To be a human, it is mandatory that one must have cognition—this
is what makes the human so distinct and special in that respect. Out of this
capability to think and process thoughts, I have found that society inherently creates
standards and puts expectations on itself to determine a sort of “efficient” or
“valuable” human—one who works and strives to meet their full potential, a standardized term that can vary from person to
person but still holds a centralized and defined notion within society as a
whole.
Food for thought:
(link: http://imgur.com/r/pics/66DxiHX)
This comic by Bill Watterson provoked me to think of these
standards humans place on one another. It seems that although the human species
is special as one and a whole, we distinguish ourselves as separate entities
and stratify each person into a certain rank depending on life goals and
desires, income—things of this nature.
This causes conflict because as a result of our ability to
think and feel, we naturally have different desires, and these cannot be
standardized as each desire is inherent to the human it belongs to. One exact
path in life is not always the correct path for every being that makes up the
human species, although humans as a whole have seemed to have determined that
there is a “correct” way of life regardless.
I find your post very interesting as it seems to be a commentary on society. I agree with your ideas in that it seems true that as humans we all have different wants, and what we do with our lives is left to be judged by others. This occurs all the time; it can correlate with someone's profession, or area of study. As a literature major, people are constantly asking me what job am I supposed to get with that major and so on. However, I am a literature major because that is what I am interested in, that is what I want to study at Bard. Because of our humanity and our cognition, we have different desires and beliefs. We thrive on what we love and what we want to do with our lives. However, because of society and societal norms, we have to please more than just ourselves. We have to please parents, and friends, significant others, bosses, acquaintances, and even complete strangers. People can know one thing about you and decide to judge you based on that one fact. But as you said, how does one know that they are reaching their "full potential"? What even IS "full potential"? It is a phrase used daily and signifies disappointment and is usually paired with the phrase "you could do better". But how does anyone know if I or you CAN do better? How do they know that I'm NOT reaching my full potential. Maybe my full potential is different from someone else's. These societal norms trap humans in world in which we are constantly trying to be the best, to seem the best to strangers. We want nothing more than to look like we have it completely together: perfect job, perfect life. Humans strive not only to be the best, but to look the best. Our actual wants and desires have slipped through the cracks while we start acting a certain way because others will like it more than the natural way in which you may act. There is no way to life your life incorrectly...But with society this day in age, it sure seems like you can. Judgement and speculation on what is more widely accepted has started to break down the individuality that humans have worked so hard to have. People form their lives around the opinions of others, instead of the opinions of themselves.
ReplyDeleteI also found this Watterson comic a few weeks ago and connected it to this class. If the threshold that separates us between human and animal revolves around self-awareness, we are most definitely intelligent and specialized. But once our humanness is secured, there are gradients to this understanding. We may know our skills, talents and strengths but choose not to use them for survival. Animals may know to use claws or teeth and do not have the ability to decide that they'd rather play all day than use these means to hunt and kill food. Animals do not experience a lack of fulfillment and satisfaction as we do. Dissatisfaction in life for humans comes only with the realization and knowledge of what we'd rather be doing. Watterson in this comic addresses potential and worth, both externally and internally. All of this exists within tiers that we have created in our complex human society. We have assigned certain talents and careers value that is expressed through money and salary. We choose to go into these professions based on either our skill or chance, usually dependent on the monetary payoff. I find this particular comic interesting because Watterson is the renowned author of the series Calvin and Hobbes. His comics are known and appreciated worldwide, but drawing skill in general does not often translate to success in the job world. This comic's existence is a confirmation of Watterson's point that fulfillment comes from doing what you love. Although he is not an accurate sample of all comic artists, or artists in general, his self awareness is translated in the medium he uses to express himself, one that also provides him with an income. He is smart to mention other careers that utilize these talents (advertising, for example) but uses his medium of choice (the comic) to display these realizations. Comics in general provide sketches of characters. Unlike photographs, these characters can be embellished with each reader's personal choices and imagination, allowing us to insert ourselves into the comic. In this way, when we look at Watterson's drawing of himself, we observe his self awareness and in turn, our own.
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