Amed Oum-Mbogba

Professor Brown-Laviest
APLS490.W04
23 February 2020

Draft of insights

My first insight that I will discuss in the draft is Listening. My experience and exposure
in the corps granted me the opportunity to appreciate the skill/ability to listen. Listening is more
than a physical measure, it is using your hearing abilities to understand and gauge situations.
Listening such a key component in life, which many people take for granted. Being able to listen
and have an understanding of what someone is saying and or what something may mean holds
much value. Our basic understanding of hearing starts in our adolescent years when we being to
develop our listening skills. As we mature that is when our listening skills begin to develop at a
greater level. It is upon us to use the skill wisely and develop an appreciation for the skill. You
cannot take skills for granted, especially when not everyone can use them.
My insight as seen in my external experience is listening. Working in the corps required
me to develop a lot of skills I did not necessarily focus on. You would think that in my
department in the corps the most challenging requirements were physical, but in actuality it was
mental. Having the mental compacity to complete any and all assigned tasks as directed was key
in my success in training. At times assignments/agendas would have to be completed thoroughly,
but the directions would be delivered from a fellow cadet rather than the instructor first hand.
This required me to listen to every possible detail explained in the brief. I chose the insight of
listening in my work experience because it was the one profound lesson/understanding I took
away from my time at the corps.

When having read and analyzing peer’s insights and developing an understanding of their
choice; It gave good reason for me to express the significance of my insight. Out of the three
significant insights I formulated, the insight of listening according to my family and friends
appears to be the least compelling. This insight is significant because of how it compelled me to
sharpen my skills and use them as attributes. The insight allowed me to grasp the concept of “
crossing my Xs and dotting my Is”, really being patient and specific. The insight of listening is
significant cause I took away multiple life lessons; Lessons I could not have learned had I not
been in that environment. As a kid, I never cared to listen to anything I did not find important. I
missed out on lessons with substance, didn’t produce well in certain areas due to a lack of
listening, and most importantly I missed all the opportunities that were available had I took the
initiative to listen. Are you listening? Did you hear what lieutenant just said? What was stated by
our general earlier in today’s briefing? Though essentially you are doing one thing, listening,
there are different styles. It is being able to utilize that one style to translate and comprehend
what is being delivered. To reiterate, you can listen but are you listening to where you emerged
in the conversation. Though one may not appreciate the conversation being able to understand
what is being said is the most important factor.
When asked if my understanding of my insight change over time, I would say yes. My
understanding/perception of my insight: listening changed throughout my journey of personal
growth. My lack of responsibility and understanding of the importance of comprehension,
specifically listening led me to believe there was no importance in listening. At times when I
was in a stagnant position or did not take the initiative to listen, I would not take into
consideration how damaging not listening was. It never occurred to me that a God gift given
such as “hearing” could be monumental to achieving personal goals. My understanding of my
insight changed initially in high school. During my time in high school, I understood that I had to
listen to authority and I was “ encouraged” to listen to messages in reference to my performance
but that was all. I was conditioned to listen to these two things specifically. It was my ex-
girlfriend that had educated me on the importance of listening from a different perspective and
how being considerate would tie in relation to listening. My issue was that I had a selective
hearing but chose not to acknowledge it, hearing what I wanted to hear and listening to what I
wanted to listen to. Once I took the initiative to address the issue of selective hearing my
perception of listening and its importance changed. Once I entered the corps as a cadet my
perception of listening changed once again. I felt at times as if I was not being heard but forced
to listen. This dismissiveness that I felt left me not wanting to use my listening skills to my best
ability; especially being that I would receive nothing in return. It was until the end of my time in
the corps that I came to the realization that regardless of my ability listening and being able to
listen should never be taken for granted nor diminished in value.

Resilience
My Insight is resilience, being that it is the true ability to mentally or emotionally cope
with a crisis or to return to pre-crisis status quickly. I chose the term crisis to highlight the
severity of situations and give the reader an understanding of how important resilience is. My
insight is the psychological factor that allows some strong-hearted individualistic thinking
people to be knocked down by the adversities of life and come back at least as strong as before.
In my time in the ROTC program at all you would have is your limited resources and required to
produce at volatile rates. In many of those cases regardless of what I produce, I would be faced
with failure. Not being able to complete a venture or a task assigned by someone with a higher
rank was demoralizing. It was painstaking to fail at points where I believe I worked effectively
and produced my best. Often I would conceptualize failure as an infinite roadblock I cannot
overcome. It is resilience that has sustained me throughout my years in the program to the
current day. From the external experience, I could have chosen many lessons as my insight but
no were as adequate and as profound as resilience. Resilience is arguably one of the greatest
insights gained through my outside experience. Growing up I have seen acts of resilience but was
never granted the opportunity to understand and appreciate resilience. The exposure provided me
with insight, in return, the insight propelled me into being a proud, honest, most importantly
resilient individual. Resilient people are able to utilize all of their developed skills and attributes
to create an efficient coping mechanism and recover from problems and challenges.
The insight is significant because it sustained me during my work experience and after
my departure from the camps/base, It still holds value. As aforementioned Resilience, I was
never directly introduced to the concept, Nor did I have any exposure with someone I found to
be very resilient, or exemplify what resilience means. I was never good at failure, especially in
terms of finding the strength to continue an assignment or project. I would always find myself
distraught not having an understanding of how I can improve myself but rather how this failure
has set me into a stagnant position. The question I would find myself asking is, why is the feeling
of failure overbearing and overwhelming? Why is there an ability to perform after failure? How
can I dismantle this mindset that once I fail or not be able to proceed again? In many cases, I
would not have control over the situation, which gave more reason to give up.
At times there would be PT ( performance test) I would partake in, expecting one result to end
the examination with another. Having failed so many times I made the conscious decision to not
focus on what I did wrong but rather on how I can improve. There is so much substance behind
this insight. Unlike the other insights mentioned this one, in particular, is easily translated in the
world. I don’t intend on speaking on my personal life, Being that it’s a sensitive subject.
However, I do intend on elaborating on how the insight correlates with a major portion of my
personal life prior to and after my work experience. Being a black man is hard, especially during
my time working in the corps. Though there have been things put in place to face and combat
inequality and racial disparities, certain issues tend to never get addressed. The inside is
significant because it reminds me of how I had to face racism and discrimination throughout my
time as a cadet. Though it was not consistent it was apparent and grew to become a liability.
With time, patience, and support from peers, I was able to build a level of confidence that
eventually led me into being a resilient individual.
My understanding of resilience has changed immensely. Growing up I had a very basic
level of understanding of what resilience meant. Resilience was always apparent in slavery, US
and world history, trials throughout my young adulthood period. Now that I’m older my
perception of resilience has changed fully. I used to perceive resilience as something that only a
few people who are lucky enough to have, more so granted the opportunity to have. I believe you
had to be a Destined leader to exemplify what it means to be resilient. I would perceive resilience
as a character trait not as a skill that could be developed by anyone regardless of their
background. In my earliest stages of training, I had this false sense of security that we were
initially to be taught how to be resilient. I focused so much on resiliency and selfless service in
the army ROTC; it resulted in me having a construed way of thinking. Resilience, unlike the
other skills and insights, could not necessarily be taught firsthand. Your exposure to someone
being resilient does not necessarily teach you how to be resilient, influence possibly but educate
no. Someone’s experience can’t directly educate you on what it means to be everything in an
individual. When I came to this realization it was apparent that my understanding was more
developed than when I first started the corps. My understanding changed because my perception
changed. The insight of resilience is not a character trait, not a formula, not something you can
dissect and adopt. Resilience is something you gain through exposure but Most importantly
through the first-hand experience. This is my new and supported understanding of the insight.
I learned this insight through trials and tribulations and facing adversity first hand.
Though initially taken for granted I did not see the importance of resilience therefore not
conceptualizing it as insight but rather a character trait. I learned this insight through investing
time in the concept of Resilience, Which acted as a basis of my understanding. During my time
working remotely in the corps I was granted the opportunity to allocate my work and attend to
things on my own time. During that time, it was harsh. Distracted by micro stressors I never gave
myself the time to invest In myself and coping mechanisms that would help me in the future. It
was changing my perspective on failure and having to face adversity that influenced my view on
understanding how people overcame. Eventually, I took the initiative to understand my issues,
and through efficient steps, I could overcome issues. Being well equipped with tools that allowed
me to become a resilient individual was the goal. I learned how to be resilient on my own accord,
but develop an understanding of what it meant to be resilient after my time serving In the corps.
It’s arguably an insight that you have to look back or refer to in order to have an understanding. I
developed a better understanding/learning of the insight resilience through a period of isolation
and reflection.

Communication
My last insight is communication. Communication By definition is the act of conveying
meanings from one entity or group to another through the use of mutually understood signs
symbols and semiotic rules. In my global communication class, we would refer to this as verbal
and nonverbal cues and nonverbal and verbal codes. The definition May seem
incomprehensible to some, but in simple terms, communication is just the act of getting one’s
point across through similar means. Communication is understanding someone or a group of
people and having been understood. My insight from my external experience is communication.
From childhood, preschool, preliminary Dash grade school, to the corps The understanding of
communication meant was instilled in me. Hence the term understanding, not the importance.
Nobody ever acknowledged, nor emphasized the importance of communication in my life when
it meant the most. Not understanding the severity of communication negatively impacted my
communication skills, But it allowed me to reevaluate my abilities and invest deeper in what it
meant to communicate.
I’ve learned that communication is more than just expressing your point.
Communication is more than just a skill developed and utilized to convey an opinion, persuade
an individual or a group of people. Communication is used more than to evoke emotion or
support a compelling argument. Through my external experiences, I learned that common
communication skills can take you more places than your physical ability can. During my work
experience, tasks were always centered around physical ability and adaptability. Do you have
the physical ability to accomplish this task? Can I effectively complete the mission while relying
on his or her set skill? I was asking all the wrong questions. The focus was on communication,
but I did not take into consideration how extensive communication and the act of communicating
is. When discussing communication you have to learn the different types and forms of
communication in which forms work effectively. Communication could be completed through two
parties, but The question is during this period of communication what was gained? I can
physically speak to someone as a form of communication but that isn’t necessarily mean that I
am communicating effectively nor what’s being said is acknowledged.
The inside is significant to me because I grew up having an understanding of what it
meant to communicate. My understanding was that communication meant one would speak
another one would respond and that’s a form of communication. It was a very basic level of
understanding, but it was when I was conditioned to believe it was communication. My lack of
knowledge and skill enabled me from accomplishing multiple things that I felt would support me
in the future. Being that I’m raising individuals I didn’t allow this and the ability to stop the growth
of my communication skills. This insight is insignificant/profound to me so leave because
growing up I would not have conceptualized me finding these set skills in that work environment.
I always knew that communication and hierarchy or synonymous with one another, meaning
that communication was based on a power structure. Now I know communication is based on
more than an ethnic group, race, gender, social class. The insight is significant because it’s
taken for granted in many cases. Communication is significant because it’s the key to Progress
in modern-day society, needed reform, personal growth. Lastly, it’s significant because unlike
the other insights this is the only skill that all living creatures have the ability to utilize. Wither
that be verbal nonverbal physical and nonphysical communication can be completed through all
if not most means. This arguably makes it one of the most fascinating insights.
My understanding of the inside communication has changed greatly. As aforementioned
in the earlier passages, growing up I have a basic understanding of what communication meant.
My once conditioned mindset prevented me from having an understanding if not a basic
understanding of what communication was. Growing up I equated communication to obedience
to being subservient and not vocalizing your opinion. Once I entered preliminary school I
developed a new understanding of what communication was. During this new period where I
was exposed to a different environment, I learned that communication was not necessarily the
same. I would have to learn how to communicate with different audiences, and how to
communicate effectively. This period changed my perception of communication and changed
my understanding of the styles of communication. At this time in my life, the Inability to
communicate was going and far removed. The last shift in my communication style and time my
understanding of the inside change was during my final weeks in the corps. I had grown an
appreciation and respect for communicating. My newfound respect allowed me to communicate
more efficiently, when effectively, and have a better understanding of where people would come
from. As I stated earlier communication is a two-way process, Getting your point across and
listening learned about the insight working alongside a kid that I didn’t have any relation to.
What made the situation worse was that this person had a perception of what kind of individual I
was. A blinded perception Which in return forced me to understand what it meant to
communicate.