Live by example.

So, the last week or so has been pretty busy. Started school again, and talked to some people to initiate the creation of a Terracycle center at the school. I have a meeting with the dean soon to finalize it and after that it should be good to go. I worked for an old friend on Saturday for awhile, doing some yard work on lake Koshkonong and on Sunday I said a goodbye to someone else who I have cared about for a very long time, who is moving cross country. That was a very trying day, but I've been trying very hard to be positive lately, and it's definitely making a difference in my life. I am starting to feel unshakable. Even when negativity strikes, I'm able to confront it, accept it and push it aside in favor of positivity , passion and personal progress. I think that alliteration is going to become a personal motto for myself. I feel like I'm really starting to become a good person, or rather, a person that I'm proud of being. I think I'm a long way off from hitting that goal, but I feel as if progress is being made. I feel as if I'm pushing myself, through personal projects, academics, physical exercise, art and relationships to others I am starting to become the person I want to be, and I hope others should strive to be as well.

Which brings me to the point of this post. I get frustrated with people who teach something, preach something, or advise something that they do not follow themselves. I understand that one may learn a lot about something, yet have no personal experience "applying" it, but still may be knowledgeable, but it calls into question their motives, passion and sincerity to me. I have criticized myself on this many times. I value physical fitness, but am not at my peak physical goal yet, so I feel I have to push myself harder. I value positivity, but have struggled with depression, so I strive to correct that. I value living a life that leaves little negative impact on the environment, but I take short cuts sometimes, so I have been pushing myself to go out of my way further and further to do know what I know is right, regardless of the inconvenience. I bring this up though because I am taking a class titled "Human Impact on the Environment" and on the first day I noticed a handful of things about the professor teaching said course that are easy examples of negative human impact on the environment. For one, he is not a vegetarian, and for anyone who wants to "go green", going vegetarian is one of the most effective ways to go about it. Another thing was, in a class in which we could do everything from a website, he printed off packets of information onto paper and handed them out to the class. He said he drives all the time (instead of biking), uses Styrofoam cups, etc. All things that someone that was trying to "go green" would change about themselves presumably, yet he did not. Yet... he teaches a class about human impact on the environment. It makes me wonder if I can take his course seriously. I feel it would be like walking into a class on biological evolution that was taught by a creationist. My point being, I feel like if you are going to teach something to others, it should be something that you believe in enough to practice in your own life. It's all about sincerity and honesty, two qualities I hope to build toward exemplifying. So, In light of this, it once again just made me want to try harder at becoming what I want to become and I hope others try hard to do the same.