Experience is the Sculpter of Perception

Now in the short essay, “Us and them”, David Sadaris features great examples of how one’s culture truly molds the way one views the world and how it then affects them in life. In the text Sadaris states, “We never spoke, but I’d pass them in the halls from time to time and attempt to view the world through their eyes” (Page). For Sadaris, this was nearly impossible. In the beginning of his story he explains the black and white contrast between the Tomkey’s and his own family. He talks about his relationship with television and how it was a part of daily life, while the Tomkey’s on the other hand didn’t own a television, let alone even believed in it. Not to mentions the families’ two differences with Halloween or simply the way either family would eat their dinners. This all relates back to the quote and Sadaris’s big misunderstanding with the Tomkey’s. He couldn’t understand due to the lack of knowledge he had about living the way the Tomkey’s did. He said he never even talked to the children, one could say it’s because most are too scared of what they don’t understand. Sadaris gr...