I one word, I can describe the way I have felt for since the moment I stepped off the plane. Many times I felt very small. In many moments I even feel weak. But what it all comes down to is an overwhelming sensation of vulnerability.
During my Freshman year of high school, I had gone through a rough time and described it in detail in my English portfolio. At the end of the year my teacher wrote me a note which including thanking me for being so ‘vulnerable’. I was slightly offended because, what I had viewed as trust and honesty, I thought she was calling weak. Now I view it as an amazing compliment and incredible character trait. For someone who accepts their vulnerability is actually exceptionally strong.
Everyone experiences vulnerability and it’s almost always accompanied with discomfort. I learned so much about vulnerability and shame from the book “Daring Greatly” by Brene Brown. This book genuinely changed the way I live my life, and I brought it with me to read for a third time.
Part of my being here in Rwanda is because I was one of the recipients of the Clark Merit Award at Coe that gives one full year of tuition. The theme of the essay that got me an interview was, in fact, vulnerability. In it, I wrote “I define vulnerability as allowing my feelings and beliefs to be transparent, no matter how afraid I am of getting hurt. In my experience, this way of life establishes connections of love and joy that exceed all the pain.”
Meeting new people is vulnerable. Going somewhere you've never been takes vulnerability. It’s vulnerable to enter into a house of strangers in a new culture and have them show you where you’ll be living for the next two months. Trying to properly phrase a question to a group of women whose husbands were either victims or perpetrators of genocide- that will make you feel incredibly vulnerable.
I genuinely believe that vulnerability makes us better people, but only if we embrace it without feeling ashamed. The final sentence of my Clark essay says “Living vulnerably and speaking out against injustice is the way I will change the world.” Rwanda is making that a reality.
P.S. In this theme of honesty vulnerability, I must say that I am still deliberating on whether it’s too pretentious to quote myself in my own blog. TBD- stay tuned.
During my Freshman year of high school, I had gone through a rough time and described it in detail in my English portfolio. At the end of the year my teacher wrote me a note which including thanking me for being so ‘vulnerable’. I was slightly offended because, what I had viewed as trust and honesty, I thought she was calling weak. Now I view it as an amazing compliment and incredible character trait. For someone who accepts their vulnerability is actually exceptionally strong.
Everyone experiences vulnerability and it’s almost always accompanied with discomfort. I learned so much about vulnerability and shame from the book “Daring Greatly” by Brene Brown. This book genuinely changed the way I live my life, and I brought it with me to read for a third time.
Part of my being here in Rwanda is because I was one of the recipients of the Clark Merit Award at Coe that gives one full year of tuition. The theme of the essay that got me an interview was, in fact, vulnerability. In it, I wrote “I define vulnerability as allowing my feelings and beliefs to be transparent, no matter how afraid I am of getting hurt. In my experience, this way of life establishes connections of love and joy that exceed all the pain.”
Meeting new people is vulnerable. Going somewhere you've never been takes vulnerability. It’s vulnerable to enter into a house of strangers in a new culture and have them show you where you’ll be living for the next two months. Trying to properly phrase a question to a group of women whose husbands were either victims or perpetrators of genocide- that will make you feel incredibly vulnerable.
I genuinely believe that vulnerability makes us better people, but only if we embrace it without feeling ashamed. The final sentence of my Clark essay says “Living vulnerably and speaking out against injustice is the way I will change the world.” Rwanda is making that a reality.
P.S. In this theme of honesty vulnerability, I must say that I am still deliberating on whether it’s too pretentious to quote myself in my own blog. TBD- stay tuned.