I cannot believe I am already at my
seventh blog, it feels like only the other day we started this assignment. AP
English has honestly had an enormous impact on my life. This class has removed
every single “white man bias” I’ve had growing up, and I love being able to see
the world from other perspectives. I wasn’t biased negatively by what my
parents taught me, they raised me with loving Christian values. I believe what
gave me a negative view of the world was junior high and early high school. I
only looked at problems through my eyes: young white man eyes. Seeing how
people treated me different for my skin color and gender made me extremely
defensive, even hostile a few times. Anything I didn’t understand or got blamed
for I would be severely against. Gays? Didn’t understand so I was against them.
Immigrants? Didn’t understand why they wanted to be here so bad. I still cared
for everything and everyone, it’s just that I couldn’t grasp how people could
have ideologies so different than mine. It was an extremely dark time in my
life, and I thought I was in the right. Sure once I reached junior year those
ideas died down and I calmed down, it wasn’t until this class that my eyes
opened. I learned about perspective, and since then have tried looking at every
single perspective in anything and everything around me.
This thought came about on April 22nd,
in class. Mrs. Caffey asked us what kind of good life lessoned we learned in
high school so we could add it to a slam poem, and the entire class (of like
eight people) didn’t have anything to say; we were all sitting around one
table, speechless. The only thing positive that came to my mind was how AP
English taught me how to care for people, a lot more than I already did. I was
able to think of the plethora of lessons I learned before going into junior
high, but after that everything just got kind of sad about how much growing up
has stopped me from learning “nice” things. The life lessons I’ve learned
recently have been things like “small circles of friends are easier to manage”
and “Don’t trust everyone you meet”. Of course this always ties into “Why can’t
everyone just get along/ leave each other alone?” but that’s a topic for
another blog. The main thing I’m trying to get across right now is, why did
growing up only let me learn depressing lessons? Did I do something wrong with
how I grew up? Should I have done more? I can’t fully answer these questions
until I have a mid-life crisis in about thirty years, but I’m puzzled at how
everyone in the class was as stumped as I was. Maybe it was the weather making
everyone depressed or something, but not a single soul in that room could think
of a positive lesson learned in high school. The way how everyone’s attitude
toned down, as if they too had thoughts of how their “dark times in life” were.
This once again triggered my perspective mode, we all have had bad times. But
we have all made it this far, and all of us will make it past these dark times
and learn positive lessons in the future, I guarantee it.
Honestly I cannot think of one happy lesson I learned in high school, but I am happy for the lessons I've learned from the bad ones. I try not to think about "Oh what did I do to deserve this," but rather "What can I do in the future to prevent this." And I agree Mrs. Caffey's class has opened my eyes to many different views.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to heat that you are realizing what good there is in the words spoken around us. As well as there is bad, we all have our dark times and those we just have to put behind us. We cannot let the dark times overrun the good times.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good blog, you did well on it. It is odd to think that this is already our seventh going on eighth blog, time sure is flying.
I think that the most lasting lessons are the ones that hurt us or make us uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteIt’s a defense mechanism. If you eat a purple mushroom you found on the forest floor and get horribly, horribly sick, you learn not to eat purple mushrooms you find on the forest floor. If you eat a tasty-looking fruit while exploring, you’re more likely to remember the exploring than the food you ate (unless it’s amazingly good).
The point is, people take good things for granted. It’s easy to forget the nice things that are always there, that always make you happy, in lieu of remembering that horrible thing you did in 3rd grade that made everyone laugh at you for three weeks straight.
The bad memories are there to keep you from making more bad memories. The bad memories are there so you can be happy in the future.
I truthfully loved this blog. The blogs I have read of yours all have deep meanings and are easy to follow with good topics. I remember Mrs Caffey asking the question that day, and I too, couldn't think of anything. I did think of lessons I learned the hard way. Looking back at the year, I did learn many positive lessons in Mrs. Caffey's class. Like the list she randomly gives us.
ReplyDeleteThe most positive lesson I learned was to care for everyone and to help the ones who are less fortunate than me. In the class I learned about the numerous struggles that people around the globe face. The class is a real eye opener, for sure.
I loved this blog. I think it is so true that we all have to learn lessons the hard way. However, we are also blessed with people, like Mrs. Caffey, to help us see the world in a different way. I know she had impacted my life for the better. Thank you for sharing this blog. I loved your insight!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I love you. I am really sorry I always make fun of you! You are the best ever!
Sometimes it is hard to look back an find a cheerful, positive lesson you learned while in highschool. It is not as ifour four years of highschool have been complete doom and gloom. There have been plenty of the bad times; but every single one of us has made it to this point and all we have to do is keep moving. I am optimistic for my future and only hope to learn from everything that happens to me.
ReplyDelete