iExamen 2 Mike Ray

            Last Friday I conducted the iExamen 2. Coming into this experiment I was concerned how my roommates and friends would think of me. I could predict the reaction of some but others made me laugh. I noticed immediately that from the point I got out of bed, it was going to be difficult for me. My friends and I greet each other with insults but its normal for us. Being said, greeting them with a kind remark invoked puzzled faces and inquisitive remarks. Being “kind, useful and true” is not necessarily uncharacteristic of me, however it’s not common. This made me realize that maybe I could be a little kinder to the people around me. They took the time to talk to me and have a nice conversation rather than the short conversations that I am used to. While some people who I am not particularly close to greeted me with smiles, my close friends wondered what was going on. I realized that by speaking kindly to others, conversations became easier. My family enjoyed the kindness because being brought up as a kid, I was always taught to “treat others the way you wanted to be treated”. That phrase seemed very true during this experiment and by acting nicely, people acted nicely back. While it was a nice change of environment to see how a “kind, useful and true” attitude carried me through the day, it seems a lot more normal for me to resort back to my own ways. I think a little kinder personality can actually go along way however, so I’m going to try and integrate my old ways in with the ways.  This experiment made me semi-reevaluate my personality towards my friends, my family and myself and I think it’s for the better. Think that by reevaluating myself for the better I can feel more part of the Jesuit tradition and closer to being a part of this school.