After math teacher Richard Lautze burst into the spotlight during Urban’s Jan. 3 all-school meeting with an impassioned speech about the Month of Understanding, The Urban Legend sought an even deeper explanation of what “understanding” entails for our community. He encourages Urban students to take the Month of Understanding to a new level — that is, to make it a New Year’s resolution. Here’s his Verbatim:

“It would be good to think of it as not only a month to understand, (but as) a school of understanding. The Month of Understanding is a recognition that it’s easy to stick with the status quo. It actually takes regular commitment or renewing of a commitment to increase one’s understanding (of people, ideas, values, etc.).

It is easy to settle for the understanding one already has, but it is exciting to think, ‘perhaps I can always be increasing my understanding … probably in anything.’

It’s hard thing to do for anybody. I have come to recognize that it is my job to try to be aware of the fact that there may be someone less comfortable than me in a situation. And being aware benefits me — I’m not necessarily doing it for another person.

An example of such a situation: I see three students waiting to shadow Urban. A group of Urban students goes up to two of the three, starts jumping around, saying “you’re here!” They are so excited. While this happens, the third kid is sitting uncomfortably close to their celebration. This other kid must’ve felt so ‘other’ and no one saw him.

After the fact, I would sit down next to the kid and say, ‘those kids are pretty wacko,’ to poke fun at that activity which was completely oblivious to his situation. I would try to join the person who is on the out and be out too. That’s where you can be an ally.

So it’s the people who act like ‘this is so great, this is the big party’; there’s a sense that everybody’s in the big party. ‘What’s the problem? Why are you complaining?’ they might ask. However, even the people who seem to be in the big party are not in it. They just want to make you feel that way.

A time in my own life when I felt misunderstood was when I went to English classes or theatre classes and the other students all knew me as a jock. They actually asked me if I was lost.

So sometimes other people’s reactions to you can make you judge yourself incorrectly. That’s where the Month of Understanding comes into play. I don’t know all the things I do that perpetuate misunderstanding, but I know it’s about being aware: I must stop being so involved in my own needs to see if anybody else is around.

Editor: Marney Kline