IExamen 2

Nigel Hunter

EN 101.16

10/24/13

               I choose to do this iExamen on Saturday because my best friend from New Jersey came down to Loyola to visit me for the weekend. We are normally mean to each other in a joking way so I assumed that it would interesting to see what the day would be like if I only said things that were kind, useful, and true to him. Going into this I assumed it was going to be hard based on the usual dialogue amongst us.

               For the most part my assumptions were correct. From the point I told my friend about the assignment he made an effort to tease me more than usual knowing that I could only say kind and useful things in return. Whenever he said something mean I would respond with a kind comment, which only made him make fun of me more. Eventually it got to the point where I just stopped trying to talk to him altogether. Outside of my relationship with my friend during the day, I found myself more conscious of what I was saying to people before I actually said it. A little more time was taken to think about what I was going to say, process it, determine if it was “nice, useful or true”, and then voice it. Although I am not sure if I can continue the process of taking as long to think as I did, I did find that it made my dialogue more useful and considerate of others. This is a much better way to have a conversation with someone rather than blurting out the first thing that comes to your mind, especially if it may offend someone.

               A benefit I gained from this experience was learning to slow my thought process down and truly think about what I am saying, before I actually say it. In the future this will protect me from offending others and ensure that I have intelligent things to say. While I did benefit from this assignment, it did hinder the use of fluent communication especially with my friend. The thought process perhaps took too long to the point where conversations were slow, awkward, and did not flow.  When people are not saying nice things to you all the time it is hard to respond with dialogue that is nice, kind, and truthful. From this assignment I learned the importance of processing my thoughts more before I say them and that positive dialogue goes a long way when communicating with friends and others.