Refletion Four

What do you think are the most unrealistic expectations placed on Ras by students/residents? Administrators? Why do you think they expect those things, and how will you manage those expectations if chosen to be an RA?

Well, I have absolutely no experience with the exact duties of an RA are, but I can only assume. I know that RAs are responsible for everyone in their community, including themselves. I decided to do a bit of research and came across this article:

http://media.www.mainecampus.com/media/storage/paper322/news/2001/03/05/LocalNews/Ra.Duties.Too.Much.For.Some-52368.shtml

Interesting enough, it mentions an aspect that we touched on in class: The Fish Bowl Concept, so I will talk about this challenge. If you think about it, being both friend and foe must be quite a challenge. Trying to keep your environment, surroundings, and community safe while not being the “tattletale” of the group is like running a marathon without drinking enough water: an almost impossible task, unless you know how to handle it properly. Think of any negative situation that you have come across in your life and think how the protagonist handled it. Did they do it right, in your opinion? How would you have changed the situation? I can think of a few good stories, but this is my favorite:

There was a small group of kids in my middle school making fun of a mentally challenged boy named Nick. They picked up his books and papers and through them all over the hall. Then the teacher came over, yelled at the lead bully to get to class. Not for making fun, not for throwing his stuff around and not for breaking his spirit (he was crying at that time and I honestly didn’t blame him,) and she walked away! She didn’t help, she didn’t ask if he was okay, but left him there to clean it up himself. This absolutely broke my heart. At the age of twelve, I walked over and had the maturity or the caring (which ever you prefer) to help him and walked him to class. I was later ridiculed for being seen with the freak, the retard but it didn’t bother me because I knew I did something that she could not. I never forgot that day and never will. The funniest thing happened at Graduation, though. Nick walked up to me and thanked me. He told me that he will never forget that day because I was the first kid that was ever nice to him. I don’t think I have ever been more proud of my actions.

So, pardon my tangent. The moral of the story is that I did what I thought the teacher should have done and I handled it the best way I could figure. As an RA, one has to predict the outcome of one’s actions. If I had decided to join the bullies what would have happened? If I walked away, what would have happened? So, as an RA, you have to assume you are being watched at all times and predict what the repercussions of those actions may be. You are your community’s role model. You must stay true to yourself, but you must remain the upstanding figure, you must be the RA.