Sometimes I feel like there are only two options in life: remain insignificant or do something phenomenal.
Right now, as a part of my teenage existential crisis, I am beginning to question the significance of everything that I'm engaged in. "What's the point?" I ask myself before everything, from going to class, talking to a friend or even getting a cup of coffee. I pay attention to irrelevant minutia and become obsessed with having an impact on people around me.
Yesterday, I got really good advice from a friend of mine, regarding an argument I'd had a few days earlier. "You should just do what I do... and not care." The concept is really simple, and I can't say that I haven't considered it before, but a lot of the time, I need to hear these things reflected back to me from someone else before I can really begin to process them. Is there a correct way in dealing with someone who disagrees with you?
Some things are incontrovertible facts. Evolution is one of them. Another would be the definition of words that are harmful or oppressive to a group of people. For example: the words "f****t" or "t****y" are oppressive to certain groups of people. It is not up for me to discuss whether these words have an offensive definition because these words have not been used to silence or oppress me. If I attempted to argue a "different opinion" about these words, it would be irrelevant. I would not be expressing a different opinion, I would be bigoted and wrong.
So, engaging in an argument where I am 100% correct, yet this correctness is not accepted, how do I deal with the aftermath? Could it really be that simple for me to "not care"? I want to educate other people and I want to be somewhat important. I know there's a limited amount that I can do to promote equality especially in this Middlebury microcosm. A part of me is still hopeful that reading and educating myself and the people around me about topics I really care about (and that they claim to care about) is going to be important enough on my scale of existence for me to continue.
In this case, I think I can take the advice about "not caring" to a certain extent and put it into practice. I can't care about what other people think of me in terms of how "mean" or "harsh" I am. Caring about something that is so important to me and affects my every day life is not something that I should apologize and feel bad for. I shouldn't feel bad for "belligerence" or the way with which I choose to communicate a message. In the long run, it is far worse to be a bigot than to berate one, so I think I can get away with a little rage in the hopes that it will eventually matter.
Right now, as a part of my teenage existential crisis, I am beginning to question the significance of everything that I'm engaged in. "What's the point?" I ask myself before everything, from going to class, talking to a friend or even getting a cup of coffee. I pay attention to irrelevant minutia and become obsessed with having an impact on people around me.
Yesterday, I got really good advice from a friend of mine, regarding an argument I'd had a few days earlier. "You should just do what I do... and not care." The concept is really simple, and I can't say that I haven't considered it before, but a lot of the time, I need to hear these things reflected back to me from someone else before I can really begin to process them. Is there a correct way in dealing with someone who disagrees with you?
Some things are incontrovertible facts. Evolution is one of them. Another would be the definition of words that are harmful or oppressive to a group of people. For example: the words "f****t" or "t****y" are oppressive to certain groups of people. It is not up for me to discuss whether these words have an offensive definition because these words have not been used to silence or oppress me. If I attempted to argue a "different opinion" about these words, it would be irrelevant. I would not be expressing a different opinion, I would be bigoted and wrong.
So, engaging in an argument where I am 100% correct, yet this correctness is not accepted, how do I deal with the aftermath? Could it really be that simple for me to "not care"? I want to educate other people and I want to be somewhat important. I know there's a limited amount that I can do to promote equality especially in this Middlebury microcosm. A part of me is still hopeful that reading and educating myself and the people around me about topics I really care about (and that they claim to care about) is going to be important enough on my scale of existence for me to continue.
In this case, I think I can take the advice about "not caring" to a certain extent and put it into practice. I can't care about what other people think of me in terms of how "mean" or "harsh" I am. Caring about something that is so important to me and affects my every day life is not something that I should apologize and feel bad for. I shouldn't feel bad for "belligerence" or the way with which I choose to communicate a message. In the long run, it is far worse to be a bigot than to berate one, so I think I can get away with a little rage in the hopes that it will eventually matter.
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