E-Portfolio

My e-portfolio!


just incase:

http://elizabethberzonski.weebly.com/

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

It think it’s particularly interesting to consider how social norms and expectations have been instilled in us over the years, and how this affects us later in life.

 One, naturally among many, that I find the most puzzling is that of respecting our elders. Maybe I’m just too punk rock to feel like I should simply respect my elders, but I think there’s more to it. I would say that I was raised to believe that respect goes hand in hand with trust, and that I should learn and grow to respect someone, rather than blindly do so. Of course, I wasn’t raised to be a little ankle-bitter that ran around ruining people’s lives, but respect isn’t something you’re going to get from me just because you have Ph.D. or you receive a social security check and you’re wearing orthopedic shoes. I’ll be polite to nearly anyone, because I’m not a heartless monster, but I really think respect is something that’s earned and can be lost. I also expect that I must prove to be people that I deserve their respect and trust. 

But this is only the way I was raised, and I would be willing to bet that there are those who were raised to always respect their elders or superiors, disregarding circumstance. Of course, I can’t help but write from my point of view and cast those who do so in a slightly negative light because I really think it’s ridiculous to put trust and respect in someone based on how many wrinkles they have. Old people can be wrong. Old people can be mean. Old people might seriously think the 50s really were a better time.

Now, this of course is a fairly harmless, but true, example of how I was instilled with a certain view. I can only imagine that the same kind of conditioning can be seen in other instilled values. Instilled racism or bigotry would likely feel the same to someone with those values. Whether we like it or not, we’re instilled with certain beliefs and core values. Our sense of basic right and wrong is taught to us. We learn we’re not supposed to throw blocks at our little brother because someone tells us not to. We learn expected gender roles and what things we should “naturally” want in life from our parents and friends. We also learn who to hate and who to distrust. 

It’s an interesting take to consider just how much we’ve been conditioned to respond to things in a certain way.

I can't be bothered... Not today...

                  It seems to me that the only thing that prevents or hinders civic engagement is indifference or forced. Certainly in some cases, a subject may have absolutely nothing to do with an individual at all, but I’d be willing to bet there is some kind of after-effect that could prove relevance. If the butterfly effect is a notion you accept, then there should be no reason to not become engaged.

                  It seems most critical to understand how indifference can be a detriment. For example, our age group is least likely to vote. In return, our interests are the least likely to be represented and fought for. Granted, most of us have only maybe had the opportunity to vote once in local elections, but the general college-age to mid twenty-something’s hardly vote. So, we see that our public education and higher education suffer because no one is really expressing their concerns, or engaging. Sure, we’ll be pissed off when we come to realize that our tuition is going up, and maybe we should have gone to Pitt because they’re tuitions is increasing by a smaller percentage per year… But what can we really do..? Nothing now, at least until the election. Then, we’ll come to realize that no one in our age group really votes, so yeah, I’ll vote, but what’s it doing… Oh, there’s a Lord of the Rings marathon on… I guess I’m staying in.

                  It seems that it is our lack of  a sense of “voice” in voting scenarios, and for that matter, any other sort of civic engagement that leads to eventual indifference. How can this be combatted? How do we suddenly understand that what we do matters, and we have to make out opinions and preferences heard if we want to ever see an outcome for which we’ve been hoping.

                  Maybe we have to engage in a mild form of delusion, and really become so self absorbed just so that we feel highly important and that our opinion is the only one that matters, and the world must know… Just so we get our butts out the door. But, Lord of the Rings is still on, and someone else is surely going to the polls today.