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NonaFarahnikSecondPaper 14 - 24 Apr 2010 - Main.MohitGourisaria
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| | | As I approached the law school at 116 and Amsterdam, the drizzle had turned to rain. I could not bring myself to enter the hallowed gates of our law school. The smell of warm rain hitting the soft earth filled my nostrils. It was a sweet, familiar smell that stayed with me over the past fifteen years while everything else around me was fading away. And so it happened that just as this assignment came to a close, my walk began. I followed the scent of raindrops to Riverside Drive, walked by another cathedral and then by a magnanimous tomb. But in those open spaces, I felt more alive than I ever have within the renowned legal and medical hallways of Amsterdam Avenue. And so I continued to walk for awhile. Only this time, the course was of my own choosing. | |
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Those homeless men that sleep on top of the heating ventilators surely provoke strong emotions in me too, including shame. And I always wondered why was it that I feel these things, but I cannot transform the emotions into actions? | | |
I respectfully disagree Mohit. I don't want to write too much because I feel like I am invading Nona's place. Like what Eben said, our feeling isn't an on-off switch. When we look at these homeless people, poor immigrants, Afghan kids dying from the war, etc, we feel a range of things and we do a range of things. Sometimes, we feel sad about what is happening, but we don't do anything. Sometimes, we don't feel anything. Sometimes, we feel sad and choose to help that person that is right infront of us. Sometimes, we get worked up enough to start a collective movement. Of course, there are a lot of circumstances that affect these behaviors. But what I am interested is what factors, what circumstances, and what kind of environment shape our feelings and conviction, and transform our feelings into action.
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I agree with your statements about the emotions that are conjured within us. But most of it is just that -- an emotion. A collective movement is divisible into many, many individual actions; it does not emanate from a magic wand, or from sympathy for that matter. And while the emotions you speak of are natural, their context is rather uninspiring if they do not provoke action. And once the action occurs, the sympathy is merely a pretty prelude.
-- MohitGourisaria - 24 Apr 2010 | | | \ No newline at end of file |
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