I’ve become familiar with the “Half the Sky” thanks to my familiarity with the Circle of Sisterhood initiative. I love the initiative but hadn’t read the book or watched the movie until this week.

What I watched has affected me. Stories of sex trafficking, rape, and depriving education for girls and women across the world. I felt helpless.

And not to mention all the crap that we’re dealing with in our own country. I want to help, but where do I start? It’s more than me helping with money – it’s about me helping others to care for the cause. Part of my responsibility is to get better at having those conversations, particularly with the students with whom I work.

But am I really ready?

25 year old entering student affairs Dan could have told a student the value of the cause – almost asking them to adopt my passion. But could he have helped the student understand how they can work to put her/his own interests to the side in order to prioritize others over self? That would have required much more intentional conversations than I typically had.

40 year old, 15 years in student affairs, Dan still struggles with this. Why do I feel so unprepared?

It’s even harder when young adult development basically tells us that our college students aren’t necessarily prepared to place their own (immediate) interests above themselves. Also, there are social structures that can inhibit the kind of development we need and the environment in which it needs to happen. A lot of things are working against me.

For example, I find it problematic that sorority women on college campuses often place the interests of their male counterparts ahead of their own. But it’s my job to have the conversations to help them move closer to owning their space, standing up for their rights, and then standing up for the rights of women everywhere. Not to mention that some of the things which with they are preoccupied matter little when they are possibly the students with the most resources to do something more than just be a stereotype. I also need to help men understand why they should care about issues that have been historically viewed as women’s issues.

I know I have to get better at this, because I want the world to get better. What kinds of things are you doing to increase your competence to have conversations with students about these topics? What kinds of things do you do to move students along the developmental and social goals that student affairs educators should be working toward?