Alexandra Spencer
I believe that we are all a product of our environment.
Humans by nature are creatures of habit. We also do what is most comfortable to
us and don’t very often stray from the norm. So to break away and become a
complete individual away from the society norms can be a very difficult thing.
I think that many are able to be themselves in some ways but are usually have
more quality of their environment or social context in which they grew up in.
I grew up in a very close knit community where everyone
knows everyone. There are community gatherings and people are always hanging
out in the social groups of the community. This always gave me a good sense of
people and community and knowing that there will always be someone there to
have your back. But on the other hand this has made many of the people living
here close minded to other people of other backgrounds or allowing new people
into the community. Most of the people that grew up here have stayed in the
area and are married to the people from the area and now are starting families.
While I do love my community and the people that live around me I have become a
very open minded individual and very open to many different types of people
from all different backgrounds. I also have no intention of staying and living
here and getting married to someone here. This is a part of my own individual
thinking that I want to be a different person and move on and move away from
the social norms that surround me here.
I feel that since I grew up in such a community of people
who always have your back I think that you do have some sort of a
responsibility to the people around you and that are close to you. If any of my
family members or my very close friends needed me I would be there for them
without any questions asked. My family and the people around me have helped
shaped me because they have shown me to be the person that I want to be and
don’t want to be. Even though I may more open minded than most of them and not
want to continue to live here for the rest of my life I do, however, take the
morals of caring for the people that are close to me and helping people that are
in need. This could be even if you don’t necessarily want to help at the time
but you know the next time that you need help they will be there for you as
well.
I think that you defined that we are creatures of our environment but at what point do we become individuals. If people don't often stray from the norm what makes them different than anyone else. Also the issue of social identity was not discussed in depth. Do you have a responsibility to everyone in your community or just the people that you are close? That part of the paper was a bit unclear. Your example did a good job to explain how you view some things.
ReplyDeleteI liked your writing and agree with a lot of what you wrote. I think it would be good to talk more about how you became open minded. Did your family, friends, and community play any part in making you an open minded person? To what degree were you influenced by things that were outside your community? What was it that made you open minded and different from some of the other people in your community? You could also talk about the point where a community becomes restricting rather then beneficial.
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