Yesterday’s class was deep. Someone in my group correctly guessed that the “monster” question had to do with Ms. Wheeler’s disability research. It made me think more deeply about the moral dilemma of what to do with the “monsters.” It is interesting how people’s true sides come out during a discussion like the one we had. Some people say crazy things. Many off the wall statements were solely for shock value. People still had good things to say that were well thought out.
I was interested by Ms.Wheeler’s talk on her experience with her sister and how it affected her personally. I definitely have had not much life experience in this area. I do not know very many disabled people personally (if I know any at all). It is heartbreaking to hear of the atrocities committed against people simply because they have disabilities. Many of things are easily preventable if people simply accepted that disabled people are people too.
The main thing running through my mind during class was how the answer to the mentioned dilemmas is simple but not popular. Jesus is the cure to the world’s problems. Without Christ there is no basis for advocating treating people with respect. I cannot see how someone can advocate treating disabled people better without having their basis grounded in Christ. Without Christ, the only foreseeable end is hopelessness. In Christ, human beings have their worth as created, loved beings, regardless of their physical or mental capabilities. In a postmodern culture, where truth is relative, there is no rhyme or reason for being respectful of people’s differences and to me the logical conclusion is that people will lose their worth as beings created in God’s image.
Class also made me ponder why people would do and say such things to disabled people. I would classify some of the things as pure evil. I think it just goes to show how depraved we really are. We as humans are capable of some completely evil things. Me included. I am fully capable of treating someone as subhuman just as humans have done in the past. Most of the time, I think most of us are scared of the evil we know we are capable of so we hide in our illusions that everything is fine. But while that happens, other people are getting their rights taken away. What would happen if we all stopped letting these atrocities happen right beside us every day?
There are many different opinions in class on this subject and it would be great to have a discussion on this.
I was amazed that my group came to a consensus fairly quickly on the monster dilemma. I thought that we wouldn’t be in agreement when time ran out. Only one person disagreed with what the group thought which was a miracle. Coming up with a definition of a “monster” was way harder though. We honestly didn’t come up with a real team definition. I feel that we almost all disagreed on it. Everybody just has a different background and history and because of that they would come up with a different definition of a monster. I personally wanted to go with something more along the lines of an animal but the group did not agree. Which is ok as long as the group agreed on something.
Last class gave me a broader view on the issues surrounding our neighbors with disabilities. The most I hear about this in school is usually the Americans with Disabilities Act. But nothing more is mentioned. I will be keeping an eye out to see what kind of abuses I can see in my life and how I can change this epidemic through my life.
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