After
waking up from what was a 5 hour nap at best, Diller 6 awoke and did what Jews
do best, eat bagels. Diller 5 JC and current JC mentor, Max, then led us in a thought
provoking workshop. He started off with a puzzle. He explained a theory that he
was taught in his college philosophy class and it went like this: through advanced science, Greg’s brain has
been placed in a jar. Even though Greg’s brain is nowhere near his body, he is
still able to communicate with his body. Considering our tech-savvy generation,
we chose to think of it like a Wi-Fi signal. The brain could still easily send
messages to the body telling it what to do. Greg is fully functional. Max then
posed the question, where is Greg? Is he in the body or the jar with is brain?
After discussing in groups, we found that no one totally agreed. The theory was
a matter of opinion; there was no right or wrong answer. This was not science
test, but a way of asking the question, “Who are we?” Does our mind or our
bodies define us? We were then given t-shirts and Leah’s sacred markers and
told to write, “I am” and then our names on the front. Every Diller gave their
name a little twist, whether it was adding a pocket or a small doodle. We then
flipped the shirt over and wrote physical characteristics, and well and
internal and morals and values who made us who we are. We wrote what we were
scared of and who we thought we were as people. Our existence on a tee-shirt.
After we were done, we wore our new shirts with pride and explained to each
other why we wrote what we wrote. We share our thoughts and opened our minds to
look further into ourselves and discover who we truly are.
Our
last activity on Sunday was something called the leadership compass. The leadership
compass is an activity in which we had to be introspective and honest with
ourselves. We were given a list filled with characteristics under four
categories, North (The Warrior), South (The Healer), East (The Visionary), and
West (The Teacher). All of these are different types of leaders with different
strengths and weaknesses Once we completed the questions, we put all of
answers on a graph. When the graph was done we saw where we fell, whether it be
North, South, East, West, or somewhere in between. We then discussed where we
placed ourselves and if it was in fact a good fit. We also talked about our
reaction to where we were placed, because for some of us, it was a real shock
to find ourselves in the West, when we thought we were North. We then stood on
a big compass Leah taped on the floor in the center of the room. Standing on
the compass was very interesting because it allowed us all to see where we fell
as leaders, our strengths and weaknesses as a group, and how we really formed a
circle, showing that we had every type of leader in our group. The Leadership
Compass was a very good activity to end our meeting with, because Diller is all
about becoming a good leader, and learning about one’s self is the first step
to becoming one. Once the activity was finished we hugged and said our last
goodbyes. Then, we all left, waiting for our next meeting.