By Taylor LaTray Posted October 16, 2013
In high school and even out in everyday life, individuals often get aggravated with one another’s actions or personalities, but what we forget to think about is why people are the way they are, and what others are going through.
In 1943 Dr. Abraham Maslow created a theory of motivation or a hierarchy of needs. To dumb it down, Maslow’s theory states that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs, and lower and more basic needs need to be satisfied before an individual can satisfy higher needs.
“As a senior advisor, you are able to see all the different situations in schools, and the biggest two reasons for failure in high school are because of pure laziness, or unsatisfied basic and safety needs. There are students in severe situations, but, we can help them,” said senior advisor and health assistant Christy Bell.
Not only adults or teens, but people of all ages, have unsatisfied needs that are critical. People in this school and people all around are wondering, not only what they will be eating tonight, but where they will be sleeping tonight. Yet, you’re wondering when you can get a new phone, or where you’re going on vacation this year? The point of Maslow’s triangle is to help humans realize that everybody has needs, but there are also people with far greater needs than your own. So before you worry about why someone won’t interact in a situation; you need to think why won’t they react, what do they need?
There is always an individual with less than you, and that person may be happy with what they have as well. So, I encourage you to be optimistic and appreciate what you have, and be aware of the dramatic situations that people around you may be in that you aren’t aware of.
“If every student in Lowry can genuinely say hello to one person they have not met each day, I believe things can change. That’s the first step. Each generation is getting worse, when I was in high school, we didn’t practice for code red drills, have shootings, or bullying classes. However, now that’s an everyday crucial thing,” said Christy Bell. “If you’ve never walked in someone else’s shoes, then you’ll never be aware of the severity of their situations in life, so you must be cautious and kind to everyone you meet, and that’s how things will change.”
Although students are worrying about their basic needs and that can affect every aspect of their lives, if everyone was able to be sincerely kind to one another we could eliminate the worry of basic needs and be aware of each other’s soft spots increasing self-actualization. It is, after all, those who go through the hardest times, yet pull through and are able to help others despite the help needed for themselves that have truly reached self-actualization. So be kind.
