My Own Narrative

            When I first entered this class, I had no idea what to except. I honestly thought I would learn the usual English ways of writing…… and I was completely wrong for making this assumption. I gained a great amount of knowledge not only about what English is all about but also about myself and what my own narratives are in my life. From writing the first assignment, the diagnostic essay, to the social movement assignment at the end of the semester, I learned a lot from this class about who I am as a person and the narratives that shape who I am today.


Judgment

            When I first wrote my diagnostic essay, I learned about how I perceive things outside of my own discourse or even my own comfort. I tend to make assumptions very quickly when I see something that I don’t consider to be “normal.” These assumptions have come from the beliefs I’ve had throughout my entire life. These beliefs are religious beliefs as well as socially structured beliefs. For example, if I saw someone who was wearing dark clothing and dark make- up, I would consider them to be emotional or “emo” when they could actually be one of the happiest people I know. Another example would be if I saw someone randomly that I do not know and they either had the muggiest face expression or a gentle face expression, I would pass judgment of what I think they would be like to talk to. I probably would have assumed they were either mean or kind just by looking at them. This shows me that I pass judgments of people pretty harshly which is not okay at all. “DONT JUDGE BOOK BY A COVER” is a metaphor that I definitely believe should be respected and taken seriously.

Judgment

We all may have heard the quote “Don’t judge a book by its cover” at least once in our lives. The quote “Don’t judge a book by its Cover” is a metaphor that has a great meaning behind it. To look on top of the surface of the metaphor, it means, literally, you cannot tell the quality of the contents of a book just by looking at the material used to hold it together. A book with a plain cover and simple title may be more important, more entertaining, or more useful than a book bound in a flashier manner. Then there’s the deeper meaning behind it…this metaphor portrays the idea that we should not judge or make assumptions about anyone or anything just by their appearance. Making assumptions about someone goes against the purpose of this universal quote. Of course, I believe this quote is definitely something I need to take seriously. It is very easy to fall into the trap of looking only at the surface of people, things, and ideas without taking the time and effort to look deeper into them.

This metaphor could be expanded in to so many different situations in our superficial society today. It good example of that is relationships between people. For example, if I saw a beautiful man, I would immediately be attracted to them or try to talk to them compared to an “average looking male”. I’m “Judging the book by its cover” in this case. The harshest part in this case is the average looking person may have had a better personality than the attractive person. The average person may have had a better sense of humor or a more interesting outlook on life. The prejudice decisions I’ve made based solely on outward appearance is what makes our world so superficial. I would feed on assumptions everyday about anyone we see without actually getting to know who they are.

Judgment

It is difficult to change being so superficial, though. Our sense of vision is very strong and it is easy to fall in the trap of believing the most beautiful, shiny, or flashiest object is inherently "better." Only by maintaining strict self-discipline can we force ourselves to put these prejudices aside and look deeper into everything we do. Who knows? The more beautiful man may turn out to be a better match for me. But I will never know if I always base my decision on what looks the best. Only by looking at the less obvious features can I know what is truly the most outstanding person, object, or idea. And then I will know it with confidence.

As I went over my diagnostic essay once more, I realized I had a completely different mindset on the world as I carelessly made judgments and assumptions about people before I even met them. Not only have I passed judgment on others, but also to so many other things like television shows, movies, books. Now that I’ve realize how much judgment and assumptions are made, it made me realize that I need to change the way I see things. I should look at things not only on my side of the situation but on both sides. In order to lessen the impact of these narratives I have on others as I head out into the world with my nursing career is to be open to everything and not to be so close minded even if something is different for me.