what do you think of this?
it appears to have significance in all the texts with which we have been presented in 103. take, for example, wilson's stories which we have read this week. in "obscene callers," dale acts outside of what many would deem 'common sense,' and she is thus harmed. if we equate common sense with communal rules then it is plain to see that crossing barriers of what is accepted in this community requires two equally difficult commitments:
1) to realise that breaking "rules" is not necessarily accepted, and pain--be it emotional, physical or both--certainly could result; and
2) never to accept the failure of a stagnant community.
by this i mean to say that a dynamic community--one that grows, improves, reshapes as a product of its constituents--is far and away the best kind. could you imagine the the disgusting homogenity that would arise from a community whose rules dictate the very actions and thoughts of its members? unfortunately, i can imagine it because it is all too easy to fall into the "easy life" trap associated with abiding by rules.
i maintain that we must have some form of greater understanding of our community in order to achieve our ideals. in other words, let us recognise that we, as leaders and intellectuals, have a common desire to excel and improve; in order to go to the next step, though, we must acknowledge right now what hinders the community as a whole. bear in mind that we all desire improvement, but we cannot fix it if we don't know where and why it is broken.
look back to our very first class discussion. from there, consider each subsequent meeting, in which we introduced to 103 various mehtods of position taking. the most striking achievement of our class has been, and continues to be, our continuous shifting of alliance from utter disagreement to conscientous objector to complete congruence. in a community whose goals are as lofty as ours, this is the highest degree of success. we have been presented with some of the most provacative social issues of all time, and through our intense intellectual differences the worst attacks directed towards one another have been verbal ones. we have aroused incredibly deep emotions from those on opposite sides of these issues as ourselves, and we are yet continuing the dialogue. that, by god, is victory! as a class, we represent the ideals of how each community ought to deal with other. we must not stop the discussion for fear being hurt or of hurting ourselves. Instead, let us go forward; let us be productive and search for the truth that lies somewhere between the door and the windows. we *are* a community, 103, and the best kind at that. discourse is a dialogue, and if we continue the way we have been, including the lowpoints and the highs, we will certainly win a 'k.o.' over irrationality and hate.