I want to share with you an experience that I had recently. Here is an excerpt from an essay I wrote:
I lay awake on the cold concrete floor and even though the floor was throbbing from the rock concert next door, I was in my own world thinking about what I had seen and experienced that day. Now I understood why they called this an "Immersion” trip.
When I went with part of my Norcia Community members to Portland for the service immersion trip, I was given the opportunity to truly explore which Benedictine Value would be closest to my heart. Susan Leyster reminded us that we weren’t serving homeless people, we were serving people experiencing homelessness. We weren’t serving people experiencing homelessness, we were serving guests. That didn’t really hit me as hard as the things I saw walking through Portland. People experiencing homelessness were on the side of the streets in plain sight, yet everyone would look away from them, or walk around them as if they were monsters. Nobody ever said hello to them. It almost seemed like nobody even recognized them as being worthy enough to take the time to say hello or smile to them. None would listen to their stories or give them a second chance and a job. Many people just saw them as "homeless people."
This is when I realized that not everyone understood the value of Respect For Persons the same way I did. The Benedictine Value that influences my individual leadership style the most is Respect for Persons because I have experienced the feeling you get when others see you as not being important or good enough. When I was younger I hated it when people saw me as just a small Asian kid or just a helpless boy. They didn’t know that I had been adopted, or that I had Asperger’s Syndrome and ADHD. Would that have changed their outlook and how they treated me? No, because they don’t know what the value of respect for persons means.
“Be the first to show respect to the other and that no one is to pursue what is better for someone else” (RB 72).
Respect for persons isn’t just recognizing that they are humans, but also that they are worthy of the same respect that you receive, no matter what. It means that you treat them as you would want them to treat you. The Rule of Benedict reinforces this idea in chapter 72, where it says that we should “Be the first to show respect to the other and that no one is to pursue what is better for someone else” (RB 72). I strive to be a leader who shows respect for others. Not just a toleration for others, but true respect for others. Because I have felt the feeling where others do not value as a human being. I want to lead by example and be there for the people who are experiencing those ugly feelings. I want to work towards a community that serves others, and a community that respects and recognizes that every person they meet has a value as a living human being.
“To offer warmth, acceptance, joy in welcoming others” (RB, 48)
Every person has a story worth listening to, and everyone is worthwhile enough to be recognized and treated as a human being, No matter what situation they are in. I encourage you to experience this yourself, and take the challenge of immersing yourself in service for others, and stepping into the livelihoods that many people on the streets face each day. If you truly connect with them, you might even see how much more of a positive outlook on life that they have than you might have yourself. You might see that they were once like you. No matter what you learn or see in these Immersion trips, you will definitely come to find out that the people on the streets aren't who you think they are.
“…that in all things God may be glorified” (RB, 57)
They are humans, made in the Image and likeness of God. They have nothing, yet we have everything. But they have hope now, because of the people who come on these service immersion trips, not with the main intention of helping them, but to be there for them and listen to them.
Service isn't just helping others. It is more than that. I encourage you to go on a service immersion trip and experience the true essence of service.
