Jumps around a lot but I just have a crapload of stuff running thru my mind. So if it doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense. Oh well. It made sense in my mind when I was thinking about it.
The mind is a very, very powerful tool of ours. Of course, it helps us become who we are as people today. How can a person live in this world if they do not use their mind?
We say in America that it's the land of the free, yet we condemn and group people for their opinions and who they are. We have all these stereotypes in our minds ready to go. Why do you think that Blacks are pretty much the scapegoats of one crime or another. Or when somebody does a suicide bombing, we as Americans, automatically think it was a terrorist, an extremist most likely working for Osama, when the bomber was actually some average joe whom nobody would expect would do such a thing. We're so twisted in America by all these stereotypes, so how can we say that America is truly free? Sure we can do a lot of things other people from other countries can't, but I'd like to see someone, probably an Afghan person (to reinforce the stereotype), walk into an airport with regular clothes on and not get suspicious looks from the security (esp. right after 9/11).
I watched a powerful movie today in Sociology class. It was about the Yakima Indians in Washington. For hundreds of years they have lived there in peace, living off the salmon, abundant in the Columbia River. When the "white men" came, they forced the Indians out of their land and into a reservation where they were forced to farm and could not fish. Since when did the "white men" feel that they had the power over these Indians who have been living there for many years. In the peace treaty, they allowed the Indians to remain fishing, but over the years, fishing for the Indians became a crime and people got arrested for it. They were also accused of "stealing" 40,000 salmon, when in fact, it was the factories dumping chemicals into the water forcing the salmon to move elsewhere. People were so quick to judge and ready to remove the Indian people from Washington overall. But who were they to do such a thing? Where did they get that idea from? How can the commercial fisherman working for his paycheck say that he deserves more than the Indian fisherman working for his family and survival?
We all want to see ourselves as "good people." But what is good? Who defines what is good? Is it something that a majority of people like and agree on and say, "That's good" and the things they don't like are "bad?" But again, everything here is in our minds. How can we say we want to be "good people" when we harbor all these feelings that we deem "negative." We all have the capability to hate, be violent, etc. Everything is part of our minds, so can we truly ever be these "good people" we long to be? I've noticed that people do not acknowledge that. They assume things like "The Pope is a holy man, therefore, he cannot hate." We're all human so we're both good and bad people as long as we have the capacity to both love and hate...
You see, the mind can also create many things. Situations can be created all inside our heads and yet in reality, it may not be there. How do you think we have tales of the boogieman and all his fairytale friends? Reality-wise, he only exists in our minds. But this doesn't apply to imaginary characters, it also applies to a lot of our ideals about people and society as well.
One thing about our society too is that we have so many expectations. There's expectations and standards as to how one should act, how love should be, how to behave oneself, etc. How can society expect the same thing from every person when it is clear that everybody is different? We should all have our own set of expectations tailored to what we can handle, but it's barely the case for anyone. Swamped with all these wants and needs from others, people just can't handle it.
Sometimes people ask me how I can stay so calm in so many situations. idk I guess I've learned to not have so many expectations of people and instead let things happen. I try to see if there is a way where things can be worked out and I can stay calm Of course, this does not mean that I'm a passive person whatsover. Should things arise that need taking care of, then I might not just be so calm haha. And when people expect things of me, I try my best to fulfill their expectations while at the same time fulfilling my own expectations of myself. I'm not a perfect person, and I can't do everything, but I still try my hardest.
