Vulnerabilities of  students create deeper connections

Here is a simple fact – no one’s life is perfect. We all go through problems and experienced troubling situations in the past. Despite this, we as humans try to portray ourselves in favorable ways, concealing our conditions.

Like an iceberg, we show a small side of us to the world while hiding the rest away from sight. It is as if we tend to be ashamed of our situations. 

Constantly portraying an image suppresses our emotions – leading us to view the world in a negative light. Due to pressures from social media, family, school, jobs, and many other external factors, it is easy to feel stressed and overwhelmed. These feelings can further push us to conceal our emotions in fear of what others think.

In John 4, we see Jesus talk to the Samaritan woman. The Samaritan woman married multiple men, and before encountering Jesus, she slept with an unmarried man. Rather than reprimanding her for her decisions, Jesus treated her respectfully and offered her a chance at redemption to be saved.

In John 8, the townspeople cornered an adulterous woman to stone her to death. The Pharisees joined the townspeople to test if Jesus followed the law Moses commanded them to follow. Instead of stoning her, Jesus said, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” After Jesus said that, no one lifted a stone, and the woman’s life was spared.

In both these stories, we see Jesus accepting people for who they are rather than rejecting them for the actions in their past. Jesus highlighted that not a single one of us is without sin and that not a single one of us is perfect. We, as both humans and Christians, need to recognize this simple fact.

Although we do not show the whole world our icebergs, problems and situations, we must find a group of people we trust to discuss our everyday issues. It is vital that we be ourselves amongst the people we trust.

Whether your group checks up on each other in a group chat or has a Bible study every other week, the simple act of getting together combats the pressures we face.

As president, student, friend and brother, I challenge all of us to open up to a community of people we trust.

Everyone on my mother’s side of the family rarely got together, closing themselves off from one another. When my grandfather passed, the whole family got together after a decade. My grandfather’s death revealed the hidden icebergs within my mother’s side of the family.

The revealed icebergs in my family contained bitterness, emotional trauma, pettiness and drama. When all icebergs revealed themselves, our families grew closer together. My cousins and I helped each other with the grief we felt, and we ended up with a reliable support system.

If my extended family had avoided acting perfectly and accepted one another earlier, a more profound connection within the family would have existed.

Before we find ourselves in difficult times or within an iceberg of our creation, opening up ourselves to others can ease burdens within our lives. If we ever find ourselves having people coming to us and exposing their vulnerabilities, we must accept them for who they are, just like God accepts us and gives us the opportunity for redemption.

To read more from The Feather, go to Cross country overview or Photojournalist shares life-changing experiences in Belize.