iExamen #2

            Over the weekend, I was faced with the daunting task of saying only what is kind, useful, and true for an entire day. While I wish I could say that this would be nothing out of the usual for me, that is simply untrue, and this assignment was genuinely challenging. Over the course of 24 hours of communicating in the most virtuous sense possible, I learned more about my usual way of communicating than I bargained for.

            I had originally intended to follow through with being kind all of Saturday, but this plan was quickly foiled when my roommates woke me up around 10 am and I was in no mood to be nice, so I postponed it until Sunday. However, this still taught me something about myself and how I communicate: being kind is not my first instinct. It was at this moment that I knew I was going to have a lot of fun with our assignment, but at the same time, I was going to be put to the test.

            What I had forgotten about attempting this assignment on a Sunday was that football would be on our television screen for over 12 hours straight. What this means, in a house of seven young men, is that there will be a plethora of insults flying around at any moment. So, in the spirit of the assignment, I decided that I would only say seven words for the entire day: The Patriots are better than your team. I decided upon this phrase for the same three reasons listed in the prompt; First, it is 100% true and cannot be debated. Second, it isn’t particularly unkind, so I made a judgment that it was okay to say. Finally, I believe it was a very useful piece of information – if I was a fan of a team besides the Patriots, I would be so grateful that there was an insightful Patriots fan around to remind me how much worse my favorite team is than them.

            After hours of repeating the same seven words, my roommates finally convinced me to say something else. At this point, I decided to discontinue the assignment and return to my normal way of communication because I just couldn’t take it anymore. This included mean jokes and lots of name-calling, which opened my eyes to how I treat people I am comfortable around. While I may not mean any harm by these statements, they are neither useful nor kind, although they may be sometimes true. I asked my roommates how they felt about this way of communicating, and they immediately began to make fun of me, which reminded me why I talk to them the way I do.

            This assignment was extremely entertaining. It offered me a chance to explore just how kind I can be, even if I didn’t take full advantage of the chance. Nevertheless, I now think about my relationship with my friends in terms of the actions we show each other far more than the words we say. I know that even if I said nothing but kind, useful, and true things, the strength of my friendships would still come down to what we do for one another.