Human Consciousness
In my identity, sense of meaning, and well-being interdependent with that of others because during the reading Freire talks about how we are all ‘unfinished’ human beings. This resonated to me because as human beings, we are educated through what what we witness throughout the world. Sure, education is important, but it is what we put out into the world is how we are perceived by others. Being yourself in a sense, shows a different recipe in our own society that we give to the community. In Freire’s reading he says, “I like being human, being human, precisely because it is not already given as certain, unequivocal, or irrevocable that I am or will not be correct, that I will bear witness to what is authentic, that I am or will be just, that I will respect others, that I will not lie and thereby diminish the value of others of my . envy or even anger of their questioning my presence in the world” (54). I enjoyed this quote because living a more positive life, will not only impact yourself, but impact others around you. Also, what I have learned from my community partners and voices of people I have worked with is that everyone has their own problems going on with themselves. It could be problems about anything, whether it be finding what to eat for tonight, or failing a test, everyone goes through their own. At the end of the day, it is themselves that decides how they should go on with their day. Being in a bad mood could possibly just make things worse or bring someone else's day down.
Who is impacted and marginalized by systematic issues in our society is the lower class and minorities. Throughout history, this has always been apparent. It is part of our human condition to conform to society of the upper class and look down at the others as inferior. This is how Trump won because he targeted the lower class white Americans. This gave them a voice to be heard when no one would bother listening to their output. All these systematic issues in time create anger and confusion for the others being affected because in our world today, we are a very materialistic society. Not having the income to provide for these things plays a larger role in gap between the classes. As what Freire says, we have the collective responsibility to do our own thinking, hopefully positive construction and having our own voice could help build to end inequity.
With this knowledge and experience, I see my role and responsibility to work with this larger content by telling myself what could I do today to help be the best I could be and help struggling with this ideology. If we all worked and see each other as equal, we will see a much greater positivity movement in our society. Things such as ending gang violence or even equal job opportunities could go a long way. I know that these things are out my power but maybe I could help support and bring the word out to help others be more aware of these issues. This helps educate people in the inequalities that go on in our own soil. This is like the reading where Freire sees the boy spot the plane and this helps educate the child. This gives him a new understanding of how planes would land. Who knows, maybe this interested him so much, he could be a pilot. Now each human experience gives every person a new understanding of how our world works. If I spread positivity in this world, maybe the people I am with are influenced and they will spread their own positive sense of identity to others.
