I had a thought during Bea Young's diversity training at ATR. We were writing 'Personal Vision Statements' and I had to finish the phrase "I am a person who..."
My first thought was I am a person who sees the best in people. However, I think it's a beautiful thing to see the worst of people, too, and still love them regardless (which that doesn't capture). Since we were talking about culture all day, my next solution was I am a person who sees people's strengths weaknesses and appreciates their culture, but that's kind of weird, and some people would value their culture more than others anyway. Then I realized that really how I want to see people is how they want others to see them. The perception of ourselves that we strive to project to others is really the best of ourselves, the weaknesses we're willing to expose, and has the elements of our cultures that we want others to appreciate.
So, I am a person who sees people how they want to be seen. It's not rocket science. Example - seeing 'the best of' Student Darious would mean focusing on his potential and resiliency (not his evident negative qualities that others tend to focus on). However, seeing Darious 'how he wants to be seen' equates to the same thing - because deep down, Darious wants to be known as someone with potential and resiliency. Everyone does. There's something lovely about acknowledging the fact that we both want the same thing.
Really, it should come naturally - just put yourself in other people's shoes to determine how they want to be seen, and that's the answer.
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