“Treat others how you want to be treated.” It is a saying we have all heard countless times, but it is also a saying we have come to ignore because we have heard it so many times.
Being an RA is a thankless job. Most of the time, you are trying to build a sense of community and making sure that your residents are doing well. Most of the time, everyone ignores the RA and all the work they put in, and go about their day until something breaks in their room and they need the RA.
As an RA, I put a lot of effort into my floor presentation. I try come up with creative bulletin boards and door decs. This semester, I used Mod Podge on popsicle sticks to transfer different landscapes. The result came out as if the landscapes were painted on. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears (literally) went into them. So it was like a punch in the gut when someone decided it would be funny to steal all of them.
It was really disheartening and extremely frustrating. It put me on edge for the rest of the day and made me suspicious of every single little thing that my residents were doing.
The worst part, however, was not knowing who to blame. I knew that it was just one person and not the entire floor, but because of the actions of this one person, I have to suspect everyone now. This blatant sign of disrespect to not only me but also to their hall mates affects everyone. It not only made me lose trust in my residents but can also result in the entire floor having to be penalized because the real culprit doesn’t take responsibility.
As frustrating as this experience was, and still is, the thing that I want to say from this is… respect. Things can be a lot easier if you respect those around you. People will be driven to build better relationships with you. They will try to help you. The world would be a much better place if we all just acted with respect.
Why bother going out of your way to ruin someone’s day or to do something disrespectful? Being an a**hole seems like a lot more work than being respectful. To me, it sounds like way too much effort to tear down 40 door decs in the middle of the night.
So be respectful, and life will seem a bit better and bit easier. After all, respect makes the world go round.
Be First to Comment