Blog 3 - What did the exploration of the contemporary issues teach you about community? What did you learn about yourself as a community member? What did you learn about yourself as a thinker? What insights can you take from our time together to help you respond to ethical situations in a more thoughtful way? Be specific.
Exploring the community has been something I never thought would be so... mind churning. Its like, we thought we had it all figured out, but when getting to the nitty gritty what-ifs of the world, it turns out life is far from black and white. As we talked about all these relevant contemporary issues, I noticed a lot of changes happening in the class room.
1. The students who felt the strongest about liberty vs. equality (those sitting at the very ends of the measurement line), seemed to switch and fluctuate their views when real life situations came into play.
2. Some people are never for something fully. This may be due to our ability to understand the other side. But as we dove into a new topic each week, there were A LOT of wishy washy people, so I asked myself, why is that?
Now I fully understand the dangers and benefits of being a part of a community. Benefits come in many ways from support, to encouragement, to a guiding light through life. However, these same benefits can take away from your life in other ways. Yes, it is great to have support and encouragement, however, when questions of moral and values get a little gray, this support may become an obligation you have to fulfill that you may not agree with. For example, a Roman Catholic woman may be entirely against abortion, UNTIL she is faced with her teenage daughter being pregnant by her sexual assaulter. Then what? The church may pressure her into doing what they believe is right, and not what she believes is right. Because of this, I am starting to realize that people's decisions can not be judged by who they are relative to everyone else, but by who they really are and how they think.
In terms of my own thinking, I have always been the type to go with my gut feelings regardless of any selfish thoughts or outside pressure. I am continuing this but I am becoming a little more continuous of habitual pressures that I may be putting on myself unknowingly. I can ask myself, "Well is this right in every circumstance", and hope to get a better understanding of the decisions I am making.
One of the class sessions this semester that really stood out to me was our discussion about liberty and equality. It seemed to me, that when you first put up the line, with each value on either end, that people took their seat where they truly felt comfortable. However, when you added the words "democratic" and "republican" to the mix, my eyes really opened up to what "society pressure" really means. Everyone stood up and went to whatever party they were affiliated with, completely disregarding the values behind them. Now, I can't help but think, is this how our society works?
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Monday, March 20, 2017
Who am I to my community?
Blog 2 - How has our exploration of the concepts of "Community" and "Goodness" impacted your thinking? Identify two insights that you have gained about yourself as a result of our work together. What attitudes, beliefs, understandings do you need to develop further, to be a better member of the communities you participate in (including our classroom community)? Why? How might you improve in these areas (identify an improvement strategy)?
Since the beginning of this class, I have come to see how important and influential our communities are in our lives. However, not often do all of our communities go hand in hand with each other. Many times the different communities we are a part of contradict each other in some way when applying them to real life. In class, for example, we did an exercise where we, as individuals, had to chance to save 1 group in danger of being run over by a trolley, while simultaneously putting a different group in danger. At first, the exercise did not seem that hard. Many students in class picked a side, stuck to their side, and gave solid reasons as to why they would react in that way. However, once we received ore information on who made up these groups in danger, biases unreasonable thinking came to light. This made the class really think to themselves, "What is actually important". Again, we did another exercise where we asked ourselves, "What are the most important things we need to be happy or live a good life". Ultimately we had about 10 to 12 things on the board, but when ranking them, regardless of the communities we were each a part of, we seemed to agree on the same things.
After applying this thought process to my own life and experiences I have realized two things: Morals and values overpower titles, and although your community may influence your life, it does not make you, you. Regardless of what communities we are a part of, we always make decisions based on the morals we give the most value to.This is partially why it is important to respect all communities, and learn before judging. At the same time, to become a better member of your community, you should really consider what is important to you. This was you can asses and reevaluate your role within your community. If your are not the fastest runner, but have a great arm, you should probably be the quarterback of your team. Same concept applies to life. If you believe in one thing more than the other, put yourself in positions that will bring you the greatest purpose and contribution to your community.
Since the beginning of this class, I have come to see how important and influential our communities are in our lives. However, not often do all of our communities go hand in hand with each other. Many times the different communities we are a part of contradict each other in some way when applying them to real life. In class, for example, we did an exercise where we, as individuals, had to chance to save 1 group in danger of being run over by a trolley, while simultaneously putting a different group in danger. At first, the exercise did not seem that hard. Many students in class picked a side, stuck to their side, and gave solid reasons as to why they would react in that way. However, once we received ore information on who made up these groups in danger, biases unreasonable thinking came to light. This made the class really think to themselves, "What is actually important". Again, we did another exercise where we asked ourselves, "What are the most important things we need to be happy or live a good life". Ultimately we had about 10 to 12 things on the board, but when ranking them, regardless of the communities we were each a part of, we seemed to agree on the same things.
After applying this thought process to my own life and experiences I have realized two things: Morals and values overpower titles, and although your community may influence your life, it does not make you, you. Regardless of what communities we are a part of, we always make decisions based on the morals we give the most value to.This is partially why it is important to respect all communities, and learn before judging. At the same time, to become a better member of your community, you should really consider what is important to you. This was you can asses and reevaluate your role within your community. If your are not the fastest runner, but have a great arm, you should probably be the quarterback of your team. Same concept applies to life. If you believe in one thing more than the other, put yourself in positions that will bring you the greatest purpose and contribution to your community.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
What does community mean to me?
Blog 1 - How much thought have you put into the concept of "community" before this course? Why? How important are the communities you participate in to you? Why or why not? Which ones have influenced your sense of right and wrong the most? In what ways might that influence be negative or problematic?
Before this class, I really never thought of myself as being part of any community. I mean I always thought of communities as being those in the towns near you. When I thought of communities, I always pictured those PTA moms with children who attend each other birthday parties, and always come together for bake sales and soccer games. My family is not that involved to i guess I just assumed I was outside of the community, or maybe even just an individual roaming through the world. Of course i knew there were others out there similar to me. I knew there was another girl, same age, probably identical upbringing, with maybe even the same interests, but I would never imagine "us" being a part of the same community.
Now that I am older however, and really to took the time out to reflect on what a community really is, and how I could add to a community, I have realized that there is more to me than I thought. I am a woman, I am a student, I am a daughter, a sister, a girlfriend- I am a part of numerous communities. Although I may not be super active in each of these communities, I still leave a mark on them each and every day. For one, being a woman in this wonderful generation is huge. I mean yea we gained rights to vote back in the day, but today women face so many more obstacles and hurdles. Not only do we still fight for equal rights, we're also fighting to keep the ones we worked to hard to gain. Every time I go to work, or apply for a new scholarship, or even pay bills, I am faced with the stats. I am adding to what it is to be a working, Hispanic woman. This is why I think even if you do not realize it, everything you do affects your community or adds to it in some way. Your community ultimately is a reflection of you.
Overall, I think being a minority has really molded me as a person. Growing up, based on the community I was born into, i saw and had to deal with a lot of discrimination and unfair treatment. Going through these experiences has extremely affected my sense of right and wrong. I tend to think about what others go through and how others feel before speaking or acting on anything. When dealing with other minorities I have a huge bias, one that also leads to a stand off-ish feeling towards some other races and ethnicities. The fact of the matter is, my experiences in this community completely molded my mind. Experiences are different however. Your experiences can also mold who you are, but most things you experience are directly caused by the communities you are a part of, and I have grown to realize this. Every "good" person, and every "bad" person is a product of their environment, and have built their morals and values based on the morals and values shared within their community.
Before this class, I really never thought of myself as being part of any community. I mean I always thought of communities as being those in the towns near you. When I thought of communities, I always pictured those PTA moms with children who attend each other birthday parties, and always come together for bake sales and soccer games. My family is not that involved to i guess I just assumed I was outside of the community, or maybe even just an individual roaming through the world. Of course i knew there were others out there similar to me. I knew there was another girl, same age, probably identical upbringing, with maybe even the same interests, but I would never imagine "us" being a part of the same community.
Now that I am older however, and really to took the time out to reflect on what a community really is, and how I could add to a community, I have realized that there is more to me than I thought. I am a woman, I am a student, I am a daughter, a sister, a girlfriend- I am a part of numerous communities. Although I may not be super active in each of these communities, I still leave a mark on them each and every day. For one, being a woman in this wonderful generation is huge. I mean yea we gained rights to vote back in the day, but today women face so many more obstacles and hurdles. Not only do we still fight for equal rights, we're also fighting to keep the ones we worked to hard to gain. Every time I go to work, or apply for a new scholarship, or even pay bills, I am faced with the stats. I am adding to what it is to be a working, Hispanic woman. This is why I think even if you do not realize it, everything you do affects your community or adds to it in some way. Your community ultimately is a reflection of you.
Overall, I think being a minority has really molded me as a person. Growing up, based on the community I was born into, i saw and had to deal with a lot of discrimination and unfair treatment. Going through these experiences has extremely affected my sense of right and wrong. I tend to think about what others go through and how others feel before speaking or acting on anything. When dealing with other minorities I have a huge bias, one that also leads to a stand off-ish feeling towards some other races and ethnicities. The fact of the matter is, my experiences in this community completely molded my mind. Experiences are different however. Your experiences can also mold who you are, but most things you experience are directly caused by the communities you are a part of, and I have grown to realize this. Every "good" person, and every "bad" person is a product of their environment, and have built their morals and values based on the morals and values shared within their community.
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