MYP Respect Day—Friday, November 22, 2020, over Zoom Conferencing By Tom Leavens

On Sunday, November 22, 2020, the MYP hosted Respect Day over Zoom  Conferencing. The event was rectored by Cathy Bischoff Weinbaum, and the Team Members were Eileen Haggerty, Mary Leavens, Tom Leavens, Jean   Pedri & Diana Roach—along with special alumni guests Shauna D’Arcy & Sarah Pavan. The theme of the event was, “As Christians, our responsibility is to promote respect, not diminish it.” 

The icebreaker involved presenting a number of memes that had letters & asking the teens to guess what they stood for. For example, they were shown, “ASAP,” which stands for “Always Stop And Pray.” The teens were very creative with their responses! Here’s some others:

The talk was given by Jean Pedri with personal examples shared by Shauna D’Arcy, Mary Leavens & Sarah Pavan.  For our first activity, the teens were paired off to discuss questions like: Who do you respect & why? Who do you respect now that you didn’t in the past? Describe a time when you felt disrespected. They returned to Small Groups (Breakout Rooms with Zoom) to share their experience from the pair discussion. Also, they discussed questions like: How do you define respect? Do you consider respect a feeling, idea or action? How do you keep your self-respect when other are not respecting you? How do you treat a person who is not respecting themselves & others?

For the second activity, the teens were presented with, “What Would You Do?” scenarios. They were asked to choose from a number of choice responses that involved aspects of respect.

For the concluding Prayer Services, we reflected on John 13: 34-35:  Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  Our response, “God’s love shines in us,” was given to challenges like, “ When we act with kindness,” “When we stand up for one another,” and “When we set a good example for our friends, brothers and sisters.”

Respect Day is an MYP event that has been revisited over the years & always requires an adaptation to the current world situations. This event was so needed at this time for the Team to plan & our teens to experience it!