The setting of the Honors classroom is slightly changed as Dr. Leslie prepares to discuss wellness with the Zetas and Epsilons on Monday, November 7th, 2011. The chairs and desks formed a circle or rectangle rather, in order to stimulate better conversation. For nearly three hours, students' ideas of wellness, illness, aging, and eventually death were discussed with the Board of Regent's member. Questions were brought up about what each of these things meant to different people. Attractiveness was mentioned as a possible indicator of wellness and the students were given the opportunity to weigh in on whether they believed wellness and attractiveness were related. Dr. Leslie went on to discuss aging by introducing the topic as a comparison between himself and a student. Differences in their ages were apparent, but no one wanted to insult the prestigious board member and retired physician. Another aspect that was discussed was Dr. Leslie's faith. Not only how he attained it, but also how his work has been affected by his Christianity. Many different aspects left Dr. Leslie never short of words.
Many of the things Dr. Leslie talked about are not things commonly discussed by people. Most of the population has no doubt said at some point in their life that they are "well" or "doing well", however they never stop to think about what that means. Wellness is so subjective that to some people it means an emotional state, while to others it is primarily physical fitness or perhaps diet. People also tend to answer this question hastily and do not want to burden others with their personal problems or feelings. In passing, it is much easier to perhaps just tell the asker everything is all right, even if a person is in pain, emotional or physical. This begs the question of how that leads into further wellness issues or possibly illness. Aging and death were other factors in wellness and where it leads and how it progresses.
I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Dr. Leslie's ideas. He planted a seed into our minds and allowed it to grow into our own thoughts that we could go on to share with the group. He then addressed each of our thoughts personally and individually while putting in his own opinion on the matter. A very intriguing man, Dr. Leslie brought us as students into a conversation we most likely had never had before and interpreted our ideas in order to give us feedback and stimulation. Never truly giving us a conclusive definition of any of the things we discussed, leading me to believe that he did not want us to define it for the world, but to lead us to what the terms meant to us as individuals. After all, individual beliefs about wellness are what really leads people to be well in my opinion. Not what society dictates as healthy, but what individuals determine is well for them.
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