Chris Lowney

Many boundaries have been formed in our own lives here at Loyola, the boundaries between our campus and the surrounding city. These boundaries were not forced upon us yet they were put up by our minds. Chris Lowney, a former Jesuit discussed the four Jesuit values that seem unique in the way the Jesuits look at the real world. The Jesuit education focuses on leadership. Through this leadership one must go out into the world; one must break the boundary. In many of the works we have studied in class it discusses this idea of boundaries, by looking at the discussion by Chris Lowney, these Jesuit values can be found within a handful of works.
The four Jesuit values are ingenuity, self-awareness, love, and heroism. Each of these values is what helps a person become a leader. In the novel The Whale Rider, Kahu, uses all these qualities to become a leader. She realizes what she must do to save her people. She has self-awareness, she knows who she is and what she must do. She has love for her people and for the whales; it is this love from which her heroism grows. She crosses the boundary between reality and myth. She knows she must cross this boundary, even though she does not know what awaits her on the other side. Kahu seems to be an ordinary girl, yet these four things are what make he a leader.
In The Death and Life of Great American Cities, one chapter entitled the curse of border vacuums, the author discusses how these borders affect cities. She discusses how borders are made and what they represent. Not many people inhabit the areas around established borders such as railroad tracks and bodies of water. Yet as people move farther and farther away from these “bad” areas the cities and “inhabitable” places grow steadily smaller and denser. This made me think of the Jesuit values and life here at Loyola. If we as students were to remain only in the safe surroundings and comfort of our school, and were too scared to venture out into the real world, this cycle would continue. It is important that we take into account the four values and apply them to ourselves. This book is a good example of why it is important to travel and help in the less fortunate areas of the city. The Jesuit values are important in preserving cities. Chris Lowney was able to show that it is possible for anyone to be a leader we just must live using these values, and apply them to everything we do.
In the poem The Game, it talks about a disabled girl who likes to escape to her fantasy world and hide away from the harsh reality of her life. But after hearing Lowney speak, it made me think about the girl next door who everyday would go with Cruz, the disabled girl, into her fantasy. The girl next door was not a leader in the sense in which you would assume but she shows certain values, which made me look a little closer. She has self-awareness in the way in which she knows the differences between herself and Cruz, she exercises ingenuity by being able to adapt to the fantasy world that Cruz has created for them. She has a love that is shown through the way in which she continues on with Cruz. She also exercises heroism in a way by allowing Cruz to play a wonderful mother to her, which allows her to see how wonderful she could possibly be in the future. Although it seems like a stretch, the friend of Cruz stood out to me after listening to Lowney’s words. She is able to break through a boundary and make Cruz’s life better and show her that the world isn’t as bad as she believes it to be.
In all three of these works we are able to see the theme of boundaries. Also, if you look closely in each there is an example in some way that illustrates or gives way to the four Jesuit values. Although each work presents these values differently, with each you could apply Lowney’s discussion on Jesuit faith and be able to see how we might be able to break down these boundaries.