We accept the reality of the world with which we're presented.An interesting statement. In terms of the real world, I agree and I disagree with the statement.
I agree in that I don't think that I have abilities and deficits other than the ones I have come to know after nearly 50 years of being me (although I do think higher and lower of myself then I should at times). I also recognize that the world I live in is a dangerous place, and there is such a thing as evil. For me to think otherwise is a fantasy.
I also cannot project my life experience on another, or compare my life experience with another's and have any notion that how I view his life is how he will view his life. My life experience is reality to me in the same way that another's life experience is reality to him. I will at times look at others and imagine how they might feel about a particular life experience, but I really don't know the process they have gone through to understand their life and am therefore very limited in my understanding.
I disagree in that I don't have to accept the reality of the world with which I am presented if I have the fortitude to change it. The "reality of the world" for persons with disability, for example, does not reflect the reality of who they are. They may finally give in and submit themselves to the reality thrust upon them. They can also fight them with the assistance of others who also reject the reality of the presented world because it needs to be changed.
McNair
La Shanda E. Wright
ReplyDeleteSPE 541
9/22/2005
Mr. Mc Nair
I actually agree with the comment the creator of "The Truman Show" made that "We accept the reality of the world with which we're presented". In the case of an exceptional individual the reality they are placed in is the one they must except. With little independence their reality is fabricated for them. I feel that within the reality that is made for an exceptional individual there are probably few variations of that reality presented to the exceptional person. A more independent, able-bodied individual on the other hand does have the opporitunity to modify their reality, or what they want to percieve as their reality. Because for the latter person they will know that they have changed the basis of their reality in some manner to avoid what it previously was. So in a way we all accept the reality we are presented with of the world. Even if we are capable of altering it from its original state to one we find more enjoyable, acceptable, or comfortable. If the exceptional individual is in a caring, sheltered, respectable enviroment that does not present extreme harm they may be being presented with a reality of the world better that that of the able-bodied, independent individual. Because they at least don't have to fabricate the truth of the enviroment which they were originally placed in for "some reason".