Spring Break
We must believe in ourselves for change
Matt Schirano
Issue date: 11/16/07 Section: Ed-Op
- Page 1 of 2 next >
In Oct. 19 edition of The Triangle, I wrote an article where I speculated whether humans have developed as much as we think we have. The title implied that social change is slow but steady; this was not what I was trying to say. I meant that social change isn't happening.
I believe that using the titles rationalization is a cop-out. It's easier to think that humans can be better people, but since change is so indiscernible during our lifetime, swift change is implausible. Change can come fast; we just have to fully realize our own ability to adapt.
Every one of us is, in reality, a blank slate. Sure, it's filled with ideas and concepts of who we are, but none of it is permanently etched into us. Instead, all of our self-image is written in chalk, able to be erased and rewritten to our liking.
When you believe that you are unchangeable, that your attitudes, perspectives, and dispositions are unalterable characteristics, you will never change. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy; you can't change so you don't try to change, so you never change.
If you believe, however, that you are what you believe you are, with all realities as a potential facet of you, change is the only consistency in life. Change is what defines you, because change is how you become a better person for yourself, and externally, society.
Not everybody realizes the power to change within them, the reasons for this are numerous and I will leave that for you to ponder, but however a human's ability to evolve is stifled it is truly sad to see such power left untapped.
The reason that social change has been slow is because society believes that's the way it has to be. People go to school, drastically alter their own intellect by learning an extremely skilled trade in mere years, but cannot fathom seeing the end of war being achieved in their lifetime. Technology evolves at breakneck speed, and our vision of the universe is radically different even from the beginning of our lifetimes, but conquering purely superficial differences such as skin color is nothing but wishful thinking.
I believe that using the titles rationalization is a cop-out. It's easier to think that humans can be better people, but since change is so indiscernible during our lifetime, swift change is implausible. Change can come fast; we just have to fully realize our own ability to adapt.
Every one of us is, in reality, a blank slate. Sure, it's filled with ideas and concepts of who we are, but none of it is permanently etched into us. Instead, all of our self-image is written in chalk, able to be erased and rewritten to our liking.
When you believe that you are unchangeable, that your attitudes, perspectives, and dispositions are unalterable characteristics, you will never change. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy; you can't change so you don't try to change, so you never change.
If you believe, however, that you are what you believe you are, with all realities as a potential facet of you, change is the only consistency in life. Change is what defines you, because change is how you become a better person for yourself, and externally, society.
Not everybody realizes the power to change within them, the reasons for this are numerous and I will leave that for you to ponder, but however a human's ability to evolve is stifled it is truly sad to see such power left untapped.
The reason that social change has been slow is because society believes that's the way it has to be. People go to school, drastically alter their own intellect by learning an extremely skilled trade in mere years, but cannot fathom seeing the end of war being achieved in their lifetime. Technology evolves at breakneck speed, and our vision of the universe is radically different even from the beginning of our lifetimes, but conquering purely superficial differences such as skin color is nothing but wishful thinking.
Be the first to comment on this story