This section got its name because this is where I will reflect on what I've learned so far (looking glass) and through this, learn to look beyond myself (through the looking glass).
I have spent nearly three years in Athens, but it doesn’t feel like I’ve spent three years in Appalachia. I love the quaint red brick and impressive Ping Center and oak trees and coffee shops and extroverted squirrels (wait no, I’m afraid of the squirrels). But I am "comfortably numb," and oblivious to what’s going on outside of town.
It’s ironic, really. My specialization is in the social sciences, so I’ve taken a few extra courses in psychology and sociology. And I’ve sat and learned about social injustice, structural inequality, Durkheim and Marx and Weber. I’ve discussed and listened and grown impassioned by the injustice of it all. I want to change the system and fix everything around me. And there’s nothing wrong with academia. But each and every time I left class, walked back to a nutritious dinner and a warm bed, and life went on as normal.
Cognitive dissonance, perhaps?
SPEAK UP and tell me why there is a disconnect between knowledge, passion and action.
You know, I think you raise a good point...there is a disconnect for a lot of people when it comes to caring deeply about a form of injustice and actually doing something about it. I can only speak from experience when I say that sometimes people think it's enough to just care because they've never been affected by the problem personally. I think it's much easier for someone who has a personal reason to want to fight injustice to make the effort to get involved. I think more people must need to really put themselves in the shoes of others in order to understand and want to help.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Jillian Mapes! I agree - empathy has a lot to do with it. That was part of my motivation behind the "Hungry." experiment - that perhaps through experience I would be more inclined to react.
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