Service and Religion

I feel as though Loras being a private Catholic college has helped prepare all of us to be socially active and has also laid the groundwork for a life of service. I think that the big thing about this is that Loras always stresses how important it is, not only as Catholics but as human beings, to contribute our part to society. The various opportunities that we have here for service trips, fundraisers, volunteer work, etc is really great and exoses to many different ways in which we can become involved. By holding us personally accountable (unlike other public universities ) to have not only a service learning class but to actually volunteer is really great. This way, we get a feel for community and what impact we truly have upon others. It also makes us realize that even in 2009 we can still depend upon those around us for help and this sense of community isn't lost, like it sometimes feels.
I have volunteered in the past, but I don't know that I would have volunteered here in Dubuque without this class. I feel like this is going to be a really positive experience in which we are going to be able to see some of the direct effects that our presence and our time has created within the community, of people that I otherwise would never have met.
I agree with the book in the sense that we become too entrenched in tradition and become so comfortable with them that we never question or evolve those ideas. By becoming too stuck in paticular ideas or ways of thinking, we sometimes limit ourselves to what we can become exposed to. When we start to question the whys behind the tradition, we may find that we don't completely agree with them or least not in totality. The traditions of the Catholic church were primarily formed in a time that did not face the same social issues that we face today in 2009, and sometimes I feel that these traditions can become outdated.
I think that overall, Catholic insitutions really help to cultivate the individual not only intellectually but also through forming strong characters. I think that even people who are not Catholic get just as much benefit as those who are.

Preparing to leave: What will I face?

Looking at graduation and realizing that it is going to be closer than I think scares me incredibly. I have so many doubts about myself and what I really have to offer others, because I have never been in the position in which I am not affiliated with a school. No longer will I be a student, but I will be a contributing member of society, and one who is ultimately held more responsible for their actions. I know that what I do have to offer, is at least the attempt with the very best intentions to help others. While I am not 100% sure of what all I am capable of, as I have not had to prove myself yet-- I do know that I will do everything in my power to help others.
There are a number of things that one will ultimately face as they enter the so called "real world". Oftentimes they may not be huge social issues on the whole scale of things, but they are there nonetheless. I feel sometimes like the narrator of The Invisible Man, invisible. Not for the same reasons as he however. I feel like people sometimes look at people our age as lazy, or not caring about things like they really do. They look at some of us with a stereotype without looking for the deeper story, they assume things about me and then draw their own conclusions. I have often found that me being a quiet, shy, female college student many people find me incapable of things and many times are later proven wrong. In internships or other volunteer work I have done, I have been told that when they initially met me they thought I was either a stupid sororitygirl or they assumed I was too selfish to volunteer and help anyone-- but after getting to know me, knew I was completely different.
I also find that I worry too much about what others think and sometimes that prevents me from doing what I truly think is right; I think that the wealthy man's son was right when he told the narrator that Blesdoe did him a favor by making all the wealthy men shun him-- for he could truly be free when he wasn't worried about their opinion. And like the narrator, I sometimes feel like I don't openly question things even when I know things are wrong the way they are, I am simply too afraid to voice my opinion for fear of the backlash. Obviously there are huge differences between he and I and what we have encountered; not only does he live in another region than I, he is a different gender, and race. Ultimately we may have some of the same thoughts or feelings, but the way in which the world views and approaches us will be different because of the stereotypes they have previously conceived.

Liberal Arts Education

Liberal Arts educations I believe develop a person as a whole vs. cultivating them for a paticular course of study that you would find in a technical or vocational school. They care just as much about the individual outside the classroom as they do the student.
Right now, I have two senior capstone courses. Both have called upon me to recall what I have learned here at Loras College and how it has shaped me both as an individual and a student of the college.The list that we created as a class included critical thinking, original thought, analytical skills, and devoloping ourselves ethically (it included a whole lot of other stuff, but these were what I found relevant for this post). I think that all these characteristcis are important when looking at the service project that we now face.
For one, we can look at a situation and understand how to accomplish the goal that we set for ourselves. In our respective areas of volunteering when will inevitably face situations that will require us to think outside the box in order to achieve what we set out to do. This applies to the world outside of school or service as well. We are able to call upon knowledge from different areas and learn how to incorporate that in order to come up with a solution, whereas students of a vocational or trade school are limited in their knowledge of certain things.
As students of this liberal arts college in paticular, we are held to a higher standard (in my biased opinion) of learning how our actions affect others, and our responsiblity to society. The very dispositions of our college call us to become ethical decision makers and responsible contributers-- the dispositions themselves are self explanatory of the importance to service.
Naussbaum challenges us to question what is not right and do something to change that. I feel that is something we should practice throughout our lives