just thinking
A little note...this is my first blog ever. I'm entering an unknown domain...
A little note...The first week in January I moved into a new apartment with my friend. Because she was extremely busy, and I was attempting to study for the LSATs we never connected our TV until last week. It's amazing what a difference life is without TV. Being an avid reader, I was able to finish 10 books, study and hear myself think more. I never realized the amount of television I watched just to drown my own inner voice out. Avoidance was the main contribution TV offered my life. Furthermore, when reading I was no longer struck dumb. My brain did not automatically turn off as it does when I watch TV.
Moving to another topic... being the person that I am I'm always questioning and wondering about life's important questions, i.e., what is truth, what are we doing here? etc... That always gets me wondering about society as we are today. Recently my brother told me reading as gone down in this country by 10% over the last 20 years. What does this say about our society? Furthermore, the simple fact that we value people's abilities to pretend to be something else or people's abilities to play games over the abilities of a person who teaches or guides our children, I think says a lot about our society today. It's a simple fact; our society is based on economics, the big dollar. What would happen if our society was based on humanity? Would we be caught up in the never ending loop to get ahead at our jobs, to financial better ourselves? Would we be constantly coveting fame and fortune? What would our world look like and what difference in value structures would exist? Hmm, I'll have to do more thinking on that.
Another thing I've been struggling with is the fact that many of my friends, who are good people, have different political views and value structures. And quite frankly I don't understand their views. This is not for a lack of trying to understand. I just don't get republicans and the value structure they support (I'm a liberal and proud).
For example, the topic of abortion is a favorite of mine. I've had countless discussions on the topic trying to discern why people are so against, not abortion itself mind, you but people's right to choose. One discussion sticks out in my mind... my friends view is based entirely upon religion, he's a Christian obviously. Ok, so I respect that and he made the point, the debate among many is whether a fetus is a person or not, what is conception? If we look at it that way, wouldn't it be better to error on the side of caution and safety? And quite frankly at the time I had no answer. Why not error on the side of safety?
However, after mulling the problem in my head, which has helped to understand my confusion on other topics as well, the difference between his belief and my belief is the difference in value we place on certain aspects of life. He places a very high value on his religion and the bible. Being raised without religious influence whatsoever and still struggling through my spirituality and what I believe in or not, I value a person’s right to make the choice for themselves. This brings me back to what little knowledge I have of Christianity, but didn't God give humans the right to choose? Does it say anywhere in the bible that Christians should inflict their beliefs on others? I'm not necessarily for abortion for myself; however, I know I'm not capable of making that decision for another person, having never faced the possibility of facing that kind of decision. Also, I've always believed the decision should be made between that individual and thier "maker" whoever that might be.
I'm not saying my way is right, but it's interesting how we develop and learn our value system and that is my epiphany for the day.