"I Did not Ask to Think Like This"

During the class, we were to have a little exercise of what we just learned about activist arts where art was oriented in social change. After divided into a few groups, each was to have every member to write on a poster that pictures individual’s concern and support. I wrote some including a debatable one, “I did not ask to think like this”. When every student was asked to speak up their take on our posters, one agreed with an argument that people think differently, and no single individual is thinking the exact same like others. While another one disagreed, said that it sound as if we have no control over our mind and instead took blame on others for the way we’re thinking.

I agree with both, to some point, acknowledged that a poster can’t hold thousand words argument to further explain the ambiguous. Such helpless thought was actually triggered when I noticed that the way I think has grown much differed with most of my relatives because (to put it simply) they much preferred to stick to the notion of heaven and hell, black and white, while I am getting more into the notion of varying shades of grey. It was also triggered by my guilt on cruising ignorant people when I thought we are all close to think the same on humanity, but they still held tight a conservative argument. But further reflection has shown that I was once there, firmly believed in it and thought the person I am now is flaw-minded. The amount of time’s spent on certain environment, the engagement, and the maturity level when information was passed has a big impact on the way one thinks.

It is one paradox in a sense that as much as you think you are the owner of your mind and it is a kingdom belongs to you, it is shaped, triggered and infused by the subtle outer force. Two groups of people from different nation, region, even school would show different characteristics when compared. I have a control whether I want to read one book or not. But I have no control over how I would feel about it, or what kind of person it would turn me into. So there you go. Even a monk that adopted principle of mind-control was also under the influence from certain thoughts, basic principle, and environment.  

It is true what my lecturer said, we claim ourselves as the one better enlightened yet when a loud conservative speak up we’d still want to kick him out. Guilty guilty.. is knowing that ignorant people aren’t just ignorant as simple as it sounds but it is also a complex product of a system. They don’t get to think the way they are now because the situation they were raised just does not work a domino that brings them into thinking the way we do. The domino effects, moved by the situation might works the other way, showing things that somehow make sense to them, made them who they are now that is deemed narrow-minded by other group. I could not take it when people blabber provocative nonsense comments on internet without feeling anything boils up inside of me. But guilty is that they can't have it either way to some point, in a way (as mentioned) they did not ask to be raised in an environment that restricts or does not support exploration as much as some people luckily got to have.

Anyway we are all always ignorant to some people. One might go all in human rights, but not so much on animal's right, while the amount of issues in the world is almost countless.

That is why people still believe in making change in society, if full control of one’s mind works 100%, 

there would be no more activist, writer, and artist. But then by full control, the direction it moves toward truth is also absurd, since the truth itself varies. Now before the topic gets more confusing and branch out all direction, I would stop and use Malcolm X’s quote that sums up this post,

“Don’t be in such a hurry to condemn a person because he doesn’t do what you do, or think as you think. There was a time when you didn’t know what you know today.”

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe in one’s power over his/her own mind. That is why some people are where they are now. That’s why this world has progressed so much, because human got to decide what to do with their unique specific thoughts (Comes to think of it, it might further ends up on notion of human as individual and social being discussion). But external world is as strong and that is what made human social being, absolutely in need of others yet ironically not really. 

Artworks by Ahdini