"Perspective" or "Fast Food For Thought"
I was sitting down to start on a rough draft of my english paper but couldn't concentrate because of the noise outside - so I put in some ear plugs. Immediate refuge. It was so calming to just listen to myself breath for a few seconds, something you don't often have the chance to hear inside your own head. It sort of reminds me of how I felt before I could breath through my nose. Before my surgery I would hold my breath while eating. I never realized that other people didn't feel the need to pause mid-chew and exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen; I thought they were just better at holding their breath. However, this current denial of senses is fun because it's easily reversible (without the blood and the throwing up and the going to band camp high on codeine).
Krista and I were talking over our nutritious Burger King dinner for a good 2 hours tonight. Surprisingly, a lot of what we discussed had to do with different realities. I was talking about the aforementioned English paper whose subject is going to be the parallels between the american culture and its educational system. She had mentioned something about how a lot of people don't realize what's going on in the world, and they are really sheltered. So I, of course, told her story of the Allegory of the Cave and relayed the personal connation I have for it. It fit right into to what I was talking about because, in my paper, I want to draw in the idea of apathy and that the way to change is through frustration, outlined in the essays we read by frederick douglass and malcolm x. Douglass mentions that after he learned to read and write, he envied the ignorance of his fellow slaves because they were content with their positions. He knew that learning had put him on a path of action and that, although it would have been easier to take a step back and say, "no thanks, I'll continue being a slave" he no longer had that choice and had to become the leader he did.
We talked about politics and religion and also, and this book that I'm reading called "the wisdom of crowds". It's hard to recall the exact moments and words in a conversation (but I liked this one, so I'm attempting to record it) but a sort of conclusion, you could say, we came to was that people, when working toward a common goal or with a purpose can be smarter than the individual member. However, when blindly led by one leader or a small group of leaders, they are dumber than the individual member. Krista is religious and attends church, but dislikes groups like Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru.) because she says that the leaders lose focus of the point of religion because of politics. And because of this hatred of politics and confusion over what the American political parties actually stand for (aside from abortion, the environment, and war) - she has not registered to vote. I am not an advocate of organized religion because I think people should not be told what to believe, that it should be a personal choice. I also think that the church has traditionally been a political figure throughout its history and even though the idea of "God's ideals" ( i won't call it "religion" because there is a confusion of terms)was a GOOD idea (love people, don't steal or kill, don't be an asshole..etc), taken into the hands of a few church leaders, it has become corrupt. I am an advoate of democracy, and understand that America is more of a republic than a democracy, but participate nonetheless because without my full partcipation and concern, the system fails. At my most patriotic, I am a voting citizen. If I fail to do that, I fail to care about the country.
I just found it really interesting that we were concerned about the same things and chose to act in opposite ways to satisfy those concerns. Perspective.
Emma
This was for me.
Krista and I were talking over our nutritious Burger King dinner for a good 2 hours tonight. Surprisingly, a lot of what we discussed had to do with different realities. I was talking about the aforementioned English paper whose subject is going to be the parallels between the american culture and its educational system. She had mentioned something about how a lot of people don't realize what's going on in the world, and they are really sheltered. So I, of course, told her story of the Allegory of the Cave and relayed the personal connation I have for it. It fit right into to what I was talking about because, in my paper, I want to draw in the idea of apathy and that the way to change is through frustration, outlined in the essays we read by frederick douglass and malcolm x. Douglass mentions that after he learned to read and write, he envied the ignorance of his fellow slaves because they were content with their positions. He knew that learning had put him on a path of action and that, although it would have been easier to take a step back and say, "no thanks, I'll continue being a slave" he no longer had that choice and had to become the leader he did.
We talked about politics and religion and also, and this book that I'm reading called "the wisdom of crowds". It's hard to recall the exact moments and words in a conversation (but I liked this one, so I'm attempting to record it) but a sort of conclusion, you could say, we came to was that people, when working toward a common goal or with a purpose can be smarter than the individual member. However, when blindly led by one leader or a small group of leaders, they are dumber than the individual member. Krista is religious and attends church, but dislikes groups like Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru.) because she says that the leaders lose focus of the point of religion because of politics. And because of this hatred of politics and confusion over what the American political parties actually stand for (aside from abortion, the environment, and war) - she has not registered to vote. I am not an advocate of organized religion because I think people should not be told what to believe, that it should be a personal choice. I also think that the church has traditionally been a political figure throughout its history and even though the idea of "God's ideals" ( i won't call it "religion" because there is a confusion of terms)was a GOOD idea (love people, don't steal or kill, don't be an asshole..etc), taken into the hands of a few church leaders, it has become corrupt. I am an advoate of democracy, and understand that America is more of a republic than a democracy, but participate nonetheless because without my full partcipation and concern, the system fails. At my most patriotic, I am a voting citizen. If I fail to do that, I fail to care about the country.
I just found it really interesting that we were concerned about the same things and chose to act in opposite ways to satisfy those concerns. Perspective.
Emma
This was for me.