My Teacher Told Me.....And I Didn't Get It. by Ross

My Teacher Told Me.....And I Didn't Get It. by Ross - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

There are two sides to every story. That’s it, in one simple sentence. That’s what I learned from my history teacher.
It is human nature to take a position on a subject, dig your heels in, and declare – I AM RIGHT!!! It’s human nature to shut down your mind and refuse to consider another perspective.
Perspective. But where is your perspective coming from? Parental influence, expectations, peers, media influence, teachers, bosses, celebrity influence, something you read or something someone posted on Facebook or Twitter, girlfriend/boyfriend? It comes at you from all sides. But, what perspective are THEY coming from?
There are two sides to every story – or more! As I headed off to the big, bad, exciting, scary world of college I had my opinions; I had my expectations. All of the sudden I was in this melting pot of different opinions, opinions coming from another perspective and coming from everywhere.
When my history teacher told us to consider all sides of an issue, I thought I understood what he was talking about but that was because, in my world, we all had similar opinions and I thought my world was THE world. Boy was I wrong.
What I have learned, after my first year of college, is to listen; listen to what the other person is saying and ask them questions. Why do you think that, where do you get your information to have that opinion? Can you support your opinion with something other than just emotion? Can I be open-minded enough to try to understand/question an opinion different than mine? Why do I have the opinion that I have and where did that come from?
Perspective. That is the most important lesson I learned from a teacher, but I didn’t understand that lesson because of the small world I lived in, until I had the opportunity to apply it in real life, and…I now get to really experience and apply that lesson every day!
Submitted by Ross Parker