to begin, i didn’t really think about which “medicines” i needed in order to balance out my strengths. i started to read the clues and decided which ones would be the easiest to find. after a few minutes and a few clues, i realized this was typical. i am always searching for the easy way out: the route which will give me the minimum work needed in the shortest possible amount of time. i have always been this way. i hate having work hanging over my head, so while i may complete something relatively soon after it is assigned, it may not be work completed to the best of my ability. i just want to get things done; sometimes my work suffers as a consequence.
of course, i continued on my scavenger hunt. i found seven “medicines”, with the help of some of my peers: compassion, joy, heart, patience, strength, humility and integrity. when i was finally able to sit down and reflect upon these “medicines”, i realized every single one on the list is a basic building block of life and that these seven which i have collected are certainly not a bad starting point. though others may disagree, these are necessary parts of life. we need these to grow and learn, and to make decisions in our lives, both daily and in the future.
so, i thought about it and decided i would stick with these seven. i didn’t feel the need to run out and find any others because in life, you take what you are handed. you don’t get to pick and choose much of anything. i also decided to stick with just seven because, when i read the number symbolism, i learned that this number represents a state of unrest. for many, this journey called high school is a state of unrest. most of us don’t really know what we want. the number seven perfectly represents this situation.
compassion: a tiny hand, found in the religion office, compassion is reaching out, helping those around you, caring for others to the best of your ability
joy- a dumdum from the community service office, joy is being full of energy, life and happiness, being content with your decisions and living them out to the fullest extent
heart- a foam heart from the principal’s office, to have heart is to trust, it gives us life both on the inside and the outside, to be heartless is to not care or experience anything
patience- thread given to us by the admissions office, to be patient is to wait, to have a long fuse, which is perhaps where the thread comes in…
strength- sand from ms. mccarthy, physical strength is not what we are talking about here, sand is mushed up rocks which provide a solid foundation but also this makes me think of “the house built upon sand”; it did not have a strong foundation, which is perhaps the most important thing you could do for yourself
humility- incense from mrs. brown in the learning center, to be humble is to accept help from the outside, to acknowledge you have a problem…i haven’t exactly figured out how incense fits in to this however…
integrity- a single light from campus ministry, to have integrity to is to respect yourself and everyone else, to be bold and open and to take the time to learn about yourself and others, when you have integrity you become a bright spot for the rest of the world around you
i would be happy to take these seven things with me any day. however, it is difficult for me to carry all of these with me at the same time. that’s why it is important to find balance and find “medicines” to bring out balance and show off our other strengths.
