Ati Trip
I loved this trip to Ati, I think it was the first step we took towaards becoming a real family, we learned a lot about each other. I admit I haven't finished reading The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, but I read a phrase that described a little bit too perfectly what I learned in Ati. This quote is from a letter from Benjamin Vaugh to Benjamin Franklin:
Influence upon the private character late in life is not only an influence late in life, but a weak influence. It is in youth that we plant our chief habits and prejudices; it is in youth that we take our party as to profession, pursuits, and matrimony. In youth, therefore, the turn is given; in youth the education even of the next generation is given; in youth the private and public character is determined; and the term of life extending but from youth to age, life ought to begin well from youth, and more especially before we take our party as to our principal objects.
I believe that we are all just clay figures, and every choice we are making, every person we are relating to, every word we are saying, every thought we are allowing ourselves to have is molding us, shaping us into the persons we will be. I'm very happy and feel very blessed to be able to belong to a group that is everyday making the courageous choice to be formed into self-reliant, conscious, free men and women.
It is today, five days after returning from Ati that I understand what I learned over there, what I was doing, we were doing, and the lesson that Bert, unknowlingly (or maybe not), was able to pass on to me.
I feel elated and pretty content.
Influence upon the private character late in life is not only an influence late in life, but a weak influence. It is in youth that we plant our chief habits and prejudices; it is in youth that we take our party as to profession, pursuits, and matrimony. In youth, therefore, the turn is given; in youth the education even of the next generation is given; in youth the private and public character is determined; and the term of life extending but from youth to age, life ought to begin well from youth, and more especially before we take our party as to our principal objects.
I believe that we are all just clay figures, and every choice we are making, every person we are relating to, every word we are saying, every thought we are allowing ourselves to have is molding us, shaping us into the persons we will be. I'm very happy and feel very blessed to be able to belong to a group that is everyday making the courageous choice to be formed into self-reliant, conscious, free men and women.
It is today, five days after returning from Ati that I understand what I learned over there, what I was doing, we were doing, and the lesson that Bert, unknowlingly (or maybe not), was able to pass on to me.
I feel elated and pretty content.
Writing our Handbook
For four days we went to Lake Atitlan so we could write the MPC Handbook. I don’t believe we succeeded in producing a good quality handbook, and many things were left unaddressed.
For one, I never understood quite completely what was to be included in this handbook. Each of us was given a question for us to answer and construct a type of index, organizing the metaquestions derived from the original. So I did, but what I realized was that not only I needed more time, but also better resources in order for me to do a quality job. To be honest, I think the result was quite mediocre. We all have different writing styles, and not everyone poured themselves into their work in the same way, some questions were answered more consciously while others were addressed only superficially.
Another problem I think, is that many of us behaved as if we were having a vacation or holiay trip, not really a school related retreat. I obviously include myself, because I had, as always, trouble keeping up with the workload we were given.
The place was beautiful, of course, and as a group, we became much more close and learned many new things about each other, so in that sense, the trip was very fruitful And productive. and I’m not saying I didn’t have a good time, because I did, I had a lot of fun. But we had an obligation to the Board of Directors, and I am not comfortable with the end result we are presenting them.
We have not addressed this or other things we wanted to talk about when we came back, and I suppose we’ll do it during the debriefing today. I think if we ever do such a thing again, we need to focus on the task we take on, and not distract ourselves or spend our time doing other activities that are not the ones we are supposed to be accomplishing during our trip.
My feedback for this Ati Trip would be that we should’ve started working on the questions since we first got there, the very first day. And set small goals for every midmorning and mid afternoon session we had.
For one, I never understood quite completely what was to be included in this handbook. Each of us was given a question for us to answer and construct a type of index, organizing the metaquestions derived from the original. So I did, but what I realized was that not only I needed more time, but also better resources in order for me to do a quality job. To be honest, I think the result was quite mediocre. We all have different writing styles, and not everyone poured themselves into their work in the same way, some questions were answered more consciously while others were addressed only superficially.
Another problem I think, is that many of us behaved as if we were having a vacation or holiay trip, not really a school related retreat. I obviously include myself, because I had, as always, trouble keeping up with the workload we were given.
The place was beautiful, of course, and as a group, we became much more close and learned many new things about each other, so in that sense, the trip was very fruitful And productive. and I’m not saying I didn’t have a good time, because I did, I had a lot of fun. But we had an obligation to the Board of Directors, and I am not comfortable with the end result we are presenting them.
We have not addressed this or other things we wanted to talk about when we came back, and I suppose we’ll do it during the debriefing today. I think if we ever do such a thing again, we need to focus on the task we take on, and not distract ourselves or spend our time doing other activities that are not the ones we are supposed to be accomplishing during our trip.
My feedback for this Ati Trip would be that we should’ve started working on the questions since we first got there, the very first day. And set small goals for every midmorning and mid afternoon session we had.