Ever heard the expression “The elephant in the room”? It means that something important or big is there, but we all choose to ignore it; to pretend like it’s not there. Well there’s an elephant in the halls of our school. It’s how we treat each other. We all know we do it, and we all know it’s wrong. Well if we are told over and over again that we need to change our behavior, then why do we choose to ignore it? We all seem like ignorant, lazy people if we don’t even attempt to fix our behavior. Dr. Michael Fowler’s assembely was a wake up call for me. It opened my eyes to the way act towards eachother and the way we should act towards eachother, and how compltely different they are.
Dr. Michael Fowler’s assembly was extremely influencial. The reason that it impacted me so much was that it was so raw and true. He didn’t hold back at all. He approached our problems head-on and tied in his own personal struggles. However, the thing that I appreciated the most was the fact that he took on problems from at least six different perspectives. Each one of them had completley different personalities, situations, problems, and characteristics. He took on the roles of a six year old boy, a gay football player, a teenage girl, an “emo” young adult, and more. Despite their differences, they all had one thing in common; they had problems that were made worse and even caused by the people around them. Everything that Dr. Michael Fowler did was shocking, but in a good way.
Dr. Michael Fowler wasn’t afraid to accuse us of what we all know we do, and for me, it just made it that more shocking. Every other assembly or activity on this subject didn’t change me at all. It just repeated what we’ve all heard before. I especially liked how he compared us to different types of animals. It painted a picture in my mind, and frankly, was spot-on. When he compared us to zebras, it was almost funny how right he was. The other comparison I liked was the moth. The whole idea of constantly trying to find the light, no matter how much time you have, made me want to work harder in school and life in general. Another thing I liked was when he came right out and said that at least four people in the audience didn’t get told they were beautiful. It only instantly proved him right when he said that there were kids in this school that were dealing with hard times. Dr. Michael Fowler was the exactly the type of person I want to be. He was honest, bold, and used the pain and suffering he lived through to impact the lives of hundreds of people. That is the light I want to reach in my life.
Maddie, your writing is so true. You explained perfectly what Dr. Michael Fowlin did but in a much shorter way. I liked the words you used, like raw; it shows that it was true stuff that he talked about. I agree with you that he didn’t hold back at all but it was a good thing. It really made his assembly stand out and make kids realize how harsh and cruel we are to one another and the impact it has. Your writing was so nicely wrote and explained things so easily that although the assembly was months ago, I got a clear picture in my mind of it all over again. I enjoyed your writing a lot and nice work Maddie(: