Change by Jon

Change by Jon - October 2013 Scholarship Essay

“How different we might think if we walked a mile in someone else’s shoes” That is what one teacher said or shouted at me. Being an eighteen year old, I thought I knew everything, and I was loud about it. I felt as if my opinion was the only way. I would get into debates with these teachers on a regular basis. I was the outspoken conservative, and liked to get under my teacher’s skin. I knew most were quite liberal, and I knew that they could not stand a ruby red republican constantly declaring the GOP talking points before, during, and after class. But looking back I can say that I have changed a great deal since High School.
After graduating High School, I had planned to attend Liberty University. Liberty is a well known conservative school, and would have been a perfect fit for my young republican mind. But as destiny would have it, money fell through, and I was not able to attend this Conservative Mecca deep within the Bible belt of Lynchburg, Virginia. Instead I thought it would be better to attend a Community College for my first year, save, and then go to my dream school.
That first year was a life changing one. During my time at Chemeketa Community College, I met all kinds of people. Many students my age, surviving on their own, no parents or family members there to help them, young single parents working two jobs, raising a kid, and attending as many night classes as they can, and many more incredible individuals. While meeting these people, I started to see why many social programs were needed for so many people. I started to see the path that so many people had to take. I was not living in their shoes, but I was witnessing their struggles, seeing what they had to do just to survive, and that they worked harder than anyone I had ever met in my life.
My first year came and went, and I left to attend Liberty University my sophomore year. At this time, I was no longer a one sided conservative, but was slowly working my way to become a more open minded individual. As one would assume, the people at my school are very conservative and are very strong in their beliefs. This is especially true for my Government Professors. Being the loud outspoken person that I am, I have to voice my opinion. In this particular class I was sitting and listening to my professor state that all government programs were only useless, and that they are only spoon feeding individuals who need to learn how to work.
Most of my classmates agreed with her whole heartedly. However, I looked back at my year in that Community College. Seeing people who were indeed getting help from the Government, yet they were the hardest working people I had ever met. As I looked around the room I saw kids, who had parents paying for their school, banks lending them massive loans, and other entitled people judge those they had only an idea of.
I raised my hand politely, and simply said to my professor and classmates, “How different we might think if we walked a mile in someone else’s shoes”