Standing Up for What is Right and Connections

What? I see the ideas of not thinking and following orders played out many times in our society today. An example of this includes ongoing issues such as racism, the achievement gap, and the wage gap between men and women. Following orders and not questioning why problems occur is much easier because people don’t encounter resistance when they follow the orders in our society today. It is very scary for people to stand up and challenge authority because they are looked down by many people, and they can be attacked or lose certain opportunities that they have. For example, if women were to question the wage gap, their boss could fire them, which means they would lose their opportunity to work. The same goes for a person of color who could be attacked if he or she were to speak up against authority. In Arendt’s case, speaking up against the Nazis could lead to many detrimental consequences as well. Therefore, it is easier for people to hide in the shadows and play along with all the rules and structures rather than stand up against authority and get attacked, looked down upon, and possibly killed.

Although it is much easier to not question authority, thinking, questioning, and forming a critical analysis plays a huge role in my responsibility in the world. If I don’t stand up for what is right, the structures that feed and support injustice will never be resolved. Racism, the wage gap, and the achievement would continue, and people would be forced to live in a society that is miserable and unjust for the rest of their lives. My ability to question authority plays a huge role in my life because it allows me to play a small role in challenging authority, which is a small step that can lead to change in unfair issues in society. Even though my voice alone cannot change an entire problem happening, it can lead to a spiral of many more people having the confidence to speak up for what is right. This can then lead to an issue that society is aware of, and the implementation of solutions to stop the injustice in our society, which explains why my role of thinking and questioning is important in the world.

So What? One quote that stuck out to me in the reading from Arendt states, “While many who read Arendt’s articles on the trial felt that she was ‘soulless’, she felt that she was finally cared of the kind of emotional involvement which precludes good judgment. For her, this was a demonstration of the beginning of a new political morality based on the capacity to think in a way that would enable good judgment” (Arendt). I understand my responsibility to others, the community, and to my own life as thinking in a way that promotes good judgement and doing something about what I’m thinking. Every single time I go to my community site, I always think about the achievement gap and the reasons why it exists in our society. In this way, my thinking promotes good judgment since I understand that something needs to be done about the structures in our society, specifically in Marin County. By going to the Service Learning site to help the children who need my help, I am doing something about the achievement gap. Reading Arendt’s words helped me to understand that it is important to think in a way that helps me understand the issues going on in the world, and it is my responsibility to address those issues and help to fix them. By fixing those issues, I am also creating meaning in my life since I know that my life’s work to recognize the structural issues and so something about those issues (as I had previously mentioned. I understand that this sentence is circular, but I thought this sentence was a great way to conclude the prompt.

Now What? In Butler’s text, he mentions, “Despite our differences in location and history, my guess is that it is possible to appeal to a ‘we’ for all of us have some notion of what it is to have lost somebody. Loss has made a tenuous ‘we’ of us all. And if we have lost, then it follows that we have had, that we have desired and loved, that we have struggled to find the conditions for our desire” (Butler 20). This quote stood out to me because human emotions and the experience of loss, vulnerability, grief, and mourning is a way to connect with all humans, regardless of their history, race, ethnicity, and identity. Butler points out strongly that human emotions are the key to helping all humans understand each other, and I see the type of ‘othering’ Butler talks about in my community experience in many different ways. Before coming to Davidson Middle School, I knew that the children I was working with came from low income underprivileged families. However, I didn’t what that really meant until I talked to the teacher about the conditions they were facing. I remember sitting in the classroom thinking about how the these children’s lifestyles were so much harder than mine, and I never thought I could relate to them in terms of their condition, since I was much more privileged than them when I was their age. However, after reading Butler’s text, I came to understand that I could connect to them. Even though I can’t connect with them in the conditions they are facing, I can connect with them in the ways that they are feeling. Even though I never had a situation where I experienced loss or grief (as Butler mentions how humans connect) with these children, I did connect with them whenever they were happy, sad, or tired. For example, there would be times when the children would finish their math problems, and they would be so elated, which reminded me of the times I would be happy when I finished my homework. In addition, when they were sleepy or sad while doing homework, I would always tell them I understood what they were going through in that moment because I had been through that experience as well. Butler’s text helped me to understand that all humans feel the emotions of sadness, happiness, grief, and loss, and those are the ways we can connect to others. Therefore in my experience with the children at Davidson, I would like to conclude that one of my biggest learning experiences is that there are so many different ways to connect with different people, and the connections don’t always have to be through life situations. Rather, forming human connections can occur through simple experiences such as emotions and feelings that all humans experience.