“I’ve been given a rare gift: about an hour everyday where all I can do is sit"

Our latest blog post comes from Dominican Volunteer Gabrielle Smith, who serves as a counselor at Immaculate Conception Academy Cristo Rey High School in San Francisco California.

Gabrielle shares how the daily tedious task commuting has given her a new understanding in appreciation for the Dominican Pillar of Study.

Dominican Volunteer Gabrielle Smith

The Bay Area Rapid Transit of San Francisco.

One of the somewhat unfortunate aspects of my job is commuting in the mornings and afternoons.  I’m actually not commuting to work like most people, but I’m chaperoning high school students to their workplace and then picking them up in the afternoon.  As a Cristo Rey school, all of our students work at a company one day a week, so we need chaperones to ensure students using public transportation arrives at work safely.  This means I ride the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) four times a day, going various distances, with a group of high school students. 

I think it’s fair to say most people probably don’t love commuting to work in general (even without a gaggle of girls following you).  However, I’m going to make a brief plug in favor of commuting, as it has given me some much needed time to reflect, read, study, and discern.

Since I come back to school in the morning and go out for pick up in the afternoon without students, I’ve been given a rare gift: about an hour everyday where all I can do is sit.  I cannot move anywhere or move any faster than the train already is.  I am forced to sit still for once and be okay with letting my mind wander or I can finally read a particular book I’ve wanted to read.  Since the beginning of this year, I’ve been quite productive on the train.  I’ve studied for the GRE, listened to many podcasts, chilled out with some music, and have read All the Light We Cannot See, The Shack, The Road to Character, Just Mercy, The Dark Side of Innocence: Growing Up Bipolar, and “The Death of Ivan Ilych”.  I’m currently reading A Man Called Ove (in case you were wondering).  My housemates are definitely tired of hearing all of my unsolicited book reviews and summaries :-)

But having that time to simply sit and read or stare out the window or meditate has really been a blessing in disguise.  It has forced me to slow down and not feel like I need to be doing something all the time.  I’m writing about this seemingly mundane topic of commuting because it has changed the way I interpret the Dominican Pillar of “Study.”  If you are not familiar with the Dominican Order, we have 4 pillars (aka values): ministry, prayer, community, and study.  The first three are pretty straightforward in my opinion, but study seemed a bit vague to me when used outside of academia.  What am I supposed to study when I’m not a student in school?  No one is going to tell me what to study?! 

That has been quite a mental shift as we go from being students in school to graduates who can now read or study whatever we want simply for the sake of learning.  How freeing that is to read books that have nothing to do with my job, but simply because I want to.  I personally have lost that as I’ve gotten older throughout high school and college where we’re told what to study and have no time to study random topics of interest.  I think that’s what the pillar of “study” is all about though -- we should continue to study something to keep our minds sharp and to make learning a lifestyle even after we’ve left the classroom. 

If you have any book or podcast recommendations, leave a comment below!