Awareness by Nicole

Awareness by Nicole - November 2013 Scholarship Essay

In fourth grade I was given the option to choose an instrument to play, and I chose the cello. By making this decision I became a part of the Wilmington Strings Attached program led by Mr. Ward Dilmore. Mr. Dilmore was never an ordinary teacher. He did not just teach us how to play our instruments, but he taught us about life. In school there are many things students are not taught about themselves, what they are capable of. Without Mr. Dilmore's guidance and insight there is so much I would not know about myself and so much I would be in the dark on.

Throughout the course of high school I have come to realize that people think and feel differently. That is such a basic thing, but because I have never experienced life outside of my own body, I figured that most people thought and felt similarly to the way I do, but I have learned that is not true. One of the major things I learned that really opened my eyes is that there are some people who feel emotions more than others, as if they feel an emotion with double the impact of another person. He explained to us that as musicians and artists, we do this. We live life with high highs and low lows. This is something I wish I had been told earlier. I wish I could have known that I felt emotions differently than some of my friends. This way I would understand why some people may have difficulty relating to what I am talking about and I would not feel alone because I know there are other people that do feel similarly to the way I do.

In Mr. Dilmore's class we would have days where we would sit in the auditorium chairs and listen to him explain to us personality types and parts of the brain or a day where we would all lie on the floor and just listen to him tell us his life story and play the cello. Through this, I learned even more about not only myself, but also how I can relate to others. I learned that I am a right brained person and an ENFP personality type. I think more in ideas and possibilities. I like to create and build. I see what could be and do not feel limited by what is. There are other people however that think more logically and they excel in math and science and other people that are more introverted as well. None of these things are bad, they are just different in comparison to the way I think, and knowing this will allow me to be more understanding of others.

One of the most striking things I have been told is "We do not have souls. We are souls. We have bodies." When Mr. Dilmore told us this, it really got my wheels turning. We are not a people of bodies with different functions going through life to procreate to continue the race, then die off. We are a people of thoughts and ideas. We were put on this earth to change it and improve upon it. We are here to create ties and relate to others. We are here to collaborate and make a difference. The sooner people realize that we are more than skin and bones, and that we are people who think and feel in our own unique way, the better off the world will be. I was just fortunate enough to be taught about it in high school.