At the Celebration of Active Citizenship held by Office of Community Engagement, I received a card from the W Society. On the card, there was a quote from Confucius—“When you see a worthy person, endeavor to emulate him.” I then reflected on what I noticed and summarized seven actions, which were worth emulation, from seven people around me.
To Mentor
One of the things my father has been doing to thank his alma mater is to examine theses of current graduate students without being paid. After seeing him annotating a pile of papers until late night, I was really moved by his spirit to mentor others selflessly.
To Praise
Every kid that met my mom loved her. She told me that one of the reasons might be her passion to praise children. Every time a child accomplishes something, my mom will smilingly compliment the good work.
To Listen
I appreciated listening more after I met my French professor. She patiently listened to me when I talked about my thoughts and questions; therefore, I felt trusted and supported.
To Reflect
My English professor once told us inspirations of her writings often came from her life. I couldn’t agree with her more. At the last class of our poetry course, she and I both used “reflexive” to describe our writing styles.
To Engage
Professor Harbron uniquely made chemistry contents very interesting. Because she described part of the chemical structure of a molecule as “floppy ears,” I would never forget that class. I was really impressed by how she made learning fun.
To Care
Auntie Yun is one of the most caring people I have ever seen. She sent me messages telling me to dress warmly, drove hours to pick me up, prepared my favorite foods, and listened to me talking about transition to college. I was touched that she and her family were always there to support me.
To Smile
I was connected to Sylvia and her family in the Global Friends program. Their sweet smiles made my heart smile.
The seven people have shown their inspiring messages to the world. I couldn’t be more thankful that I got to know these beautiful souls.