At Destination Imagination, communication and working together are key components of what we do. The current protests in the United States are highlighting our critical need to listen to, learn about, and build empathy for the people around us – in this case, especially Black Americans.
Today’s Instant Challenge is not a traditional DI Instant Challenge. Today’s challenge focuses on self-reflection, empathy and compassion. This activity is intended to be completed in teams of friends and family members. There is no scoring and no time limit.
Describe a situation where you hurt someone’s feelings. It may be tempting to explain why you did what you did or what your intentions were, but focus on the other person.
Answer these questions:
- Why do you think the other person felt hurt or disrespected? How did your actions make them feel that way?
- Did you apologize afterward? If you did, how? How do you think your apology made the other person feel? Did you try anything else to make it right?
- How do you feel about what you did?
- What did you learn because of this situation?
Your Instant Challenge is to write what you would say/do if you had the chance to try it again and improve your previous action. Write down the words you think would have made the situation better. Read them out loud to the friends and family who are with you. Talk about why this version is better than what happened the first time.
In real life, we don’t always get a redo. Practicing these difficult conversations can help us understand how our words and actions impact other people. At Destination Imagination, we are practicing those conversations too, in hopes we can better serve our participants and volunteers around the globe.
We acknowledge that conversations like these are the first step of many. If there’s a way we can help or something you’d like us to work on improving, please contact us at [email protected]. You can also read this message from our Executive Director or visit The Good Men Project to learn more about how to address current events with young people.
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