Allison Pelton

As I spend my last year at One Stone thinking about where to go next, I wonder what will happen to my vision statement, “Treasuring the Valley”. My college choices all involve leaving the Boise area, which can feel like abandonment of my vision. I don’t want to feel trapped either. A changing vision is a sign of growth, not something to discourage. Reconciliation of these feelings has defined this semester and led to insight on both my own values and how to respect others as individuals. For my artifact, I wrote a poem. This poem ties together for me the concepts of community and individual. In it, I admit that I am personally affected by my immediate community more strongly than distant communities. Currently, one of my immediate communities is the Treasure Valley. Having so much time to myself has allowed me to realize that my vision statement was never literal; it meant uplifting any communities I am a part of. Sometimes you hurt someone, and there’s nothing that can be done to fix it. Accepting this is the only way to move on. It’s not possible to please everyone. Even a “perfect” person is an antagonist in someone’s life story, intentionally or not. No one is to blame for this fact of life. Sometimes inaction is just the best way forward.