I wanted to comment on the quote at the end of the book that we briefly talked about at the end of class today. It was said on the last page during a conversation between the doctor and the doctor's wife. She says "I don't think we did go blind, I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see." I thought that this was a very powerful quote because to me, it still seems to be true in our society. I know that there are a lot of people in our society that are blind to what is going on around them. There are people living in poverty and terrible conditions all around us and those that are more fortunate than others still refuse to acknowledge it or do something about it.
The major part of the quote is when she says that they are blind people who can see but do not see. The fact that there are many different things going on in our world that many of us are not aware of is a good example of this. I have learned some things in my women’s studies class about the conditions for women in other cultures that I could not believe. They are still practicing dowry burnings, female circumcisions, and women are not allowed to drive cars either because their place is in the home. I had heard of some of these things before but never knew much about them or how terrible they were. I feel that many people in our society live sheltered lives. In America, the majority of us have it much better than we could ever hope for in other countries. I think it is important for us to be aware that in some cases we are blind people that can see but are choosing not to. It is important for us to recognize what could happen if we continue to be blind to our world and what we should be doing to fix it.
1 comment:
I agree that the quote, “I don’t think we did go blind, I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see,” is still applicable in our society, today. As Amy stated, people, in our own country, are living in poverty and many people choose to do nothing about it. In addition, people around the world are suffering from AIDS/HIV and many countries are choosing to stop sending aid money for education about the virus and medication because of political reasons. These countries know that helpless people are suffering but they are choosing to ignore the situation because of political instability.
Going back to the quote, why exactly do people choose to be “blind” to certain situations, like poverty and disease? There are a few possibilities that answer this question. I think that one answer is that people choose to ignore bad situations because they do not want to deal with them. People do this all the time with their feelings and situations that they know are going to be confrontational. Another answer to the question is that people choose to be blind in situations to avoid taking responsibility for them. This goes back to the issue of poverty and people not wanting to take on the responsibility of reducing it because the benefit is for others. Humans are naturally selfish creatures but our society today is very unwilling to help others. This unwillingness to help is creating more bad situations. I think that there are those few people who actually do not know what is going on in our country and the world. As humans, we have the responsibility to educate ourselves on the situations of our fellow mankind. We should help others to the best of our ability. I know this sounds cliché but we really should. We can no longer afford to be “blind” because our world could turn almost as bad as the one in the book.
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