"People have eyes."

Although I do not really enjoy being on stage, I have been in several low-key musical productions at our county fair when I was between the ages of 10 and 17. Something I remember our director always told us was that we could never goof around while on stage (and she was particularly adamant about fixing wedgies) because there was always someone in the audience who would be watching us. As a child it sounded like one of those exaggerated things adults say to keep kids in line. But as I have gotten older I realize that it is an entirely true statement for life, not simply for the stage.

No matter where we are and what we are doing, people see us. Sometimes we know we are being watched and by who, causing us to be incredibly self-conscious about it. Other times we have no idea. The question is, what do people see when they are watching you?

During our tour this summer we would often joked about doing some incredibly crazy (sometimes downright stupid) things. Dustin and Josh (when he was riding with us) would always jokingly tell us to go ahead, as long as we had nothing on us that said Venture. We all represent things to those around us. We represent our families, our schools, our churches, our employers, our state, our hometown, our religion…No matter where we are, we are representative of something to those around us.

While running our Cross Country race at St. John’s University on the ninth, I realized this in a new way. Scattered along the 3.7 mile course were groups of runners from the other schools, cheering on and encouraging their own runners, but also doing the same for everyone else. As I rounded the corners in the woods I would hear them ahead of me, cheering me on. They didn’t know my name to cheer. They didn’t know how long I have been running Cross Country. The only thing they knew about me was that I was wearing the North Central University jersey. All they knew was that I was representing that school and everything it stands for. I realized that how I ran that race was not so much a representation of myself and my own abilities, it was a direct representation of North Central University. I was not running for myself, I was running for my school. And because of the uniform I was wearing, people knew that.

We all have things we represent, we all have people watching us, and we all have people who are looking up to us. Those people will be effected by what they see, whether it be to form an opinion about you and the thing you represent, or to influence their own actions and reactions to a situation. Have you ever watched a group of siblings interacting? As a long-time babysitter, I have had experience with a plethora of children from an assortment of backgrounds. One thing I have found is that the younger siblings will almost always follow the example of the older. While in a meeting for our department last week I looked around the room and realized that, as a senior this year, I am one of the “experienced” students in our department. I am one of the people who, theoretically, knows the ropes and has answers. The one that people ask questions of and get help from. The meeting was on a topic that many people were upset about. I realized that how I chose to react and respond to the circumstances would have a direct effect on how the rest of the department reacted. At the end of the movie “Hook,” Peter Pan hands off his sword to one of the Lost Boys. He instructs that boy to take care of everyone smaller than himself. The smallest of the Lost Boys asks Peter “Then who do I look after?” Peter responds, “Never-bugs. Little ones.” Even if it is only the smallest Never-bugs, there is always something, always someone, who is looking up to you.

No matter where you are in life, what position you hold, what class standing you have, how old you are, there are people watching you. How you choose to react under pressure, how you choose to respond to a situation, reflects not only upon you, but it reflects upon the things you represent. Even if people know nothing about you, they know when your actions do not match up to the things you represent. What do you represent? What do people see when they watch you? Whose uniform are you wearing?