Windward and Acceptance
When you think “Windward” what is the first thing that comes to mind? For most of you it is likely acceptance, or family. Those are both very important things to keep Windward the small, loving, understanding, and encouraging environment it is. Yet some may say we are losing these values at the slightest, not completely, because we are intentionally small, so we have these values. Nevertheless, it seems that some people are definitely not trying to help encourage, respect, or be understanding with others. Why is that?
Some of you may disagree with the previous statements. However each of the statements have a reasoning behind them. How many of you have a teacher you absolutely adore? Probably all of you. How many of you love all of our teachers? Probably about the same amount, maybe give or take a few. Still, how many of you respect all of your teachers? I can tell you for one, with my observations of my classes, very few. Not many give the Windward staff the full respect they deserve. The only class I have that I feel like the teacher gets close to enough respect in, is my 5th period class. In this class it is Sophomores, Juniors, and one Senior. This really gets to me. By saying this, I am not trying to single out Freshman, at all. I know for a fact Sophomores can be really disrespectful too. Yet why do we disrespect these people who come to teach us, and treat us with so much respect? How can anyone sit in a class where you witnness someone disrespecting our staff? Windward staff have been there for years. Even the new staff deserve all the respect in the world. It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you come from. The fact is, that you chose to come to Windward. With that decision, you need to choose to respect our staff, and other students for the matter. When you interrupt by making conversation, or saying something you think is funny, that you think might get the class off topic, than you are being disrespectful, to both your peers, and the teacher.
Respect is the biggest part of what we need to work on as a school. Nevertheless, we also need to work on acceptance. There are plenty of people at our school that society wouldn’t necessarily accept. Nonetheless, Windward is about accepting everyone and their differences. If you see someone who is confident, it is not your job to bring them down. Actually, it is a great idea to bring them up, tell them they look great today. If you are walking down the hallway and you see someone, and notice something you like about them, tell them. A lot of people are insecure and self-conscious. If you can make them feel good about themselves for even the slightest second, I really encourage you to do so. Part of being a family is feeling comfortable with each other. Feeling like you are accepted with how you are, especially with your differences. Everyone that goes to Windward is absolutely perfect in their own way. So make them feel that way. Instead of commenting on how they missed a piece of their hair, or how their outfit doesn’t match or telling them that their make-up wasn’t blended right, give them tips and compliments. Make people feel good about themselves, because everyone should.
