During my freshman year at The Woods, we were asked to summarize our knowledge of the four themes of Woods Core. We had discussed what we already understood about each theme, but we also took it much further than that. We were challenged again and again to look at these topics with a new state of mind, a new perspective, and new set of eyes. This course has opened my eyes to many issues that I hadn’t previously known and I think I’m beginning to understand the importance of it all. With that said, in the following paragraphs I will re-explain what each theme – spirituality, social justice, women’s issues, and sustainability – means to me.

To me, spirituality is the feeling of connecting to something ultimately bigger than us and taking that connection and touching those around us and giving them a meaning in life. Spirituality is finding a purpose in life and not only following it with all we have got, but living this purpose for the betterment of those around us. Back in November, I had the opportunity to go to my own Chrysalis Flight, which is a spiritual retreat with absolutely no access to the outside world for a whole weekend. The events that followed my moment of arrival was something I have never experienced before and I pray I’ll never forget all that I’ve learned in the short time I was there. We had fifteen talks where others came in and shared their stories and the lesson it taught them in their faith. In between these talks, we sang, we worshipped, we danced, we prayed, we cried, we laughed, and best of all we received an experience like no other and it showed me what spirituality is. I had described spirituality as being pure in all we do and by that I mean completely genuine and true in all things that we do. It means to take down all barriers or to strip away any mask we may put up and be open in all ways imaginable. It means to bare our souls and to hold nothing back; raw emotions and all. Think about it. A world where everything is out in the open, no emotions held back and no thoughts suppressed in a world where everyone is easily offended. It’s the close connection with something that draws out these completely raw and honest moments that bring out the best in us. This pure, genuine, and open state of mind is the best thing one can ever do for themselves.

Unlike spirituality, I hadn’t had much to say about social justice. It was a topic we didn’t really discuss in my high school as much as we probably should have. What I had said about it was something I had believed it would be based what I already knew. When I think of social justice, I think of equal opportunity for the poor as it is for the rich, and I think of receiving what one deserves when hard work is involved. I also believe that it means to be fair in all decisions; don’t give someone else better treatment or opportunities based on outward appearance or quirks someone has that you don’t like. Social justice, to me, is doing what is right, even if that means being in the minority and having to go twice the distance for the betterment of humanity. My example had been supporting others regardless of whom they love is a social justice because it is the choice to put aside all differences of others and show support to those who need it. Other examples would be to stop discrimination, poverty, and economic inequality – all issues that we face in our society. I’ll end this section with this: We were all humans until race disconnected us, religion separated us, politics divided us, and wealth classified us.

I think women’s issues itself is a form of a social justice issue, sort of a discriminatory stance toward women in all that they do. Women have had it hard for a long time, and though much has changed since the first of woman’s struggle for equality started, giving women the opportunity to move up in a “man’s world,” there are still many issues that women face today. When the topic of women’s issues comes up, I always think of all the milestones women have faced to bring us where we are now and cannot help the feeling of awe that washes over me. These milestones are those of overcoming the idea that women are meant to work at home and just accept our fates of relying on spouses to pay the bills and just take care of everything. Look at us now! We can be independent individuals that work in just about any field we choose and not have to rely on anyone but ourselves. We can make something of ourselves. It’s amazing how we could look at these issues that we deem unimaginable or unthinkable and decide to fight back to achieve the impossible. It amazes me how strong women in history have stared hardships in the face and have taken the initiative to fix these issues as if they have no other purpose beyond making this a man and a woman’s world. Despite what some people would say, women still fight to be considered equal to men and to prove that we can work and achieve success just as well as, or even better than, men. Out of women’s issues comes strength and empowerment; we are fighting back and that is an encouraging thought.

Lastly, we discussed sustainability, which I believe to be the most important of the four. Back in August I thought of the phrase “Leave it better off than you found it” to describe what I believed to be sustainability. To me, I think of it as taking the responsibility of doing something in such a way that it will change the future generation for the better. Throughout the semester, we talked about this more and discussed all the different opportunities one could do to further sustain this planet and ways to improve everyday choices to cut down on resources. Simple ways to do this is to cut back on water, electricity, and harmful chemicals that could destroy useful resources such as plants. Another way to do this would be to cut back spending in huge organizations and to buy from more local and community run stores and shops, because this is giving back to those who may have supported us through school, church, and just life in general. Other ways are maybe less obvious, but leave an impact nonetheless. This would be leaving kind words and a genuine smile to everyone you see in passing or happen to meet. Our society is filled with people who are depressed and don’t know how to be a happy. In this instance, a kind word and a smile can be just what they needed to get through the day. This sustains our ability to love and connect with the people around us and that is something I think most of us forgot how to do.

These themes, as the foundation of Woods Core, are really important, especially when it comes to building upon the knowledge of each. The themes, it would seem, as I stated back in August, build up to the betterment of humanity for us and for future generations. It is pure – unmasked and genuine; just – a sense of what is equal and fair; strong – the ability to keep going when all odds are stacked against us, and right – the ability to see our wrong-doings and fix them to improve the world we live in for a better and brighter future. We as people are responsible for those who come after us and we must step up, jump through the hurdles thrown at us with pure determined will, and change for the better. We have to allow ourselves to see the error of our ways and take initiative to do everything we can to do a better job; the future counts on us.