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New Year's Message for my Classmates in Xalapa
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Classmates,

Another year in our lives comes to an end. We are not the same ones as in first semester. As we learn new things and widen our horizons, our ways of thinking and attitudes change. We evolve.

Randomly, we were put in a group of complete strangers with different backgrounds and upbringings. Slowly, we have been adapting to each other and developing friendships while putting aside our differences in personality, ideology and interests.

At the beginning we felt inadequate and uncertain as we didn't know each other well. For some people I was obnoxious (and perhaps I still am) as I would want to participate and show what I knew without raising my hand or waiting for others to finish speaking and interrupting them. I wanted to be liked but I did it in the wrong way. Moreover, for others, I was just someone interested in appealing to teachers and getting good grades while being an insensitive jerk with others.

I took me some time to understand that I don't have to compete against you to be better, but I have to compete with myself to be better with you. Also, I understood that as a future language teacher, I will be working with people all the time. So, I thought, what's the use of mastering a language if I can't establish meaningful relationships with others? It's like having the seat but not a piano.

Therefore, I take this chance to offer a sincere apology to those whom I have upset at some point during these three semesters. Also, forgive me if I have said things that I should have kept to myself.

Instead of feeling like we are competing against each other, I propose we, united as a group, compete with other groups. I have the vision that –together– we can become the best group in the whole Language School. I am certain that if we all improve our level, both the environment in the classroom and our grades will improve. This is what I call good competition. Instead of competing against each other, we can compete together against other groups.

Once we show our professors that we have improved, they will set us as an example for other groups. Those groups will want to improve, too; therefore we will be improving the overall level of the whole Language School and the Universidad Veracruzana, at the same time. We can switch from being the 13/15 group (pass/fail) to a 28/0 one. Together, we can be the leaders in the English major because we would be making the first move and we would set the example to other groups. That's how we can give our grain of sand to change the world for the better: starting with ourselves.

This is my proposal for the New Year. What will I do to make this happen? I am willing to help some of you study for the upcoming English exam so we all can improve our grades. If we see each other as members of the same team, I am sure this will be possible.

Just as organizations have a mission statement, I have created my own. This personal mission statement is not definite, and it can be modified later, just as constitutions all over the world are amended. This statement declares my mission in this world. I am going to use as a criterion for my behavior and attitudes. However, it doesn't mean that I will not make mistakes or that I won't fail to abide by it. I'm in no way perfect, so there should always be room for mistakes and learning from them.

FRANCISCO'S PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT:

I.To be the programmer of my own attitudes, plans and decisions in order to live a life of conscience and freedom.

II.Help people around me understand each other better in order to eliminate ignorance, intolerance, prejudices, racism, indifference, apathy, envy and all those attitudes that corrupt human interactions.

III.Make small but constant contributions for the improvement of people around me as I understand that everything and everyone is interconnected.

IV.Think of all that there is to think and keep an analytical mind.

V.Research and dispel my doubts. Reaffirm and expand my knowledge everyday. (new mental associations)

VI.Use my imagination to plan things and their outcome.

VII.Learn from my mistakes.

VIII.Work on the important and the non-urgent plans.

IX.Be passionate and creative on everything that I do.

FRANCISCO'S PERSONAL VISION STATEMENT:

To develop a technological breakthrough for the benefit and understanding of PEOPLE and the ENVIRONMENT, i.e. THE WHOLE.

These are my mission and my vision and they are very personal. I suggest each of you write your own in agreement with your own values. It doesn't have to be long, but it should state the meaning of your lives. If you need help writing it, just imagine how you would late to be remembered the day of your funeral. Close your eyes and think, what will I want to have written on my tombstone? I'm sure that will help you to come up with something.

Why am I telling you this? Well, first I want you to know what I stand for; second, because in telling you, I am socially committing to living up to my mission statement. Imagine if we had only one month left in our lives. I am sure we would dare to say what we keep to ourselves normally. That's why I'm sharing this with you.

Once each of you have your own personal mission statement, together we can build a *03 GROUP MISSION STATEMENT and will guide us towards being the best group in the whole Language School. This is my wish for all of you this Christmas and New Year's: that we should not see as opponents, but instead as members of the same team.

Sincerely,

Francisco Padilla García

January 3, 2008 | 2:46 AM Comments  0 comments

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