The winding road of fall: This semester has been a good one I would say; one that has made me a greater thinker, and a better learner...
The start of the fall semester in school has made me all psyched up for a brand new journey of learning and an attempt to make the most out of my term by doing my best in my studies. However, it seems like what I am studying in school can't help but urge me to think about life even more this time.
It is inevitable how learning Principles of Persuasion just makes me think about the way I phrase my sentences to sound persuasive, if my critical mind can work even on paper, or if I have enough knowledge about current affairs to counter any arguments on politics. I realized that this module of Persuasion has got me really interested and amazed by the power of words alone! Being more aware about how I come across through words now, I become more cautious about the way people behave around me, and vice versa.
And see, I even borrowed a book from a friend to enhance my knowledge on the module!
At the same time, studying Communication Theories surprisingly has generated a lot of thoughts in my head- particularly the idea of humanists, and behaviorists. Well, as much as I am not a researcher or scientist, I realized I can be a humanist or a behaviorist in my everyday life as well!
Personally, I find it really easy being a "behaviorist" when attributing things to other people apart from myself, with my focus on "observable behaviors" of other people. I can easily make myself think that any intrinsic motivation of others is irrelevant when it comes to judging people or simply observing them. I do not show any mercy at all when it comes to talking about someone (someone I don't know, that is), and I can even resort to thinking that I am better off than them! This seriously critical, judgmental and utterly prideful side of mine has made me a filthy behaviorist who does not know how to compliment people based on their hearts and character, and shows no mercy when people do me wrong. Fortunately though, this side of me is simply a devil inside me that hibernates, and has yet to evolve into actions. But these thoughts, it seems, are bad enough.
Recently, I have been thinking a bit more about the bad things that people do in the world (the recent case about the man who sexually harassed a girl and hid her in his basement), and as I have been hooked to the American drama series Prison Break these days, I see how the characters in the show come from different backgrounds of crime, which can be really appalling. A part of me feels really bitter about how so many people in the world just do not seem to know what they are doing in their lives. Even when I look at my friend who recently got depressed about her life, and started cooping herself at home, I feel that darkness can really be everywhere these days! Despite all these evil, what is beneath it seems much greater. This is when I feel the side of the humanist makes so much sense!
Through the course of this, I came to a revelation that brute facts alone do not speak much of any situation but simply provide plain facts which do not help at all in understanding things that happen! But just like how every prisoner in Prison Break has a story to tell that makes their actions much more logical, so does how any anomaly I see in the society or a friend has a reason for the outcome. When I understand that I have to search for meaning in what people do, I start embracing the not-so-pleasant in life. And life seems to become more acceptable henceforth.
Simple as perspectives in life may seem, insights I reap can be surprisingly revolutionary.
The start of the fall semester in school has made me all psyched up for a brand new journey of learning and an attempt to make the most out of my term by doing my best in my studies. However, it seems like what I am studying in school can't help but urge me to think about life even more this time.
It is inevitable how learning Principles of Persuasion just makes me think about the way I phrase my sentences to sound persuasive, if my critical mind can work even on paper, or if I have enough knowledge about current affairs to counter any arguments on politics. I realized that this module of Persuasion has got me really interested and amazed by the power of words alone! Being more aware about how I come across through words now, I become more cautious about the way people behave around me, and vice versa.
And see, I even borrowed a book from a friend to enhance my knowledge on the module!
At the same time, studying Communication Theories surprisingly has generated a lot of thoughts in my head- particularly the idea of humanists, and behaviorists. Well, as much as I am not a researcher or scientist, I realized I can be a humanist or a behaviorist in my everyday life as well!
Personally, I find it really easy being a "behaviorist" when attributing things to other people apart from myself, with my focus on "observable behaviors" of other people. I can easily make myself think that any intrinsic motivation of others is irrelevant when it comes to judging people or simply observing them. I do not show any mercy at all when it comes to talking about someone (someone I don't know, that is), and I can even resort to thinking that I am better off than them! This seriously critical, judgmental and utterly prideful side of mine has made me a filthy behaviorist who does not know how to compliment people based on their hearts and character, and shows no mercy when people do me wrong. Fortunately though, this side of me is simply a devil inside me that hibernates, and has yet to evolve into actions. But these thoughts, it seems, are bad enough.
Recently, I have been thinking a bit more about the bad things that people do in the world (the recent case about the man who sexually harassed a girl and hid her in his basement), and as I have been hooked to the American drama series Prison Break these days, I see how the characters in the show come from different backgrounds of crime, which can be really appalling. A part of me feels really bitter about how so many people in the world just do not seem to know what they are doing in their lives. Even when I look at my friend who recently got depressed about her life, and started cooping herself at home, I feel that darkness can really be everywhere these days! Despite all these evil, what is beneath it seems much greater. This is when I feel the side of the humanist makes so much sense!
Through the course of this, I came to a revelation that brute facts alone do not speak much of any situation but simply provide plain facts which do not help at all in understanding things that happen! But just like how every prisoner in Prison Break has a story to tell that makes their actions much more logical, so does how any anomaly I see in the society or a friend has a reason for the outcome. When I understand that I have to search for meaning in what people do, I start embracing the not-so-pleasant in life. And life seems to become more acceptable henceforth.
Simple as perspectives in life may seem, insights I reap can be surprisingly revolutionary.
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