Crawling into Someone Else's Skin

Traveling is one of the highlights of my life. I have used it as a means of stretching my comfort zone and expanding my horizons. But over the last ten years, flying has been the bane of my existence. Racial profiling is bad enough, but on top of that, a perforated ear drum leads to excruciatingly painful flights.

Nonetheless, it has been during our flights to NCHC that I have discovered the admirable and noble characters of several of my colleagues. After yet another unpleasant security check en route to DC, many of our presenters asked if I was doing ok. Frustrated, I explained that as an American citizen, it was very unnerving to be treated as a second class citizen everytime I fly.

I have only seen it on my trips with Honors, and perhaps it was the nature of the conference and the trip, but two of our students, Diana Lynde and Haley Marie Archer, went beyond Harper Lee's idea of climbing into someone else's skin and walking around in it, by actually doing it. Of no persuasion of my own, they asked to borrow hijabs, the traditional Muslim headscarf, to wear on the way back from NCHC as a symbol of support and as a means of understanding my experience.

I suppose I simply want to say that Columbia College, and the Honors program in specific, has cultivated some fine, compassionate, and enlightened women. NCHC exchanged ideas of diversity and understanding, but the words, for me, would have fallen flat were they not reinforced by the integrity of my fellow Honors friends. Such a simple gesture, just to show support for another student who's problems need not be shared by others, means so much. That's what it is to be an Honors student, to be a real woman of character. I thank them both from the bottom of my heart, and implore you to inquire of their experience!