Change: Relating to Everyday Life

Kevin Patel

Instructor Schmidt

English 1B

4 March 2010

Essay #1

Final Draft

Change: Relating to Everyday Life

        Kathy and Keith lead the way, with Karen and I tailing them as we roam up and down through various floors of the library trying to find a room in which we can settle down in. As we get near the top floor there is an empty room, we hurry to get it before someone else can occupy it. As we enter we all seem confused at what the process is and how we should go about starting the seminar. We then began to think like Christopher Phillips did in the book Socrates Café, in which he went all around the country creating seminars with people from all aspects of life to follow the beliefs of Socrates. Keith affirmatively asked, “Can people change?” There is a brief silence as we all think about it for a second along with the jitters from the seminar starting; no one knows who should go first or what to say. There are so many different aspects of change that you can look into; from small unnoticed changes to huge life altering changes, which makes this a topic in which the conversation can go on for a while.

        With the silence still ongoing Keith proceeds to ask, “So what do we think… depending

on what it is or what?” For some reason after he says that Kathy, Karen and I begin to grasp a better understanding of what we should say about the topic and begin to break out of our shell. Kathy is the first to respond and states how people can change, but only if they find the right person to do so. This can be true in certain situations, as a loved one or a new friend/mate can quickly change the way you see life and your whole perspective. But I believe there is more needed to change then just that, I quickly jump in and explain, “Yea they need to find the right reasons in order to change. They can’t just change because of a talk or something. People need a real life experience in order to make a change.” The group agrees with assent with this as many of us have had the same experiences as a teen. For example, when I was younger my parents would always tell me to study for my classes and to actually learn the material for my own good, but I never completely understood what they meant by that. I did not realize that school is actually for my own good till I had a life changing experience of failing a couple classes and looking at the requirements that are needed to attend a state college.

        The conversation quickly moves to the topic of has anyone in the group changed people, and what age groups would be the easiest to change. As the question is put out there by myself, “Do you think it’s harder to change an adult or kid?” Karen, Kathy and Keith promptly all respond coincidently explaining everyone is the same. We all come to the conclusion that it is hard to change anyone, because kids have that mindset where they can do anything and do not really care, while adults have set in habits which can be hard to sway away from. All in all, change can only come when you’re ready to change and become the model you.

        It was easily noticeable that the group was becoming more and more comfortable with the environment as the seminar was going on. We took a brief break to put together a few questions related to change that can better help the flow. It seemed as if we were more open and free to state ideas when not recording the conversation; maybe due to being nervous because we knew we were being recorded and it would be transcribed into a dialogue for this essay.

        Once we were through thinking of ice breaker questions to help our seminar drift at a good pace, Kathy brought up the topic about good and bad changes. We all agreed about good changes, like learning from your mistakes, maturing and going from high school to college. But what we all seemed more interested in discussing was bad changes. For example, we started to talk about drugs and alcohol but quickly swayed away from it for some reason and came back to it at a later point in the seminar. When we came back to the topic of drugs we all seemed to have our own opinions, but they seemed to coincide. We began to discuss if drugs can change you, I replied uttering, “Yea they definitely can[change you],pretty sure they change people, how you see the world just everything…I think it changes a lot from the smallest things from your clothes and your hair style, like the way you talk to people, everything.” Kathy, Karen and Keith concur with my explanation. Kathy then goes on to say how you know drugs and alcohol change you “when you don’t even go to school cause your drunk or hung over,” which leads the whole group  to laugh and remembering moments they might have had in the past.