Life changing stories

Story #1

It was the summer of 1993, I was eight years old and me and my brother were on summer break. Growing up in New York City was very different from any other place I have ever been to in my life, it was always an adventure when you started to explore the streets of the Bronx. I remember that year me and my brother loved to play arcades like Street Fighter and Pac-man, we did grow up in a household where there was never too much money coming in. Let’s just say that arcade money was definitely not on the top of the list of things to pay for, so my brother and I had to come up with a plan on how to get our video game fix.

My brother and I had made a plan to try and get money without having to ask for it, so we found ourselves a shopping cart at the local super market and decided to “borrow” it for a little while. We used this shopping cart to go around to every trash can and picked up empty bottles and soda cans so that we could recycle them and get 5 cents per item. We had thought we struck it rich and went all over our neighborhood that day.

 We kept this up for a while until our mother found out what we were up to, she was pretty upset that we were out collecting cans but at the same time she knew that we were finding out the value of a dollar. That summer I realized that hard work and dedication to get what you want in life can go a long way, this mentality is still what is driving me to this day to continue working hard.  

 

Story #2   

                It was the winter of 2007, I was twenty four years old and my Wife and I were so excited that we were going to have our first child together. My wife was about two months pregnant, we had everything already picked out for the baby’s room and I had even purchased the complete set of the “My Baby Can Read” book and video set. I was looking forward to being a father and teaching my future child everything I know. Things were looking good until one night when my Wife started bleeding very heavily, we were worried that something might be wrong with our future child.

 We immediately rushed to the hospital to have her seen by the doctor, it was a very tense feeling just having to sit and wait in the waiting room not knowing what could be wrong. Eventually the doctor did many test and sat us down to let us know that my Wife had just had a miscarriage. We were both so depressed, it was the most quiet car ride home that we had ever had. The doctor had given my Wife some medication to assist with the miscarriage, she did not feel like taking the medication at that moment and we just sat on the couch feeling very depressed.

As I was about to tell my wife that everything would be ok and that we could always try again her phone rang. Even though she did not feel like talking, for some reason she decided to answer the phone call. The doctor’s office called us with some amazing news, the doctor had said that they misread the test results and that our baby was still alive and healthy. We were so happy, we could not believe that our baby was still doing well.

Five years later I find myself just staring at my son running around and being a strong, intelligent and funny kid, his pre-school teacher calls him the class clown. I think my son is amazing and if my wife would have taken that medication, who knows what would have happened. We are so lucky, since that day I have learned to never give up and keep fighting and looking to exhaust every option possible. I know I will tell my son this story one day and he will also know to never give up in life, I hope that he will know to keep pushing and try every option before giving up.  

               

The single story

            Adichie’s message is a strong one, she talks about something that many of us do without even thinking about it. What many people do in life is that they create the single story, Adichie describes the single story as what people do when they stereotype and follow only what they have heard or seen on platforms such as the media. When you show or see people as only one thing; this one thing is what they become. She shows many good examples of this because this single story method is how people viewed her culture, but that the best example was when she herself had fallen victim to stereotyping a certain group of people via the single story method. When she went to Mexico she had already had a predetermined image of how this country is supposed to be according to what she had heard and seen on the television and what she had read in books.

            To Adichie’s surprise when she went to Mexico she witnessed people having fun, enjoying life and doing things which people from many other countries do. Adichie had felt a certain amount of guilt because the same treatment which her roommate had given her, Adichie had now behaved in the same ignorant manner. This is something which I feel that we do a lot of as Americans, I feel that as Americans we have a predetermined train of thought on many different cultures without knowing the big picture. We also tend to look down upon many other cultures and tend to portray that these other countries would not be able to strive if it were not for the help of our country.

            For this reason I tend to blame many of our listening skills which has caused us to view the world in this manner. In our text, I am drawn to the description of a certain type of listening which I would like to use more often; the text refers to it as “real listening”.” Real listening is based on the intention to understand someone, enjoy someone, learn something, and give help or solace” (messages pg., 6). I think that if we are to understand other cultures and nations in this world we need to understand and learn from the things that we hear about these places; we cannot just “listen for one specific piece of information and ignore everything else”. The media takes a big role in this type of learning because many times the media showcases the wrong with many places instead of the good in order to pursue certain political agendas. This type of listening behavior also falls into certain blocks which are also mentioned in our text; listening skills like “filtering and judging” can be at the root of the cause for what Adichie calls the single story.

            When you are judging someone, something or someplace you are “prejudging something as stupid or unqualified, you do not pay much attention to what this certain thing might be about” (messages pg.10). It is hard to see outside of what is in front of you when you have the single story mentality. I think that Adichie does a great example of showing us that this type of mentality will hold people back from truly seeing the world for what it is.

            I have to admit that many times I also think of the world in a single story way, I have many times thought of Mexico as a country where there is a lot of desperation and crime, I did not think about all of the people that are happy in this country and proud citizens. I also thought of Nigeria as country of extreme poverty and filled with disease, I did not think about all of the scholars which a country like Nigeria has produced.

 Reflecting on myself I do feel a bit ashamed because as a Hispanic American I know that some people might view me in the single story method, people do not know my accomplishments but they might view me in a certain way based on the way that I look. I can actually recall being quite frustrated because in the past many people in Texas think that because you speak Spanish that this must automatically mean that you are Mexican; not realizing that there is a vast amount of Spanish speaking countries. It is a stereotype which I am very much aware of yet I have fallen victim to the single story way of thinking myself. I think that Adichie has been able to open up my mind in her speech and made me more aware of the way that I listen and process information. Adichie’s message is important and should be heard by everyone.

 

Reference

Mckay, M., & Davis, M. (2009). Public Skills. In Messages, The Communication Skills Book (pp. 285-287). Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.

The story of BNSF

            The story of the company which I work for might be one of the oldest stories in the United States and probably one of the oldest companies in the whole world. Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad was founded 160 years ago, the first tracks which were laid down 160 years ago where called the aurora branch. This branch stretched from Missouri all the way to Chicago, this became the backbone of the United States and the reason that the southwestern part of the United States was able to grow at such a fast rate. BNSF would later go on to serve the western two thirds portion of the united states with tracks in Canada and key Mexican gateways with over 32,500 miles of track.

            For BNSF to be so successful they had to be at the forefront of breakthrough technology and staying innovative, being innovative is what has kept the company at the top of the food chain as far as railroads go. BNSF’s story of success for over 160 years is very important because it does promote the goals and ideals of the organization. The organization’s goals is to continue to be innovative and to continue the growth of the company.

 BNSF is proud to say that in its near future they are investing five billion dollars into the infrastructure and also hiring 5,000 new employees. The railroad has continued growing its entire history, this is what BNSF stands for. They stand for an ever-growing entity which will continue to build and make America stronger, they are as I mentioned earlier the backbone of American and a big reason for the success of this country.  

I think that having this type of culture and history has a huge impact on all of the company’s employees. Being part of the BNSF team I realize that I am part of something big, something that has shaped and advanced the country which made me who I am today. I know that I am part of a culture which is creative and innovative, a company which was made to withstand the test of time. I think that not only is this a good description for BNSF and of its employees but I realize how closely this is related to who we are as Americans. The things that make this country so great and powerful is what has powered BNSF to being successful for over a century and a half, this is why BNSF stands alone amongst the competition and business in America. It would be hard to find a company which can measure up to the success and longevity of BNSF.