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It was my first senior year of college (Yes! My first senior year lol. I’ve had three senior years...however, that’s a story for a different email though).
I was 24 and was attending some pretty high level courses at the time. One of the classes I was attending was being taught by a very well respected professor at my university. She had several degrees, a PhD, RDN, and was head of a certain department at my university. She had been through a lot in life to get here, I’m sure of it.
And while, rightly so, I respected the titles she had and the work she has put in, I was not personally a fan of her character. I once heard that you salute the rank of a man, not necessarily the man.
I treated her role as my professor the same way.
Throughout that semester, I was intrigued by reading outside books, studies, podcasts with the latest science, and traveling across the country to live events. Of course I didn’t believe every blog article I read, but I wanted to know the why and how, as well as the in depth science behind the studies I researched. I was learning so much material, all I really wanted to know was what was right and what was wrong. So I asked questions every chance I could.
That class in particular, she liked to get us active and get opinions on the lecture at hand. So, I listened with the intent to understand, not just reply. But if I had a question, I would speak my mind. Because as I believe Voltaire once said, “Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”
I sought first to understand, and still continually strive to learn each day, rather than to be the know-it-all. Nobody likes a person who knows everything.
So I asked questions, a lot of them. Probably sounding more like a kindergarten kid who wouldn’t stop asking why, rather than a 24 year old college man.
Many times, however, my questions were not looked highly upon in that classroom setting. As one day we were talking about dairy and she asked the class if anyone has ever consumed raw milk before.
I was the only one to raise my hand.
She looked a little annoyed and asked where I had gotten it from. I said I had made a pretty good relationship with my farmer’s market vendors and had been drinking their raw goat’s dairy on and off for the past couple years.
Now at this point in my studies, I knew pros and cons of consuming both conventional dairy, as well as raw dairy. But growing up on conventional milk my entire life, I noticed drastic improvements the day I cut dairy out altogether. I stopped consuming dairy around my freshman year of college and I noticed improvements like decreased acne, no seasonal allergies, no more gas and bloating, as well as many other things.
So then throughout the next four years I began studying everything I could about health and what I learned about dairy is still mind-blowing for me to this day. Because I like to experiment with health and simply because I wouldn’t feel right giving my opinion about something I wasn’t willing to try for myself, I decided to give raw milk a try - after studying it extensively, as well as learning directly from farmers who had been doing it their whole lives.
My professor then went on a 15 minute rant about the dangers of raw dairy and called me out several times saying that nobody should ever consume it and I should never recommend it to anyone. I saw many nods of agreement from my fellow classmates as I sat there listening to what she had to say.
I easily felt alone in a crowded room.
This all happened because I simply raised my hand and told her I had personally consumed it. Not because I said she she was wrong. Not because I was opposing her views or science. Not because I was targeting her. But simply because I raised my hand and told my story, which obviously she didn’t like to hear.
*Side note: I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all for anything and that everyone should consume raw dairy. I’m not taking sides, nor am I in favor of prescribing dairy to everyone. But what I am in favor of is just laying out the science, trying different things on myself, giving people the facts, and letting the individual make the informed decision themselves. That’s all.
This wasn’t the first time I had been called out in that type of situation. It happened many times throughout the semester. I knew I was different, but I also knew I was different in a good way and had a higher purpose to serve this world at the same time. So I had to just put my head down and continue to ask questions because I wanted to know what was right.
Then one day, however, my professor gave our class advice that I just couldn’t take anymore, so I got up and walked out...
This time of the semester was the time that everyone in my class was gearing up and getting ready for their dietetic internships. Most people would get matched with the internship they wanted. A lot, however, would not. It is a very competitive system. I know secondhand as my girlfriend is a Dietitian and I watched her emotions over the course of months like a rollercoaster because of the stress she was under.
So as our class was anxious about getting matched, our professor told us a story about a girl she had known to try and help put us at ease. The girl, my professor said, had graduated several years prior and was a very adamant vegan for ethical reasons.
She had gotten matched with a pretty good internship near her hometown. She had several aspects to her 1,200 hour internship. There was outpatient, inpatient, food service, and clinical rotations.
While just starting her food service rotation, the girl had to work in the back of a kitchen preparing and handling meats that would go out on the line. As she was very strong-willed in her beliefs, she asked her superior if she could skip this part of the rotation because it went against her values. Being a vegan, she just didn’t feel comfortable handling meats like that.
Her boss had told her that it wasn’t an option to skip this part and she needed to do it in order to make it through her internship.
So what did she do? She quit.
She decided she would try to look for another internship that aligned with her values.
Continuing to tell us the story, our professor had said that a week or so had gone by and knowing how competitive it is to find a dietetic internship, the girl had no luck. She would have to wait an entire year to start another internship, and that was even if she would get matched again.
So the girl came back after a week and asked her employer if she could have a second chance. She would just handle the meats and move on. Unfortunately, she had already been replaced by another girl who was looking for an internship. What happened to that girl after that, I have no idea.
But I do remember what my professor told our class after that…
She said and I'm paraphrasing to an extent, “Look guys, listen. Sometimes in life you are going to have to do things that go against your beliefs and values in order to get done what you need to get done. She didn’t want to handle the animal meats because it went against what she believed in and now she is out of luck with no internship.”
And then for whatever reason, maybe it was just coincidence, she looked right at me and said without paraphrasing,
“Do your job, sacrifice your values and beliefs, and just put in the work if you want to make it through life.”
While I understood where she was coming from and she truly was just trying to help us be successful in life, I largely disagreed.
I said nothing, packed up my books, grabbed my backpack and left.
I sure as hell wasn’t going to let my mind be filled with someone trying to tell me that I needed to sacrifice my standards just to be successful in life.
All we have in this life are our standards, our values, our beliefs, and our faith. When we sacrifice that just to “get the job done” then that should be a sign that we need to take a step back and ask ourselves is what we’re doing even the right thing for us?
Standards create freedom. Let me say that again...
Standards create freedom.
When we live our lives haphazardly with no structure and no set foundation to live by, then we truly will fall for anything. We need standards, we need our values and something to believe in. When we give these up, then what do we have in life?
Keep your values close. Protect them with all your heart. Make sure, however, that what you are believing in is right, not harmful to anyone else, and that it means something to you. Then protect them and don’t ever let anyone take them away from you. Especially not a professor that you’re supposed to trust and confide in with the right information. And don’t be afraid to get up and walk away from a situation that is no longer serving you.
If you sacrifice your values for anything, you are going to wake up one day and start to question who you are as a person. But if you stay true to what you believe in, while you will have bumps along the way, you will always stay on the right path in life.
