Zeke Smith

Narrative 1

Agere Contra: Living out Vocation through Trials

Working in the Dubuque Community School District was one of the most enlightening

experiences during my time as a student at Loras in terms of developing my own sense of

vocation as well as intercultural competency. When I reflect on these experiences, one encounter

stands out as particularly impactful. I was working on mathematics with a timid yet devoted

student whose family had recently relocated to the U.S. from Guatemala. The student had very

limited English-speaking abilities, and he was having an especially difficult time with the math

lesson I was helping him with. After we got done he made a simple comment about how math is

hard for him. Without thinking, replied by saying “Oh, so you don’t like math then?” He

responded, “No, I do like math. It’s just difficult for me.”

This experience was particularly impactful for me, because it allowed me to reconnect

with an essential part of my own vocation that I had become distant from. This vocational

element is the ability to exercise perseverance and grit as a means to obtaining growth and

fulfillment. The student’s simple comment unknowingly helped me draw inspiration from his

ability to continue working diligently towards his learning objectives despite seemingly

overwhelming challenges. Beyond this, the student demonstrated the importance of finding joy

in struggle and taking pleasure in the growth that comes as a result. This relates closely to the

way James Martin defines agere contra.

“There is an old Jesuit practice called agere contra, which means, in essence, ‘to act against.’ If

there is a part of ourselves that is not free, we try to ‘act against’ that part in order to free

ourselves from resistance in that area.”- James Martin, SJ

The student’s perseverance ignited in me a personal desire to commit to a lifestyle

defined by agere contra. Rather than avoiding things that challenge me or make me

uncomfortable, I want to seek them out and embrace the personal development they bring, just

like the student did with his math work.

A tree with deep roots is an image I drew in my journal to represent the strong foundation for
success developed by many ESL students due to their remarkable ability to perseverance through
challenges.
As I reflect on my results from the IES assessment, I see a clear connection to my

experience working in the DCSD. My IES results identified hardiness as my greatest weakness.

The hardiness category is characterized by the ability to persevere when challenges arise, as well

as a proficiency in bouncing back from failure. My experience with the DCSD student was a

picturesque example of what it looks like to embody hardiness, and I am not surprised this was
my lowest score, given that it is a part of my vocation that I have not been cultivating recently.

Moving forward I hope to combine my experience in the DCSD with the insight gained from the

IES to develop emotional resilience in challenging predicaments. I plan to do this by confronting

my own social anxiety by engaging with strangers, something that scares me. I plan to make a

simple and conscious effort to greet strangers on my walk to classes as a way of overcoming my

reticence to social interaction and enhancing my ability to manage the negative emotions that

may come with this challenge.

The graphic of my overall intercultural effectiveness score indicates my lowest scoring

categories are those associated with hardiness
My experience with the student also caused me to reflect on Hofstede’s cultural

taxonomy dimension of indulgence versus restraint, which characterizes cultures based upon

their disposition towards indulging in pleasures versus exhibiting self-discipline and willpower.

While working with this student and witnessing his immense mental fortitude and ability to

remain focused despite significant challenges, I was struck for the first time by the fact that traits

such as the restraint demonstrated by this student are largely cultural byproducts. Prior to this

encounter, I had always believed personal traits relating to self-disciple to be purely

individualistic. However, seeing this student, along with many of his classmates from similar

cultural backgrounds, exhibit restraint and self-control helped me to reflect on Hofstede’s

taxonomy and observe how this was being manifested in the student I was working with. His

ability to remain focused and determined in the face of adversity was, in part, dictated by the

cultural values he was raised with. This experience broadened my worldview by providing me

with a more complete understanding of how cultural backgrounds influence individual behaviors.

I am now more equipped to recognize the ways in which personal behavior patterns may be

dictated by cultural backgrounds, which will enable me to be more understanding as I interact

with people of different cultures moving forward.

Students’ abilities to succeed academically may be influenced by their cultural background.

Those from cultures with high emphasis on restraint may be more likely to excel