Dear Kate, Giv and my BCM 313 mates!
It is 12:13am now. I am working on my last assignment for this semester: A reflection on BCM 313 – the future of work. When I asked my memories to recall 13 weeks of learning, laughing and being inspired in our class, all my thoughts and emotions are compressed into a single word: “Thankful”.
Thank you all for giving me the privilege of listening to beautiful stories of your families members, your friends, your teachers, … the people that you love and respect in your life. By sharing stories, you allow me to be an outsider witness of those inspirational journeys that they have been through. By sharing your stories, you gave me – a stranger, a chance to know and to enter into a stage in the life of your story’s owners. I have learnt and picked up meaningful life lessons from you. As a young person, there is nothing more valuable than being able to learn from others’ experience. Thank you for teaching me to be more focused, more “ambitious” in my career path, but also more “compassionate” and “human-centric” in my practices.
Thank you for showing me the power of storytelling. many of your stories being shared in our class have broadened my horizon and then they got me thinking about myself and my surroundings. Because you are great storytellers!
In stories about Experience near narratives, I learnt about that personal values could be a compass guiding a person in times of uncertainties
In stories about Small stories of success, I learnt about the meaning of “connecting the dots” and how it tells us about ourselves as well as let us know what we are capable of. Never take things for granted!
In stories of The absent but implicit, I learnt that sometimes things are not being said could even speak louder than we might expect.
In stories of outsider Witnessing, I have learnt to actually listen! I have learnt to listen attentively even though it is never been easy. Outsider Witnessing stories also teach me to really understand others’ stories and be a more compassionate person.
Thank you for helping me standing straight and be proud of my own identity. “Grace” has been my cover hiding me away from who I really am. I chose the name from my favourite book character back in high school. But Grace would still always be my favourite character and not me. 3 years passed, I still stick to Grace for the ease when ordering coffees or for when I talk to strangers on the phone. Grace, after all, does not connect to me. But, BCM 313 taught me that it is ok to spend one more minute telling you how to say my real name because you are willing to know. Thank you for asking me to speak Vietnamese in the class even though I was embarrassed and no one could understand what I said. Thank you for telling me that there is no need to sacrifice my name, my identity for 1 min faster in coffee ordering line. Thank you BCM for helping me get my name problem solved! 🙂
It has been great 13 weeks full of beautiful stories and emotions. But our stories will not end here as each of us will carry some parts of these stories in our future career. Parts of BCM stories might be reflected in our values, our practices and our perspective towards lives.
Good luck to us all and never stop telling stories because we tell stories to stay connected!
Best regards,
Thanh-Nha
We tell stories to stay connected. 