Jackie Mazur and What We Should Learn From Her

The minute my teacher introduced an assignment to interview a partner, I looked left, where Jackie Mazur sat next to me. She embraced my look with a warm smile and we then established that we would be interviewing each other. Jackie and I had gone to school together since elementary school. However, I had never gotten an opportunity to really get to know the real Jackie Mazur. Upon interviewing her, something about her really amazed me; it was how much she values the connections made with her family and the importance they hold in her life.

I started off by asking Jackie about who, out of anyone in the world, she’d be most interested in having dinner with. She replied,

“I’ve never really thought about that question before so…it’s kinda hard to choose. Um…I would probably choose one of my family members that like I haven’t met before, like my grandpa on my dad’s side. I never really had the chance to meet him. It would be cool kinda to see the other side of my family and where they came from.”

I continued on to question her a little more about her family, which seemed to take a huge role in her life. She explained how she is most grateful that “a lot of my family is very close and I don’t have to travel to see them…I am pretty close with my family. I have an older brother, a year older, and I used to not be so close with him, but as we got older, we are a lot closer now, which is nice.” Something that is unique about Jackie’s family is that even her extended family maintains this same closeness; “Thanksgivings and stuff like that are huge with like thirty people all the time.”

Someone Jackie looked up to and had a deep connection with was her Grandmother. When asked about which one possession she would save in a fire, Jackie immediately came up with an answer; “I have a letter from my grandma before she passed away so I would probably take that…it is very sentimental.” It was obvious that there is a big emphasis on family in Jackie’s life. They come before any material possessions that might’ve come to other people’s minds. The love and care that Jackie has for her family is immense.

Growing up with a close family put a certain importance on them. This importance is maintained even as Jackie anticipates the future. “Haha, I honestly don’t know…I’d have to think about this one,” Jackie said when asked what she wants to know if a crystal ball could tell her her future. “Probably what my family would look like when I am older…how many kids…stuff like that.”

Today, people are so hurried and caught up in their own lives that they forget what it means to care about others and create deep connections with people. That said, upon delving deeper into her character, it is obvious that Jackie is a kind, caring individual that still sees the beauty of connecting with those close to her.