Are Emotions Important?

There will always be arguments on whether or not emotion is necessary in perceiving the world and making decisions. Sure, there are lots of cases when emotions can lead to dangerous decisions which may lead to horrible consequences- therefore in these cases, you must use more of logic and reason when processing your decisions. However, there are also cases when emotions are very crucial in making decisions and life choices. Sometimes, that "gut feeling" or "I don't feel like it" may come in handy in the future in making  better decisions than if you had made them only based on logic. 

I believe that what parts us humans from being wild animals and creatures- is the fact that we are able to look at the world through the different perspectives- through the world of logic and rational reasoning, and the world of emotions and feelings. These are what differentiates humans from dogs- we are able to feel compassion so that we are more aware in the future, to feel love to create important relationships, to live life with characteristics that make us humane.

Although most would say that decisions made upon too much emotion can destroy a life, it is also true that decisions made with only logic may result in an action which is considered inhumane, or morally wrong. It's all about balance. Being dependent towards one side will bound to result in a bad decision- it's always a good idea to be mindful in how we are making are choices, and to always stand back and think if what we are basing our decision upon is possible going to brake the balance. 

Knowing or Convincing?

A few days ago, I realised how positive I am. By this, I mean I don't like to put myself in the middle of girls drama. I refuse to believe in continuous failure. It makes me uncomfortable when I'm talking to someone that will criticise person after person after person...who cares?!

On the down side, being so positive has made me put aside reality. I have a tendency to try and forget the failures, or anything that might have disappointed or upset me. Why is this bad? Because sometimes, I don't think realistically. When I receive a low test score, I sulk for about two minutes, and then find excuses that may have contributed to the result. I convince myself that it was bad luck, and that I would do so much better next time. While everyone's so fearless, calculating their GPAs, I sat there with my test scrunched up at the bottom of my bag, not giving a care in the world about my grades. Because i "knew" I would perform better on the next test.

But deep inside, I know it's fear that keeps me from facing reality. It's the fear that holds me back from calculating my GPA with the other kids, because I knew that if my GPA dropped, I would be even more scared and frustrated. I guess it's good that I have a positive attitude about any situation, but with time running out, I feel left behind, because while everyone's raising their grades, I'm always telling myself "I'll do better next time". and the truth is, I'm running out of "next times".

Sometimes, I get mixed feelings about a certain situation. For example, there was a time when a guy liked me. I guess he was alright, so I liked him... or so I thought. For a few months, I convinced myself that I liked this guy, when in reality, I was only flattered. We talked about emotions, and how we "know" through what we feel. But can our feelings be deceiving? What's the difference between feeling flattered, and feeling as if you like that person? In both cases, there are butterflies in your stomach. You blush when you see the other person. You become shy. I made a mistake because I thought I knew exactly what I felt.

I don't know what the future holds for me. I don't know where I'm going to university, I don't know if I'll get my dream job. I don't even know what my dream job is. There is a fine line between "knowing" and "convincing myself that I know". And until I'm certain about anything, I guess I'll keep positive and continue to convince myself.

DW

This year, I went on the Philippines Service Trip for the second time. The second time to definitely different from the first time, in the sense that things weren't as surprising as they were when I first visited. Last year, I got on the plane not knowing what to expect. I packed around three sweaters not realising that it would be 36 degrees celcius in the Philippines. I went with the thought that all it was, was seven days of sweating, playing with some kids, getting tanned, then returning. I didn't know that I would make the relationships that I did with those children home kids. I had no idea that the labor would result in so much pain. I had absolutely no idea that I would drink bottle after bottle after bottle of water, and not have to go to the bathroom the whole day, because the water would leave my body through all the sweat.

Going back the second time, I already had knowledge about the living conditions of the community, and place we stayed at, I knew some of the children there, and I knew the intensity of the physical labor that awaited us. I knew what the weather would be, and what the food would be like.

What I didn't know, was the exhilaration that I would get after seeing the finished product of the classroom building that we built the base of. I didn't know that such happiness could exist from these orphan kids who were more than excited to see us return. I had no clue that I would be so thrilled to see kids mature from the previous year, and to continue building relationships with them.

I realised that the more we experience, the more we open our eyes to the possibilities and great achievements and awful in this world. No matter what we see through the experiences, we will gain knowledge and learn something from our surroundings.

Do we NEED Grades?

In class the other day, we discussed whether schools needed numbers to strictly quantify the level of performance and knowledge a student has gained in that quarter, semester, year. Many would say "OF COURSE! IS THAT EVEN A QUESTION?! HOW WOULD YOU KNOW IF KIDS LEARN ANYTHING?!" HOW ELSE WOULD KIDS GET INTO COLLEGE AND GET RECOGNISED AND LIVE A SUCCESSFUL LIFE?!"

And then I started thinking...
Well, kids these days don't come to school to learn anyway. What are they going to do once they're on they're own after high school? School has turned into a place of mere academic competition, a place where only numbers on your report cards matter, a place where anyone would rather cheat to get a 97 than to actually pay attention in class and absorb information out of pure interest. Do you see the problem here? It just struck me a few weeks ago that this quarter, I had been slacking. So of course my report card would be terrible. What did that mean? It meant that I would go home to disappoint my parents, that my GPA would drop, that I would lose hope in my academic career, and most of all, disappoint myself. Why? simply because I wouldn't have the 4.0 GPA that all the other students would be complaining about.

The thing is, school should be a place of STUDENTS GATHERED TO PURSUE THEIR INTERESTS. If we are interested, we will listen. If we listen, we will be fascinated, and we will grow a passion for the things we learn. When we are passionate, we will take EVEN MORE INTEREST, and school will be somewhere students will WANT to spend eight hours in. We should all be excited every morning to enter the doors with a passion for the classes we take. We should WANT to seek help out of our own time and energy, because we feel frustrated of not knowing something fully. Yet from what I see everyday, this isn't the case. I blame it partially on numerical grades. I admit I am also a part of this group, it's frustrating how I am constantly dragged down by the numbers. Obviously if students get bad grades, they will think the teacher thinks of them as inadequate students. The self esteem they once had, thinking they were doing well? It'll hit the ground the minute our eyes make contact with those digits. Will students want to ask for help and carry conversations with teachers then? Absolutely not.

Then how would we know how well we're learning, or how much effort we put into our assignments? Hold conversations! Engage each other, and if we don't know something, teach each other. I don't know. but I certainly don't think numbers and percentages should be the way. Students can cheat their way out of tests, projects, even out of high school. But what happens next? In the real world, no one's going to ask me SAT questions or take interest in how well I did on that one quiz on trigonometry back in high school. When us kids apply for jobs in the future, people will want to sense passion. A genuine interest for what we want to pursue. They will want to hold conversations about current events and new findings and they will want to hear our opinions and ideas.

How is grading students out of 100... How is that even close to preparing us for the future?

Feel the Flavours

Synesthesia. One sense kicking another sense into action. Could our senses be tricking us? Could our beliefs or expectation interfere with what we sense exactly at a specific moment? According to scientific research, our brains tricks us all the time. An experiment was conducted where participants were asked to state the flavor of different colored m&m’s. Most gave different answers according to the color, for example, the green that corresponded with the flavor of lime. However, the truth was the all the m&m’s tasted the same except for the orange ones. This clearly suggests that because our brains are set to expect that different colors correspond with different flavors, we start to believe it, which causes us to “taste” different flavors. In this example, the senses of sight come into play together to enhance the sweetness of the chocolate.

Personally, I like very crispy textures. From my memory, I perceive crispy or crunchy foods to represent freshness. When I get sick, I realize that I lose my appetite. This is because when we taste, our taste buds and the sense of smell work together to “taste” the food in the mouth. Therefore, when I lose my sense of smell due to sicknesses, I find that I lose my appetite because the flavors of the foods are not completely enhanced, and so all I can experience is the texture of the substance on my tongue.

We rely on our sense of sight so much, that it amazes me how much our sight can influence our decision regardless of what our taste buds and scent tell us. It makes me wonder, if we are constantly deceived by our senses, how will we ever know what is right or wrong? What is true and what is false? Is what we see or taste or hear always what we really see or feel or taste? Or merely things we WANT and EXPECT to see, feel, and taste? As much as this article interested me, as I start to think more about this concept of knowing, the more lost I feel. Will I ever get a clear answer to what knowledge is?  Or will it always be a mixture of senses, beliefs, emotions, and perception?

Ways of Knowing

In class, we studied on the various ways of “knowing”. We were given an article, which explored a contradictory act of the Japanese visiting a war shrine from WWII, which raised a conflict between the Chinese and Korean versus the Japanese. While reading the article, we were encouraged to think about how each side of the dispute “knew” that they were right according to factors such as their emotions on the situation, their memory of ancestors, and perception from their point of view.

My group decided to perform a talk show where I played the representative of Korea and Sean played the role of representing Japan. From Korea’s standpoint, I emphasized the mockery we felt and the disturbance that we felt to see Japan honoring their soldiers who killed our ancestors. I also depicted the fact that from what we remember, it was our families and grandparents who got killed and attacked by the men in the war shrine. Japan, on the other hand, argued that they were only paying respect to their “heroes” and the people who sacrificed themselves for their nation. Of course, it would only be appropriate that Korea felt offended and perceive Japan as the "villain", while I also understand Japan's pride in their ancestors and their sacrifice. I now understand that "knowing" is usually combination of so many factors, in this case, emotions, logic, and memory. 

Through this activity and watching other groups also present, I could physically watch the way people use multiple ways to portray their knowledge. I realized that sometimes, we don’t need a tangible or visible object or proof to be certain of something. Sometimes, it is possible to know through what we feel and the strong emotions that we experience. This led me to think back about my religion. Had I ever seen God physically? No. Can I feel his presence physically? No. Can I hear him with my ears? No. But I know that God exists because I believe. This is where knowledge through faith comes in play in my life, and although it is difficult for me to grasp the idea that this is a factor of “knowing”, I am relieved to know that “faith” is a legitimate reason to know.

Sightless Experience

As the sightless person with the blindfold over my eyes, I felt so vulnerable and doubtful about everything. I was anxious to move, because I did not fully trust my guide, and I couldn’t physically tell where I was heading. The whole time, I was so frustrated because I couldn’t be certain about every inch of my movement, and I felt very helpless and uncomfortable. Every time I was told to walk, I would take the smallest steps possible to avoid any possible trips. I was definitely afraid to walk at my normal pace, as I knew I would run into something and get injured. The most difficult part that I experience blind was coming down from a large stone. Getting up was easier than I thought, because all I had to do was take large steps, however when coming down from the stone, it almost feel as if I was falling from great height. I could not imagine the distance from the peak of the stone to the ground; therefore I felt very insecure and hesitated a lot. While walking around, I could vaguely set up a mental picture of the courtyard. Therefore, it was not difficult to imagine the direction I was headed for. For example, after the task of walking over a metal rail, I could imagine the courtyard in accordance to the position of the rail. I think that if this task was done at a completely new place, it would be much more difficult, as we wouldn’t have ANY knowledge about the place we’re walking in. In addition to the audio sense, I used my hands and legs to feel the surfaces and the textures surrounding me.

As the guide, I felt a great load of responsibility of being as precise as possible in making sure the blind would not get injured. Every time my partner bumped into something, I felt so sorry and a guilt that made me anxious about my words. Even though my partner followed instructions well, I became frustrated when they struggled to walk in straight lines on flat ground.  I could tell that even though my partner trusted my words, and me, he was still doubtful about his movements and placements of his limbs. He was always very cautious and extra careful even when I assured him, which further proves how dependent we are on our sight. I assume that my partner felt somewhat comfortable in the courtyard, just because he was familiar with the surroundings. However, imagine how long it would take and how vulnerable and doubtful he would feel about every inch of a step he took if he had to walk to the other side of the campus without sight!

I realised how restrained we are when we cannot see. Not only can we not detect what is in front of us, but also we are forced to be extremely aware of our surroundings and every muscle we move. Although I believe that sight may sometimes be deceiving, being able to see is an essential part of reassurance in our beliefs and knowledge.