From first appearances, Jeremy seemed to be your typical, average all American guy. He dressed appropriately, attained a degree from a university and was full of charisma.
During the presentation however, everyone quickly learned that Jeremy Poincenot was not your all American guy.
In the year 2008, Jeremy was diagnosed with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). He explained that it is a rare disease that causes someone to lose their central vision. On average, it affects 1 in 50,000 people. Jeremy was only 19 years old at the time. He was a college student and recently joined the Sigma Epsilon Fraternity at his school. He went from having perfect 20/20 vision to becoming legally blind in the span of two months. He decided to drop out of school and sit around at home. One day however, changed his life.
He told us that he was listening to the news one afternoon and heard a story that steared him in the right direction. The news story was about a man's family and four of his family members dying in a plane crash. The man was publicized on television. Rather than the man talking about the sorrows from the recent tradegy, the man asked one simple question. He asked for help, help to cope with the struggles he was undergoing. That moment, that very moment, was the key point in Jeremy's life that made me stop complaining about his loss of vision. It was that moment he started to put things in other people's perspectives. He realized that people around us are struggling, have it worse, and most importantly have a story. He decided to take the negative and turn it to a positive.
Aside from hearing the news story, there was one more helping factor that made Jeremy the man he is today. His fraternity brother, Josh reached out to him. Josh told him to come back to school, take 2 easy classes with him and together they could work through any problems that may arise. With hard work and determination, Jeremy passed those classes and was on his way to success, a successful life without his central vission. He wouldn't have done it without Josh.
In the presentation, he mentioned, " we are so inwardly focused, we don't focus on other people."
I thought about this for a moment, I thought about this throughout the rest of the day, and I'm currently thinking about this now as I continue to write this blogpost. As much as we don't want to admit it, human nature is very naturally self-centered. What about the other people in our lives? Our friends, family, significant others, fraternity brothers and sorority sisters? What about everyone else around us? We are so quick to assume what someone else's story is, that we don't hesitate to make prejudgements. We also don't give enough attention to people. We have a chance to change someone's life and make an impact.
Everyone you meet is going through something, whether they wear it on their sleeve, or bottle it up. As leaders on campus, as community members on campus, it is important to be kind. Just like Jeremy's story, we can't automatically assume someone else's story based on first appearences.
Ever since Elementary school, we've heard the quote, "don't judge it's book by it's cover." So why don't we continue to abide by the quote that we learned during our day 1 of schooling?
Jeremy's presentation was impactful, informational and more importantly a reminder to the first thing I learned in school. As members of the Bridgewater community, we need to be open to listen to other people's stories. We all talk about being authentic, being a leader, striving to be the best possible you. Well, how can we achieve that if our main focus is ourselves?
I want to challenege the community. Talk to someone you don't normally talk to, whether it is in your chapter or in line waiting for food at Bear's Den. Reach out to someone you know is struggling with something and ask if there's anything you can do. Hear people's stories.
Overall, NGLA has been an incredible experience. Not only does it promote growth, development and leadership, but it also promotes and reminds us to to be a human being with morals.
**However, even though we all learned and gained so much throughout this opportunity, we're still dysfunctional as ever.**
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