After composing my lifeline, I’ve
noticed several events in my life that shaped who I am today. Up until the 11th
grade I believed myself to be a relatively normal kid, however as soon as I
became a Jr. I immediately started college (earning both college credits and
high school credits). This in combination with me starting a part time job as a
hotel desk agent isolated me from most friends and matured me up as an
individual quite quickly. I began to take life quite seriously.
After I graduated from Uni, I
ultimately sat around the house for an entire year before joining the military.
This was when I really started to notice all the hard work that my mom does
around the house and how much I’ve taken her for granted all my life. I’ve
began noticing how much she does for other people as well, making sure all our
old clothes, electronics, etc. all go to poor families. While my attitudes at
this revelation didn’t immediately change, it was the seed that was planted
that ultimately made me want to care for others as well. I wanted to be a good
person.
When I joined the military, in
Basic Military Training, I immediately made it a point to care about others
people success over my own. This was immediately recognized and I was instantly
promoted to become an element leader. Later the Military Training Instructor
had a one on one conversation about my leadership style and fired me because I
admitted that I wasn’t the type to yell at my fellow trainings for slacking.
This never stopped me from helping people, but this was about when I realized
that having positional power and leading people actually felt good.
Towards the end of my technical
training in the military I was the head white rope on base, which is a
volunteer student organization that focuses on building moral on base and
assisting the chaplains. I quickly started encouraging other ropes to volunteer
off base and amongst the community. While I wasn’t one to volunteer myself, the
feeling that I received when facilitating a volunteering movement is something
that really planted the type of person I want to be when I grow up.
There are two social identities
that have really resonated within me. The first is being a servant. Not so much
a domestic servant, but more so someone who looks into and assists with the
success of others. For example in my Airman Leadership School (ALS) training, I
make a great deal of effort to make sure everyone in the class academically
succeeds. Everyone thinks the class is chaotic and disorganized; I reshape it
to bring order. The other social identity is mentor. I love the feeling that I
get when others come to me for my advice and assistance. The fact that they
keep doing it makes me think that I’ve developed into a great asset for the
organization.
My biggest strength is the fact
that I actually take the time to develop others. I will fight tooth and nail to
give our new guys in the shop an opportunity to learn and to shine. For
example, I was tasked to change out a part during a RED BALL (changing a part
when a jet has engines running, trying to take off) and I allowed a new guy the
opportunity to try it himself. Changing a part under normal conditions isn’t
bad, changing it during a RED BALL brings on all new levels of pressure. I’m
also not afraid to stand up for them if they make a mistake. In my current ALS
for example, day two our instructor was harping on everyone for not turning in
their homework. I quickly stood up, took responsibility, and let the instructor
know that I told everyone not to do that because there were no explicit
instructions to do so. In a way this reminds me a little bit about how a father
might try to develop and protect his cubs.
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