No Two the Same

            Being from a small town in eastern Iowa, I wasn't able to experience cultural diversity until I came to Iowa State. However with that being said, I never had a problem with the adaptation. In fact, I thought that some of the sections on Chelsee's worksheet were difficult. I honestly had no preconceived prejudices or stereotypes for people in my country or international people. I've always felt strongly about treating everyone equal and that you should never make assumptions about a person because of what they look like, what they believe in, or what they value most. This is exceptionally important to remember because next year we will have mentees that may seem a lot alike because they are all from Iowa. However, it's crucial that we, as peer mentors, recognize that each mentee is different and will need different things from us.
            The section of the chapter that had the most effect on me was about 'colorblindness'. I have been in many situations where leaders would say something like "we are all the same, it doesn't matter if you're white, black, pink, or purple" and it never really made me think that that could offend or irritate others, but it makes sense to me now. It is totally okay to acknowledge that we aren't all the same and that we can learn a lot about others if we don't try to pretend that the diversity doesn't exist. 
            My favorite part of lecture this week was Josh's activity based around the idea of thinking outside of the box. Like I previously mentioned, each one of our mentees is going to need us in various unique ways. Some of the issues may be easy for us to deal with, but others may test us. Thinking outside of the box is going to be necessary and will not only benefit our mentees, but will help develop our leadership and problem solving skills as well.
           Finally, on another note, I thought that the Coca-Cola commercial was beautiful and incredibly meaningful. Thursday was the first time that I had seen the commercial, but I had seen negative tweets about it. I wish I had known what the commercial was about when my friends were tweeting about it so I could have reminded them that America is made up of so many cultures and that we technically have no national language. Sometimes I think people are entirely to quick to make remarks and not really think about what they are saying and who they could be offending. It is important that we look at things more big picture and remember that we are all different, which is perfectly fine!