My submission to the Rice Paper

Sibo Lin Chemistry 2008 AAA The 2005 Bradford Woods Retreat will not be forgotten by any of its participants. However, if you ask any of us what exactly happened on the retreat, we’d probably start talking incoherently about shooting fireballs, getting stuck in a gigantic spider web, or juggling marbles. The inside jokes and details of that weekend are trivial. I had fun that weekend. I made lasting friendships. But what pleased me most was that I took home a new view on how to live life. I signed up for this Asian leadership retreat with low expectations. Honestly, I just figured some of my friends were going and it was free. Why not go? Once we arrived, we were split into random teams. I knew some of my teammates, I recognized a few more, but I had never seen most of them before in my life. Some of the strangers rubbed me the wrong way. Yet Carmen, our counselor, gently stripped us of our masks. Somehow, we began to laugh and sulk together for our activities. We slowly bared some of our inner thoughts and ideas to each other. And by nightfall, our group felt like family. The next morning, we said our goodbyes and headed out of the woods, promising to keep in touch. Although I had started the weekend with a bad impression of some people, I began to believe that humans are all inherently good underneath their masks. I know I just glossed over the details of what happened, and this story sounds unbelievably corny. Yet despite the “corniness” of the whole situation, we simply lived in the moment—and we enjoyed it! And that’s my take-home message: I learned to enjoy myself with total strangers by taking off our masks and living in the moment. If this opportunity is available again next year, I encourage you to go. Thanks to Carmen, Team Wa, all Bradford Wood Retreat participants, the ACC, and the spider that wove that giant web.