Global Experience Reflection Paper

Before I experienced my first Global Experience class, my goal was to listen and learn about new perspectives so I could broaden my knowledge. I assumed “broadening my knowledge” included exploring current, global issues. Simply put, I entered the class with a resistant attitude to actually change my way of thinking; I subconsciously thought I could conserve my current perspective while adding on new layers.

Over the past month and a half, many articles and people battled my close-minded view. Before I attended the Agree to Disagree speech by Amy Levine, I hoped she would illustrate the differences in Jews and Christian interpretations with specific versus in the Old Testament, but then I could continue to only believe in the Christian explanation.

I was taught to defend my beliefs in all situations. In the train dilemma we discussed in class, I continually used the principle “each life is worth the same value” to support my decision to sacrifice the single person in both cases. The principle is rooted in my “good”, religious morals, but it supported a decision that others concluded to not be morally permissible. David pointed out the difference between pushing a person and pulling the lever; the person being pushed was not in possible danger beforehand. When I reflected on it after, I realized I no longer wanted to support my previous choice because the person who was not in danger should not be sacrificed for the people who chose to (put) their lives in danger. I was so worried about contradicting my previous point that I ignored the complexities of and differences in the individual cases we were discussing. With the help of my classmates and the straightforward hypothetical situation, I uncovered my reasoning flaws and finally changed my opinion because I concluded exceptions could be made in some

“We are all enacting a story.” Since the culture, the story we are enacting, is abiding, discussing the culture whether that be Elons culture or the American culture, is always applicable to the conversation. I never realized how much the culture affects my behavior and actions. The simple awareness Ishmael uncovered for me has led me to turn the question, “Why do I put on makeup?” “Why do girls want to date taller boys” and many others. The pressures of the story enacted around me are so ingrained and interwoven that the “bars on my cage” are blurry. How often am I really making my own decisions? If we don’t understand the control of the culture, we will continued to be manipulated like puppets.

Overall this has been my growth. Dualism was intriguing because of its simplicity. The more difficult issues we discussed I noticed the flaws of this critical thinking approach. I am moving towards learning how to search for multiple perspectives and opinions and emotionally and logically finding ways to validate multiply options. The last step is relativism, once we break out of the cage, see past and think past the bars, what is the better way to think. How do we make decision not based on the story enacted around us, How do we create our own