Imagine a child, gleefully sitting around listening to their parent tell them stories. Stories which could be true or false, but it doesn't make a difference in the child's eyes. The parent may or may not realize that even with the simple stories, they are engraining a child with beliefs.
Enlisting children with beliefs can be a good thing. Teaching them general things such as love, appreciation & gratitude, and other such things are great to teach, and is generally best done through example. Some things are cool to be left explored. For instance, when I was a child there wasn't really any music played in my house. My mom never listened to music, so the only music I was exposed to was music at church. I developed my own sense of musical style because of the lack of exposure to music, and I'm grateful that I can call my style of music my own.
There are things which get engrained in us, though from the time that we're a child whether positive or negative. I know that I hid the fact that my first CD ever was Britney Spears due to the fact that everybody thought she was a horrible person because of the way she acted. Over the years, I've come to realize that Spears was not a particularly bad person. She was a victim of the media. I got to thinking about it this way: What sort of reaction would I have if I was exposed to the media from a very young age? I would have a lack of privacy, and every mistake would be seen. Not only that, but stories would be made up in order to sell. In some cases your fate is preconceived because of the label you are signed with and they want you to be able to sell records. What sells? Sex, drugs, scandas... etc. Most people don't undestand that when you sign on to a big label you don't get much of an option of what you actually do for music, unless if you're already a developed artist by then. Unfortunately, most of the people who are signed onto big labels when they're in their teens are usually not developed artists. All of a sudden they have a lot of fame, and a lot of money. They no longer know what to do with themselves, and I'm sure it would be very hard to keep a good balance of thoughts and emotions. I actually came to realize that Spears had a great deal of potential, but unfortunately was ruined by the media. She's not the first, and certainly not the last. Spears probably, in some ways, feels more human that we do.. simply because of the pain that she's had.
A misconception I know that I was taught (by a variety of people, not just my parents) was that people who drink (any kind of alcohol.. not just getting drunk, but all people who had alcohol in any amount) were unintelligent. Then I went on Katimavik, and met some of the most intelligent people I've ever met.
I also remember that in school, whenever we learned about a certain era of history, we were almost always made to think just one way about it. Whether Louis Riel was a martyr or a traitor, whether Russia was better of communist or not, whether the States was worse than Japan or not.. and there was only one right answer. I would be one of the students who would look up the opposite side of the story, and draw my own conclusions. You get some heavy ridicule, no matter what the argument it seems.
This is the problem: we are taught that there is only one form of right. That there is only one way to think about things. People are good or bad, you must have this or that but you cannot have both, things are only supposed to be black and white.. but wait a second, how does that make sense? This would be a sad world if it only worked in oposites.
What's even worse is that when a person finds a person or group who is oposing to the way that one person believes (or the group) they try to get rid of it. Hitler did it with the Jews, Christianity did it with Witches... and we do things like this every day. We'd like to think that we're above that, but we're all human, and very capable of doings things just like this. There have been studies to show it, and I'm sure we've seen it on a day to day basis. Take racism for instance. I was walking down the street one day, I run across a coloured lady and she starts yelling at me, telling me that there should be more equality. I hadn't done anything! She just assumed that I should treat her better, even though I was just walking down a street. If I had noticed that she was talking to me (which she only started talking to me to start yelling at me) I would've talked to her. I personally believe that now racism is coming to a point where if a white person doesn't treat a person of a different ethniticity almost better than they would a white person, we're seen as being racist. I believe in equality, don't get me wrong, in fact I love people from other countries (I think it's better than talking about colour, colour is only colour after all) I think that there's a lot to learn from them and that they're the same as us, with different experiences. There are even places around the world, though, where if a white person walks out the door they have the fear of being shot. It's not a matter of colour, it's a matter of being right.
I believe that every person should be seriously proven wrong at least once in their lives. It's happened to me at least three times, definitely more so and every time has been a learning experience worth having. Although horridly painful, it is great. There is nothing more humbling than being wrong. There is nothing more satisfying that questioning your beliefs. There is also nothing more fun than being disagreed with and earnestly listening to the other persons opinion about what things should be like instead. These are the only situations where you learn to grow..
*sigh* It makes me sad when I see that people aren't willing to look past the cover (this includes myself). That unknown, uncomfortable space of the human soul is a beautiful place to explore. It's then that we are able to humanize everyone and put them on a level which is more realistic, whether for the better or for the worse. Although, for the most part we should just let things be and learn how the world is, without the preconceived notion of things being good or bad. Any one thing could be good or bad in a given moment.
I'm going to use a rather extreme example, and one which is tough. Everybody is opinionated about abortion and if I offend you, I'm sorry. I use to think that abortion was a bad thing all around, and should never happen. It's a right to a life. However, in an Ethics class I took I learned that some women have not gotten abortions, out of fear of being judged and then ended up dying due to ailments that their body very definitely had. In this instance, it was much too dangerous to have a baby (at least at that particular time.) Another instance I found to be appropriate was in that of rape. If a woman is raped by a man, I'm sure she wouldn't want the reminder of that painful experience. It would be a hard one to get over anyway, never mind if you gave birth to a child who was conceived thanks to that man.
Things are not black and white, life has a flow. This is leading me toward my thoughts of the things which I am starting to discover I believe in, which were not in original line with the way I believed most of my life. It's surprisingly more peaceful, although my ideas are morphing more than ever before. (Probably worse than the debate of whether or not to be vegan, and that was a tough debate). I'm not going to go into much detail about what it is that I believe now (yes, I have found a system which has these particular beliefs, but it is not the right time). Just know that it has been a very humbling experience. I had completely wrong ideas (as many people do about this particular group of people) and they have currently been very debunked, and it's beautiful. There is peace, and I'm glad to have a system of spirituality again.
Life as a river, the heart can be lifted up to places that were never thought possible. The impossible is possible. There is good in the world. There is heart, things to learn, things to discover, and peace to be found. There is peace to be found.
There will probably be a second blog about this, as this is a very touchy, deep subject and there is lots to say on the manner. I'm probably going to be blogging more than emailing people as I'm currently very busy with my life. =) Here's just a few thoughts as of late. For now, adieu.
-Kotarah
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