Thoughts about Walmart and Vulnerability

I want to say that this class is really changing my life.  In many ways I have been learning these "hard-to-talk-about" topics and it has been alright.  No one has punched anyone in the face for speaking their mind and that is something I am really proud of because I know how sensitive some topics can be.

I really enjoyed talking about Wal-Mart on Monday because I had built this little shell around me that I would not got to Wal-Mart ever in my life again because they were corrupt and unjust to their workers.  I can see now that it should not be that way.  I understood what Morgan said about her having a job and when the company went through a hard time she also saw her hours being cut and that affected her negatively.  I feel that if I would still have the mentality that I was never going to go back to Wal-Mart and convinced more people to not go shop there, then many workers would lose jobs.  I feel that a different approach can be taken now and that is to help organize workers to fight for their rights as workers and build organizations that will help workers.  That way workers will keep their jobs and they will have policies and laws backing them up if they are facing discrimination or injustice at work.  I also decided to stop going to the little "self-check-out boxes" when I went to Wal-Mart today because I do not want workers to have their jobs taken away by a machine (besides they make less mistakes when they check me out unlike the dumb machine that ends up charging me twice for an item).

Ohh vulnerability.

I really thought that vulnerabilty was a bad thing. I really did because I see myself as very vulnerable.  In my experience at UT I have been sick at least 70% of the time.  When we saw the clip of Brene Brown speaking about vulnerability I felt like her, that it was something that needed to be intervened! While she kept talking and she finally got to the realization that it really was not such a bad thing, that it was actually good, then I felt like WOW!  My mind changed completely because all of this time being vulnerable is helpful; you have to be "whole-hearted" give your all even if your all means that you have to show your weak/bad sides.  I like how she said we live in a vulnerable world and it's true you don't know when you will die, it's something that you just have to keep in the back of your mind and move forward embracing every day.  "You cannot numb bad feelings because when we do that you numb good feelings too..." (Brene Brown, TED talk)  I really liked this quote because I feel that I personally do this all the time.  When I am stressed about something at home like with my parents fighting I can't see the positive things we have been through, I don't see the strengths in their relationship and that is not helpful.  In having those issues I tend to over think them and then it ends up hurting my relationship with my boyfriend because I stop talking to him because I am so worried about my parents that I leave him behind.  So from no on I have decided that  I AM ENOUGH and I think that everyone is too, no matter SES, gender, class, race, political affiliation, or what ever else.

I leave you with this awesome video of Brene Brown " The Power of Vulnerability"

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html