Can someone please comment on my attempted expository essay:
People differ in the ways in which they perceive and respond to their experiences. Your response is to be published in the “comment and debate” section of a leading Melbourne newspaper.
Everyone has their own realities. Whether it be an opinion about a colleague or just something imaginary. Everyone has the right to have their own reality. However differences in opinions continue to lead to conflict. One’s childhood and their honesty are just some factors which contribute to people having differing realities. Until we can acknowledge and accept contrasting beliefs and opinions one can have, life will remain threatening as people continue to fight over who is right.
One of the ways in which people respond to contrasting realities is through violence. It is our human nature which makes us seek for the truth. And to prove to every body that they were right, we sometimes go too far. In Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love, Joe, a scientist and protagonist, becomes concerned over the ways in which Jed, a man who he met at the site of the ballooning accident, follows him everywhere he goes. In Joe’s opinion, Jed has become blinded by his devotion to ‘God” and alleges him of stalking; whereas Joe believes it was Gods intervention which brought them together. Joe’s continuous denial of Jed’s ‘love’ eventually results in him kidnapping Joe’s wife, Clarissa. He threatens to hurt her if Joe doesn’t accept their ‘love’. Although in the end, Jed is labeled mad and sent to a mental institution, McEwan attempts to show how much a person can become fixated on an idea or reality, causing them to become violent and put everyone else’s life at risk.
However to avoid conflict and chaotic situations, people just deny others’ opinions by claiming they have different realities. By stating this, they can just move on without any further accusations. In fact, a recent study from the University of Arizona claims that in order to avoid hate and the risk of becoming socially isolated, around 80% of people from the survey claim that on one or more occasions, they have said to their friends that they have different opinions. This goes to show that people can have different perceptions on an issue, however they do not mention it, they just accept others’ views and move on. I had a friend once who was born in a different country to me. He always use to say in his American accent that “George W Bush is the best president the United States has ever had.” Instead of making fun of him, I accepted the fact that some people were mentally challenged and responded in a defenseless and passive manner saying that “we have different realities”.
This brings me to another point. The way in which one has been brought up also contributes to how they react to a certain event or opinion. Eric Cooke, the murderer in Robert Drewe’s The Shark Net, had a tough childhood as Robert finds out later on. With his father beating and hurting him while being bullied at school, Eric eventually breaks down and commits eight random murders. Whereas the “sand people” of Perth think of him as a cold-blooded murderer, Eric himself believes that it was just him taking revenge on the world which has rejected him socially and physically (“birdmouth”). His up-bringing resulted in him being a person who “even believed his own lies”. Through Cooke, Drewe attempts to signify the devastating effects one’s childhood can have if they are not nurtured properly and how they don’t accept anyone else’s opinions. When I went to College in America, I could not believe how ignorant and disrespectful the students were of the professors. I was brought up in Germany during the Second World War; my teachers were very strict and authoritative. Apparently however, as one student told me, this was a usual class. I still can’t understand how the professors enjoyed those silly jokes aimed at them! That certainly showed me that our childhood plays a key role in determining how we react to situations.
People certainly differ in the ways in which they view reality. Many factors contribute to it. However, we will always strive to believe in an absolute truth; after all it is in our nature to seek. Perhaps the old cliché: “We can’t handle the truth”, is the one which we must abide by.
Thanks for reading
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