Connor Grennan - Event 2

Conor Grennan - Common Reading Lecture                                           9/17/13


     On Tuesday evening I attended the common reading lecture by Conor Grennan, author of Little Princes. Although I have not yet read the book, I was excited to attend this lecture because I learned a lot about the book in my training to be an Orientation Leader and the topic (child trafficking in Nepal) was one of great interest to me. Based on the knowledge I obtained from my training and discussion with friends who had read the book, Conor Grennan, as a person, was not at all what I expected.
    Grennan began his lecture by explaining to the audience how he ended up in Nepal. While I expected Grennan to tell us that he embarked on the trip with specific intentions of performing service, he quickly admitted that he was traveling around the world for fun and only committed to volunteering at an orphanage in Nepal in order to impress friends back home. The fact that he volunteered for show instead of out of generosity for such an important cause rubbed me the wrong way. Then, when describing his first day at the orphanage, Grennan expressed that he disliked children and was not looking forward to actually completing the service that he had bragged about to his friends. After hearing this, I started to think that I had given Grennan way more credit than he deserved since he did not seem like the outstanding individual I had expected to hear from.
     However, as Grennan continued telling his story, he slowly began to gain back integrity in my mind.  I think Grennan approached his lecture the way he did so he would be more appealing to his young audience. While I did not necessarily appreciate his approach, many people I discussed the lecture with loved the fact that Grennan put himself on a level playing field with Elon students and came off as a very relatable person. Although I did not like his delivery as much as many of the other audience members, I think he successfully engaged us and I enjoyed listening to his story about the Nepali orphans.
     While I loved listening to the account of his adventures in Nepal, I think the real message I took away from his lecture was not about the book. Listening to Conor Grennan helped me understand how much a person can change. As I previously mentioned, the way Grennan originally portrayed himself made me question his character. This judgment, however, was premature on my part because throughout his story he explained how his service changed him as a person. Through his service in Nepal he developed a love for kids, he met his wife, he discovered his faith, and he started the nonprofit organization Next Generation Nepal. This idea that all people have the potential to change and are able to develop into a more upstanding character if they take advantage of their opportunities, allowed me to leave the lecture feeling excited for my future at Elon.