Assignment 5 Takeaway: For this assignment I had to perform at least five good deeds for individuals of whom I were not well acquainted with. Even though I generally perform good deeds for people, such as holding open the door for people and letting them enter or exit before me, I had to do a bit more than usual. However, this wasn’t a problem for me since helping people comes naturally and almost everyone appreciates having good deeds performed for them. Participating in this assignment made me truly reflect on why I enjoy helping people and the main reason is because it brings me joy when I make other people happy. There is a lot of negative things that are currently going on in the world and I feel like if I can at least make one person happy then that’s a plus…There could also be a ripple effect as well where people that have good deeds done for them, do something nice for another person and so on. Overall, this assignment showed me, personally, that a life where you do not give to others is an unfulfilled life.

Assignment 4 Takeaway: This assignment required me to complete the Styles of Love Questionnaire and then report my results. For the most part, my results were fairly accurate, however, there were a few things that I had disagreed on. Discussing my results for the types of love that I was high and low for allowed me to look deep within myself and my relationship with my significant other. It was actually pretty difficult for me to comment on some of the types of love because I had to be brutally honest with both the reader and myself regarding how I am or can be in a relationship. Acknowledging one’s own imperfections isn’t always the easiest thing to do. In a way, this assignment did help me to be honest with myself and to see what things I may need to work on. I had actually read this assignment to my significant other and that earned me an “Aww”, a big smile and a warm hug. This actually brought us closer together! This assignment had helped me to open up to my partner about how I have been feeling within myself and why I act the way I act sometimes. Overall, it gave us a better understanding of one another and led us to have a nice talk regarding our overall relationship and ourselves individually.

Assignment 3 Takeaway:

Assignment 3 required for me to watch a video regarding a comedian named Michael Richards. Richards was telling a joke that contained racial slurs, however, things took a turn for the worse when an audience member stated that Richards had taken the joke too far. At this point it seemed as though Richards was perhaps lost in the heat of the moment and had said things to the audience member that he could not take back. This assignment gave me the option to decide whether or not the things he said were a result of how he truly felt about other races or if it was just the heat of the moment. Also, I was asked if individuals could say racial slurs, however, not truly be racists themselves. This assignment was challenging in the fact that I had to consider multiple aspects regarding this. I came to the conclusion that it was possible for individuals to verbalize racial slurs and to not be racist. My reasoning for this involved the use of jokes containing these slurs and they can come from a lighthearted place, for example when joking about stereotypes and realizing that it is okay to laugh at ourselves sometimes and not take every little thing too seriously. In addition, these slurs can be used to prove a greater point involving racism. There was a rap song in which the rapper used racial slurs (of varying races) to send a message to the audience regarding how everyone needs to take a step back and look at things from another’s point of view and that maybe some day we can all get along and make a change together. I would not perceive that rapper as being racist or negative in any way. Honestly, this assignment is highly relevant to real life because of the ongoing issue of racism that occurs, especially in the United States. I hope that one day we can all look past the color of our skin and start looking deeper. We ought to judge people on the content of their character. One of my psychology courses that I have taken had taught me how stereotypes were formed and how some people typically judge an entire group of people based off of an experience or so with one person that may be part of that group. I believe that course was cultural psychology. That course, as well as social psychology, are courses that ought to be required for people to take in middle and/or high school. I believe it would help benefit future adults and help teach them why some might behave in a negative fashion and how we could fix these problems. Having an open mind and an understanding of a subject is just the beginning and it is such an important and beneficial step in making positive changes. I chose the following image to represent this takeaway assignment because it shows a diverse group of individuals working together to accomplish a task and this is what I hope will be able to happen in the near future. In my humble opinion, there is only one race. The human race. We are all made of skin, blood, and bone. Why can’t we just get along?

https://www.tn.gov/generalservices/procurement/central-procurement-office–cpo-/governor-s-office-of-diversity-business-enterprise–godbe–.html

Assignment 2 Takeaway:

This assignment was unlike any other assignment I’ve ever been given. It allowed me the freedom to express my thoughts and reflect on my past and current self through the evaluation of personal photos. Personally, I never thought that photos could hold so much meaning in them…little did I know that I was wrong. Once I started the assignment, I looked at each photo only once and then just let whatever thoughts and feelings that arose from each photo to flow through me. To be honest, I didn’t plan on sharing my deep and personal thoughts to the degree of which I did in the assignment. However, doing so made me feel better because I was able to reflect on my growth as a person and the challenges that I’ve overcome, as well as the special occasions that I had the pleasure of experiencing. I love these types of assignments because it gives me the freedom to be me and it also lets me incorporate the knowledge that I am learning from my course to real life. One major thing that I learned about myself from this assignment was that I am one tough cookie! Even though I have been in some pretty challenging situations, I always find a way to come out on top. The resilience is strong in this one and hopefully it stays that way!