Don't look away

Indifference and silence can be seen as a crime. There is so much injustice that can result from remaining silent and emotionless to problems in our world. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a speech while in jail in Birmingham for participating in a silent protest, which was to ironically break the silence of inequality in his society at that time. And in The Perils of Indifference, which was written by Elie Weisel, he talks about how indifference caused tremendous pain and suffering on the Jewish people during the time of Hitler’s ruling. Finally, there is even indifference and silence in my own community due to homelessness. When there is a problem acting indifferent and silent can be just as bad as the thing that caused the problem, which is shown through the experiences of Martin Luther King Jr., Elie Weisel, and my community.

Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, which describes the need for not remaining silent and indifferent in order to create equality for blacks. “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” This quote is basically stating that those who said and did bad things to people of color, and those who just stood by and watched should repent for their sins. In other words, just because people did not do anything to those people of color does not mean that they did not do something just as awful as the people that did hateful actions. These people were indifferent due to their silence, and being indifferent can allow for horrible things to happen. It is our life, our society, our world, so we must take action to enact equality all around us. For example, if we were to see someone throwing trash on the ground, we need to take action. This is our world, and if they impact our world in a negative manner by filling it with trash, then we are just enforcing the problem by remaining silent and indifferent. Disposing of trash properly to keep our community clean is not nearly as important as human equality, although this simple example should depict the importance of not remaining silent or indifferent because it is just as impacting as the person throwing the trash on the ground.

In The Perils of Indifference written by Elie Weisel, he talks about the indifference that occurred in Germany and America, which causes much pain and suffering. Weisel defines indifference in many different ways throughout his speech, although in one part he states how indifference can change humans into something else, something cold. Weisel states, “In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred.” What this quote is saying is that to be indifferent means that one is not human. An indifferent person has no emotions. Therefore, they have no humanistic qualities, making them almost robotic. Anger and hatred are humanistic emotions that produce responses, but how can there be a response to something that has not even been initiated? That is even worse than being put through the enraging hate of another person because if someone does not have any emotions, then there is no hope. Much like Martin Luther King, Jr. he believes that indifference is just as harmful, if not more, than actions due to emotions.

I believe that indifference and silence can cause many harmful things in our society. For example, we have a big homeless problem here in the Antelope Valley, and this might be partially due to indifference. Most people in the community find these homeless people to be a burden upon our society, and instead of fixing the problem, they ignore the problem with hopes that it will just go away. However, if we were to maybe get involved and try and reduce the homeless population, then maybe we would not have to look at unbearable suffering on our streets. Indifference and silence is fueling this homeless problem, and if we were to just possibly volunteer in the homeless shelters or offer supplies, we can alleviate this problem. By not being indifferent and staying silent we can change our world, just like Martin Luther King Jr. did, and how Elie Weisel tried to convey.

Experiences of the negative effects of indifference and silence have been shown through Martin Luther King Jr., Elie Weisel, and my community. King knew that in order to create equality people had to start to take action and break the silence and indifference. Weisel knew that indifference can cause devastating feelings from his own experience in concentration camps. I know that indifference and silence has created a major homeless problem in the Antelope Valley. Indifference and silence can impact every part of our life, so why not try and take action when you see a problem in your society?

Lilia Lacks Literacy

The ability to be able to read and write are skills that not everyone has obtained, and it is shocking for me to find this to be true. I was oblivious to the high illiteracy rates in America when I was in high school, and assumed that everyone was taught to some extent how to read and write. However, this is definitely not the case. There are many different reasons behind high illiteracy rates. These include high school dropouts, teen pregnancy, and coming from a foreign country. I used to have a babysitter named Lilia that was from Mexico, and she was illiterate in English. I never stopped to think that it was extremely difficult for her to do anything in the United States because reading and writing is integral to society. If I were to see through the eyes of Lilia, I would see many hardships due to illiteracy. There are two main challenges that would be tremendously difficult for Lilia to overcome, obtaining a job and helping her daughter with school.

Lilia had a child, which means she had to find a job to support her child, but this could have been difficult because of her illiteracy. Fortunately my mother knew Spanish and was able to give Lilia a job. The inability to read and write could have blocked Lilia’s chances in obtaining employment. Firstly, she would not be able to create resumes and cover letters. Secondly, she would not be able to read whatever the employer wanted her to read. Thirdly, she would not be able to communicate effectively during the interview because she could not speak English. That creates a huge communication barrier here, and it would make it extremely difficult for Lilia to find work in an established business.

Lilia’s child attended school here in America. Children often need help with their homework, which Lilia could not help with. Parents are almost always the first resource for a child in grade school to go to when they need help academically. Typically the parents are literate, and are able to help their children, although this was definitely not the case for Lilia. She could not help her child in school because she herself could not do the homework. This lack of help for her daughter would impact her daughter’s education negatively in the long run. Of course there are other resources for her child to go to, although those resources are not always present like a parent. Due to Lilia’s illiteracy she was not able to help her child succeed in school, which must have been devastating for Lilia to experience.

Illiteracy is rampant in the United States, and there are many reasons as to why. Lilia was a statistic in the high illiteracy rate in the United States, and this could have impacted her harshly when she was trying to find a job. In addition, she was helpless when it came to her daughter’s education because she was not able to understand her homework. Illiteracy can impact many parts of people’s lives negatively, although being literate is not always a choice.

Thinking Crtically

Whenever I read a text there are two main tactics I use in order comprehend the text to its fullest. The first thing I do when I start reading text in a book is reread every sentence. This technique helps me take in what the text is trying to convey. Otherwise, I might miss something that it is trying to say. To me, this way of reading is considered critical reading and thinking. Secondly, I will often times summarize what I read next to the text, and try to pinpoint exactly what the text’s main point was. In addition, by critically observing the text in this manner I am almost looking beyond what the text is trying to convey to me, and creating my own meaning, for writing is subjective.

This critical way of reading and thinking is helpful in many aspects of my life, and you guessed it, especially in academics. It gives me an opportunity to truly understand the text I am learning for a course to the fullest degree, which in turn helps me succeed in the course. Additionally, when it comes to my writing in academics I am very critical. I review my essays at least five times before I submit them. Despite the fact that I wrote the material, there is always room for improvement, whether it is the way something is worded, or if grammar and punctuation are off, or if I just want to make sure I am not being redundant. There is always, always, always, room for improvement, and in order to make those adjustments I have to critically analyze my own work, which at times can be difficult, seeing as how I did create it. However, if I take a step back from the written piece for at least a day, I am able to look at my work from another perspective, and find errors that I might have skipped over. Many times writers have this problem after writing a piece, they are so fixated on what they are trying to get across that they completely skim over minute errors, and sometimes even big mistakes; and that is why it is best to take a step back.

Not only does critical thinking help me prosper in school, but it also helps in my everyday life, such as my job at Subway. I am better able to understand what my boss wants from me by critically thinking about things he tells me. By reviewing what he tells me I am better able to adjust to whatever is expected of me on the job, thus my job performance is on a high level.

Finally, in my other job, as a writing tutor at Antelope Valley College, I find my critical thinking skills to be particularly helpful. While working there I have found that my critical analysis skills give me the ability to spot out chronic problems in my tutee’s written work, such as the incorrect usage of tenses. From there I am able to help them correct their continuous problem(s), which is usually done by providing a handout and explaining the context. Also, with my ability to critically read I am able to help my tutees brainstorm new possible ideas for their work. This is due to the fact that by reading their work critically I am able to pinpoint the direction they want to take their work in.

Hopefully, by the end of English 103 my critical reading, writing, and thinking skills will improve tenfold, which will only help me academically and professionally in the future. This is a critical reading, writing, and thinking course, thus I can only see it improving my skills. As they say, practice makes perfect.