Rose Jacobs Gibson Reflection

After attending Rose Jacobs-Gibson’s talk on youth violence in the San Mateo and her take on the issue, I have realized that her approach to leadership is one I aspire to follow. Her approach to leadership reflects almost all of the hallmark values and that is something that surprises me and makes me want to follow it even more because it’s so thought-through. The second hallmark states that “We honor the dignity and sacredness of each person” as a way of saying that we should dedicate some of our time in support of another person’s life. Rose has served nearly 20 years for the San Mateo Country Board and East Palo Alto council and was a key part into making the high crime city into a much safer city. Her actions perfectly match hallmarks 3 and 6 which both reinforce the importance of acting on behalf of justice and peace as well as creating a community with those with whom we work with. Her actions have made a huge impact on the San Mateo crime scene and has helped people find a good sense of direction in their lives as well. Her article on the economic and social costs of youth violence gives me a very clear picture of what the school system is like in San Mateo and the Bay Area because even though I was raising in the Bay Area, I went to schools in districts that were extremely safe and had almost no crime going on. The article explains a lot about how not just the kids are being affected by the criminal offense but also the government because it is expensive to pay for crime investigations and juvenile centers. I thought her solution to the problem was also a good one because I remember attending programs in elementary schools that warned us about the effects of drugs. I felt these programs were informative and effective but there were no programs on gangs and violence which is why kids went towards it. If the students were more informed about things, then they would have enough knowledge to know whether it is good or bad for them. Her initiative to start programs that work with kids who have been around firearm violence is one I really admire because as useful as it is, it is also compassionate because she’s treating the kids like human beings and not like “different” kids affected by violence. This matches hallmark 5 which states that “We embrace the gift of diversity” and shows how she respected and treated everyone fairly and well. I personally also aspire for this quality because when I was growing up, I grew up with almost no diversity in my school. This led me and my peers to make misinformed assumption about what other races were like and we made racist jokes. I wished that if we had more diversity in our school, we would be more informed and more equipped with hallmark 5. Although I will never be able to commit myself completely to community service, after reading about her and all the things she has changed in the area I live in, I am inspired to do something that impacts the community for the better when I have a job. I’m thinking maybe once a week I could go do volunteer work and see what’re some problems in the community and try my best to work on them. Being able to serve the community has always been on my mind and even during the tough college semester, every Saturday I go the local church and participate in feeding the homeless. The sense of happiness and joy that I get from helping people in need is not one that can be replaced. The sense of gratefulness that homeless people have makes me want to do even more for them. In conclusion, the talk that Rose Jacobs Gibson had was really enlightening and inspiring because it made me think that community service really does change people and the society for the better.