I currently live with two roommates - Lindsay and Kelly. Lindsay and I have known each other since 8th grade and have been roommates for over two years now. We are Trinsay. Trinsay met Kelly at church and she joined our household this summer. Together, we are Trinselly.
I have had many roommates over the years and each one has left their mark on me. It's amazing how much you can learn about the world by living with someone who didn't grow up in the same household as you. For example, when Lindsay and I moved in together, she brought along her toaster oven. I had never been exposed to a toaster over before. THEY ARE MAGICAL! You can heat anything in there. I'm never going back to a regular toaster.
Anyways, the fact that I copy certain values, characteristics, and behaviors of the people around me crystallized tonight when I started eating my bowl of popcorn with chopsticks. You heard me, chopsticks. My dear roommate Kelly comes from an Asian family and doesn't like to get her hands dirty while eating popcorn. Solution? Chopsticks. That way, you can type on your computer AND eat popcorn, all without having to wipe your hands on your pants every five seconds.
As I sit here shoving popcorn into my mouth one kernel at a time (because you can only pick up one or two kernels at a time with chopsticks), I wonder, "In addition to my new chopstick eating ways, what other behaviors, attitudes and values have I assimilated from others?" According to the almighty Merriam Webster*, assimilate means 1) to learn something so that it is fully understood and can be used or 2) to adopt the ways of another culture. I think that's what I'd like to do. Rather than mindlessly copying the actions of others, I want to fully understand the actions of those around me and then assimilate the good behaviors into my own life. Maybe the Borg from Star Trek had it right. Here's to assimilation!
*FYI, the Merriam Webster site has some really fun quizzes which wasted about 15 minutes of my time while writing this blog.
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