I am writing this prompt on an impulse--I don't even have Getting the Grip 2 in my possession yet but as I start to read the text reflections and blog posts below (no problem, you can always blog rather than turn in) , I am inspired to just respond and invite you, for next week, to draw both draw from the text and to write about where you are now in your thinking about the world, your role, acceptance of and desire to escape from hard truths. . .and the energy, people, activities, distractions that bring you hope and peace in the midst of it all.
First, I want to say that I have many if not all of the sentiments that many of you express--both of powerlessness and also many small glimpses of hope or the feeling that at least I will do the little that I can do and that is something. But, I often feel frustrated with the world and with myself--I am more than twice your age, and I am still asking all of the same questions and wondering what am I really doing to have an impact or contribute in any positive sense to the shift that I believe is so necessary? I worry about the world that my children (and all of you) are inheriting. At the same time, every age in history has had huge challenges. Possibly what is different now is that we have the technology to "better" destroy the world--but at the same time, the technology, the knowledge, and the consciousness to do a much better job at re-creating ourselves and our shared reality.
In yesterday's class we talked about the relationship between knowledge, awareness, our own ability to think, reflect, reason, create and what it means to live in a participatory democracy in which, yes, we do have a lot more power and "freedom" than we would have under a totalitarian regime and many, many of these still do exist. Yet, the awareness/the truth does not set us free, does it? And it depends what we think it means to be free. But is ignorance really bliss? I think of a quote by the ironic French philosopher/cultural theorist, Jean Baudrillard, who said, "The deepest desire is perhaps to give responsibility for one's desire to someone else." Sometimes, yes, it is so difficult to even say or know what we really want because once we know, we may feel obliged and/or compelled to act on/with that knowledge.
Knowledge is painful. I feel that all the time. There is truly a lot of pain in the world. Knowledge can make us feel stuck, and wanting to just turn it all off--because what can we do in the face of all of this? At the same time, we can keep putting one foot in front of the other, using the knowledge that we have to at least make the changes that we can--in our own behavior. We can do the little that we can--isn't that a better choice than ignorance? What do you think? What does Lappé say about this? And is feeling futile and frustrated and stuck the worst thing in the world? We could actually BE literally imprisoned or without any choices. I remember feeling at 20 like my prison was the space between the bars. I had choices that I didn't want at the time, that I wasn't prepared to make. I didn't know who or what I was going to be when I grew up. But guess what? I still don't know! And now I am glad to be able to have choices and to be able to continue growing and learning--even when I feel angry and frustrated. The great Southern writer, Flannery O'Connor wrote that: "The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience." And educator/activist bell hooks states: "I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else’s whim or to someone else's ignorance." We can chose experience over withdrawal and despair. We can expand our lives and resist the "narrowing" down of our own lives and perspectives by the limited understanding and views of others. Right?
Everyday I try my best to make things a little easier by focusing on school and other priorities. Moreover, I avoid the truth by Tahitian dancing or spending time with friends and family. But sometimes knowing the truth doesn’t really give you the freedom, I think that many if us decide to avoid the truth because we do not want to deal with it or we just let it pass unknowingly. Unless it is repeatedly said on the news or in anything we pay attention too, some people will never really try to understand it or make an effort to fix it. “Power can manipulate, coerce, and destroy. And as long as we are convinced we have none power will always look negative” (Lappe p.117). Power has always been a negative thing to me and also maybe to others because of some words that are associated with it. We may have the power to make a change but the word is so powerful itself many decide not to use it. Why would we try to use power to fix the truth if were trying to avoid the truth in the first place? And also, why would we want to have something in our lives that is seen as negative? I think its really important that we see the world in two different views because its not just our world, we share it with many people and what they have to say is important also. Power could have a different meaning to others and if we make a choice to listen and try to understand another view, we could learn to see power in a different way. “Power is necessary to produce the changes that I want in my community,” said Margaret Moore (Lappe p.117). We have the power to make choices, which is one of the biggest things in our lives. We have a choice to do something or not.
ReplyDeleteEthical Education-COURTNEY RUSSELL
ReplyDeleteSince the industrial revolution, our world has grown increasingly complex, making it difficult for the average citizen of the world to retain feelings of personal authority. We have grown more entwined in international affairs thanks to our advancements in communication technology, but due to the lack of value placed on adequate and functional education, these entwinements only serve to confuse and conceal the intentions of those who initiated them. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the individual, in light of the undeniably sub-par public education paradigm, to educate oneself. “And since we create culture through our daily choices, then we do, each of us, wield enormous power (119).” Acknowledging this power calls for more than a nod or a verbal statement, but actually forming a plan of action, and collecting one’s hope and trust to serve as the actual thrust into action.
“Every time the light turns green and we press the pedal, we trust strangers who are also capable of doing us great harm (131),” but that doesn’t mean we never drive. Drivers must prove their efficacy after being educated in order to operate a vehicle and participate in the world of traffic. Applying this concept to ethical choices and efficacy means that only the educated and confident will be able to participate in ethical decision-making. And when one is confident in the conclusions they’ve drawn through their education, risks are worth taking, just as the risk for drivers is worth taking every time they take to the road. “’We ask kids whether they’ve ever felt closer to someone after going through conflict. And a lot of hands go up. They get it.’”-Richard Cohen, Founder, School Mediation Associates. Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, public education as it currently functions is the least ethically educational tool in our nation today. Public education is based on facts, not values. Typically values are not imbued upon students until college years, and even then a state school/public university will more than likely follow that same construct.
Lappé says that power is “a give-and-take, two way relationship. No one is completely powerless because each persons actions affect each other.” (122). I think that she would agree with the way I think about empowerment and feeling powerless. Over the course of the semester I have defiantly broadened my way of thinking. Last week in my post I mentioned that even if we are just doing one small thing, empowering someone in the slightest way, we are making a difference. If you think about it, there are 365 days in a year. If everyday we each were to teach someone one fact, inform someone about a cause or an issue going on, or just bring awareness of our changing world, that is 365 lives we could change. You never know what one little fact could do for someone. So while as I do feel helpless at times and lost in this big world, I have started to realize that just taking the knowledge that I have developed, and empowering someone else with it is making a difference. On the large scale I am not changing the world, as much as that would be amazing, I am still very satisfied knowing I can help broaden other peoples way of thinking and informing them with knowledge I have learned. The feeling of being stuck, not able to contribute is not a good feeling; you feel lost and small. I like feeling satisfied with myself and knowing I am reaching my maximum potential in this world. While as many people feel stuck and futile a lot in their lives, I think it is better to focus on the positive. Instead of thinking ‘I can’t do anything important, nothing will be good enough or make a difference’, start to think of the positive attributes in ones life and really start to think of ways to take those attributes and use them to power others.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most interesting and eye opening quotes from the book is on page 120 where Lappe states, “We literally experience and therefore co-create one another, moment to moment. For me, our ‘imprintability’ is itself a source of hope. We can be certain that our actions, and perhaps our mental states, register in others. We change anyone observing us. That’s power.” This quote shows that no matter what we do, we all have the power to create an impact on the people we come into contact with. When we learn things that we feel are important and we want to make a change, the most important thing for us to do is to share our knowledge with the world. People may not want to listen or consider what you have to say, but by just sharing what you know at least you know you tried to inform others of what you are passionate about. In this class we learn about many important issues regarding food, health, and ways to help and improve our environment. It is up to us whether we choose to take what we learn and incorporate it into our lives, or to simply dismiss it as if it doesn’t pertain to us. We can take what we learn and take what really grabs our interest and we can inform others. We can use people close to us such as friends and family as an audience to share what we know. By sharing this information with them, information that they might have never heard of, we are giving them the opportunity to make a change in their lives just as we have made a change in ours. Sometimes people feel that they don’t have the power or authority to make a change in people’s lives. But really by just talking to people you are close to and giving them the knowledge, even if they don’t take your advice, is creating a change. For example, you could tell your family all about the benefits of gleaning and eating organically and locally and they can listen to you but not agree. Yet maybe a few weeks or months down the line they hear a story on the news or read a story in the paper about eating organic and how important it is and it could spark something in them. They could remember the time that you told them about eating organically and think that maybe they should consider it more. By just exposing people to what you know it helps inform them a little. They could choose to get more information or become more involved or they could ignore the situation. But either way they know and can no longer be ignorant about issues going on in the world. I believe that if people see how much power they really hold and how by just sharing with people close to them issues that are close to you, we can begin to make important changes.
ReplyDeleteWhere Is Everything?
ReplyDeleteIn a world that at this moment in time is so discombobulated I find myself asking where is everything, where is everyone? Through an experience this weekend within my own family I cannot help but to surrender to the complexity that is life. How are we to make a difference if we can't even seem to control our own lives? To make a difference if we cannot help to change those even closest to us?
I can't help but still be frustrated. This frustration is different than the last time I had written because it now hits closer to the heart. That feeling as though when things begin to get better they turn once again. I'm at a loss at how to make a difference and to understand, when I feel I know so little of the relationships within my own life and how to deal with those. It is hard to feel as though you have or almost lost something. How do you get back up and not want to hold on so tightly that you becoming binding?
Further, on another topic due to recent events that has become relevant was the GIANTS World Series win. Though the win is ever excited and they came home to San Francisco as heroes and united an entire city under one name, the parade and festivities that happened turned much of the meaning of victory and celebration upside down. After the parade and the win in general the city was left a mess. It was used an excuse for people to loot and to become intoxicated, littering the streets with both garbage and immaturity. It was beautiful the days leading up to the big win and the moment of the win itself when fellow people made a common bond and loved each other within that bond. However to celebrate in a way that disregards the beauty of this city turned the joyous occasion into a look upon humanity that makes me frown.
It is the inherent complexity that is life, found within the form that makes all of us up and the form in which we walk through our days, that makes this beautiful, unique and ever frustrating.
A little is more than nothing.
ReplyDeleteIgnorance may be bliss, but only for the single person holding it. People surrounding a person full of ignorance are constantly being punished by that person’s actions, or lack of action due to his/her ignorance. For example, a person who does not fully understand about certain issues about food justice and how some farmers may be being treated might not directly be affected, but his/her surroundings but people elsewhere are definitely being affected whether they know it or not. That ignorant person is helping to fuel and pay for the big companies that are hurting and killing thousands of people all around the world simply by buying some everyday products. He/she could unknowingly be hurting his/herself just by what they are putting in their mouths. It is better to be educated and have a burden to help and make a change in this world than to unknowingly hurt many. Lappe says “As you now know, I believe the answer starts in our heads. Can our already big minds get still bigger, big enough to see the mischief they themselves can do?....Since humans create the world according to the ideas we hold, if we want a different world, we need some different ideas (28).” Much of the pain and despair the world feels is mostly because of what we, as humanity already created. Even if we cannot change everything we know and understand is wrong by just a snap of the finger, the little bit that we can do is more than us just doing nothing. When I go on my humanities trips every winter and summer break I know that even though I am bringing tons of food and clothes to give to the villages, I know I will never be able to feed them all. Although there are many people homeless and without shelter, I know even that one house I build a week will make a difference. If anything, the one family that I can help feed and clothe, might be able to one day help another family that is in need. No one in this world can fix and change everything, but if everyone tried and contributed a little bit, then a big change would occur.
Power to the People
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 4, Frances Moore Lappe talks about how Thin Democracy’s dogma is that Big Government is a problem. “Citizens are made to fear that going for what they desire and know is right, like ending poverty and rescuing the environment, would unleash the big, bad state” (Lappe 80). What Lappe says is ironic is that those who scare us about a Big Brother government are the same ones who use the government to serve their private interests and cut down on public interests. Lappe says that a Living Democracy sees through this mind twist and that the citizens play an active role in the government and keeping the government accountable. I agree with all this, but I not certain of its possibility in the near future. I find the general public complacent about the issues affecting their lives simply because they have forgotten that these issues exist. I am hopeful though. For the longest time, I have felt constrained by the fact that I cannot talk about politics and society as much as I would like to because the people I converse with would be turned off. A lot of times, I need to carry on a “normal conversation” without talking about these big issues. In our class for example, it seems most of our students relate to the concepts in the book we read through only their experiences with their friends and family. While I find nothing wrong with this, I feel that there is equal value in looking at and conversing about our society’s, government’s and world’s issues.
This concept of the ripple effect to me is a very true one. I believe that every single action in this world does create a ripple. I am happy that many business models nowadays believe in this idea, which is why local, organic farm is growing from a grassroots level, and that the MST grown into a membership of 1.5 million people in Brazil.
I agree with Lappe’s points on what she says power is, what it’s perceived as, and what it can be. I will use her model for future reference as I like how it was written. I also like the Ten Arts of Democracy in page 132. I can relate to this page by looking at a group as small as my band, to our society and how democracy is run today. I believe that the Ten Arts of Democracy is key in any type of business, project or cause that I may want to involve my self in.
When I was younger I spent a lot of time with my two cousins. Alanna was my age and Alyssa was a couple of years younger. I remember Alanna and I would always pick on Alyssa and secretly envy her because she had always gotten away with everything because “she didn’t know any better” or because she was too young to understand that what she was doing was wrong. I figured the less I knew about something the more things I could get away with because “I didn’t know” right from wrong like my younger cousin. Now that I am older I feel like knowledge can complicate your life and make things more confusing but it can also be very helpful and make a difference in your life as well as others around you. In this class, for example, I learned more about the food I eat and about food justice then I have learned in any of my school years. This new knowledge kept me asking more questions about why the government doesn’t do more to help people get the right food they need or stop companies from making such unhealthy foods etc. I realized that what I ate, where I bought my food, what kind of food I bought etc. was a lot more complex then I had ever imagined. Even though taking this class had made me think more about my daily routines such as picking out what to eat for breakfast, it also made a difference in my life as well as others around me. Through my new found knowledge I found myself helping my mother, who is diabetic and has high blood pressure, to live a healthier life. Sometimes I feel like knowledge can be a scary thing because sometimes the truth scares people to the point where they just cover their ears and look the other way because it is the easier thing to do. I feel like it is better to know and do the little things we can in life then to be ignorant to them. In this book Lappe says “We can be certain that our actions, and perhaps our mental states, register in others. We change anyone observing us. That’s power.”(120) Even if don’t express our knowledge in words, they can be shown through our actions and still make a difference.
ReplyDeleteWhether we want to know the truth or not, whether we want to have a constant reminder of the truth or have it escape the brain, whether the truth effects us negatively or positively all goes down to the truth itself. Unfortunately, truth is mostly of the variety that we don’t want to know or find out. We all have truths we do not want to deal with so we keep it in the back of our heads by any means necessary. I myself try to escape reality with friends, school, and dance. The reality that hits me is the road I am currently working on. The life decision I made has been tucked away in some part of my brain as school, friends, and the college life occupied the rest of my brain. Now that I am in my last year at Dominican, the truth and reality is all rushing in before I even realized it. This gives me the feel of entrapment. A lot of work needs to be done and my responsibilities and obligations have been set. In order to follow my life decision, I must make choices I sometimes might not want to make. “Power is a one-way force: either you have it, or you don’t. It divides what already exists. Power can be give-and-take, two-way relationship. No one is ever completely powerless because each person’s actions affect others” (Lapp3 122). I think that everyone has power; it all depends on whether you utilize that power. What we use the power for depends on each of us. I believe I have the power within me to realize my life goal, but there is a difference between having the power and actually using it. Now, I am in need of this power to achieve my dreams and to go through with the choices that don’t always go my way.
ReplyDeletePower and yourself
ReplyDelete“No one is ever completely powerless because each person's actions affects others.”(122)
I completely agree with this quote because I feel in life, whether we want to or not, we all have affected someone in some way or another. We may not even know we have affected someone with some of our actions, but I can guarantee that everyone of us has affected someone in some way or another in our lifetime. This is why I also have to add on to this quote because I believe that if we have this “power” of people, we need to thing about our actions more. This is because our actions affect other people, and it may not always be in a good way. That is why I feel like we must listen to this quote and keep in mind that we all have the power to affect other people, even if we don't realize it. Being aware of this power is necessary in making sure that this power we have to affect people, no matter how few or many, is utilized in a positive manner. We all have the power to affect people, we just need to be aware of it so we can use it for the greater good in life. If we ignore this power, you could have a negative affect on people around you and not even know it, which can be almost as bad as knowing you are having a negative affect. None of us are powerless, we just need to look inside and realize this.