it was difficult to apply all three of these things to my life amongst my friends. I found that some moments things that I said that were true and useful, ended up not being kind. Or saying things that were kind, were not useful, etc. I was surprised to realize that my relationship between my roommates and friends is based on a lot of sarcastic banter. It was difficult to communicate with them as a result, but what I learned about my interactions with them was eye-opening. I learned that I base a lot on my behavior in an attempt to always be kind thus stopping me from always being true.

For this assignment, I observed my behavior on Friday, October 27th. I chose this day because it allowed me to note my behavior in class and with my friends. My day began with Spanish so naturally, I found it difficult to say things that were true. If I wasn’t confident in my answer I chose to be silent instead. In fact, for most instances where I was cautious to say things that were kind, useful, and true, I found myself resorting to silence as a way to avoid breaking the rules of the assignment. My second and final class of the day was physics. Our professor was introducing the theory of work and energy and considering it was a Friday and a beautiful day my lab partner struggled to focus. He asked me a question on one of the example problems which allowed for perfect useful conversation. Additionally, I paid extra attention to remaining kind and patient. Up until this point, I considered the assignment to be going well. It wasn’t until I returned to my apartment that I began to struggle. With Halloween approaching my roommates and I were brainstorming costume ideas. To be silly, my roommate suggests we be Shrek, Princess Fiona, and Donkey from the movie Shrek. I went along with it for the time being to be kind, but after looking up pictures of the costume I had to be honest and I tell her we would look ridiculous. We laughed and she agreed. Finally, the interaction I found most difficult was when I had to tell my roommate I didn’t like her cooking when she asked me. Typically, I am gracious when she cooks because it is generous and not necessary but for this assignment, I had to remain truthful. Notice I left out kind and useful because these concepts were thrown from our dining room window. She was more angry than upset when I mentioned she overcooked the chicken and put way too much salt on it. She knew I was completing this assignment so she laughed it off and “jokingly” said she will never cook for me again.

I also came to realize that technology fostered most of my failures within the assignment. Just by simply scrolling through Instagram I felt I was breaking both being useful and true. I was wasting my time and “double tapping” photos that were edited by people posting to “show off” their perfect life. I concluded that technology hinders society from being useful, true, and unfortunately kind.

In doing this assignment I came to realize my typical conversation is innate. It was more difficult than I anticipated to think through my conversation prior to saying it. Maybe if more people think before they speak they too, can always be kind, useful, and true.