The Collaborators
© In grad school, professor Jay Poole invited us or assigned us a relevant project in our statistics class. In order to support a new congregational nursing program, that was starting and cultivate our education, we were assigned projects to share our thinking.
I was in a group with about 3 other classmates, which was a typical group size for this project. And the project lasted a few days. I tended to not speak much or at all in grad school in general and with group projects. So, when classmates were exploring a name for our group, I didn't say much if anything. And then someone suggested the name, "The Collaborators".
I immediately had a few thoughts or perspectives. First, as a descendent in which one side of my family lost all but 2 family members to the Holocaust, that name didn't sit right with me. And next, I thought well, this project will only be for a few days. A brief time that will be over soon. And the rest of the group seemed to agree. So, I still had mixed feelings as we proceeded with the project.
In hindsight, I wish that I had shared my perspective in context. We probably would have kept the name. But it would have given a voice to my perspective and possibly others to validate thoughts and feelings. Then, we'd all walk away with a little more insight, validation and can proceed more humanely with ourselves and each other in the future.