A wonderful and inspiring essay. Thank you. I applaud your ability to take thought and make such a fundamental change. But I'm puzzled by one remark: I’m not sad that I read those critical theorists. I think it’s a useful perspective to have.
I understand being glad you read them. I'm glad that I've read quite a few of them. But (and this is a genuine question, not a comment) do you actually mean "useful to have," as in you might actually use it as it's meant to be used in some circumstances. Or do you mean, you are glad to have that understanding of what we are up against, so you can better help to defeat it?
But I wonder whether you have overcome your instinct to criticize. Yes, you seem to have turned one critical thought into a useful career--for others as well as yourself. But do you still feel--or even express--criticisms as a matter of habit? The art of turning criticism of others into understanding of others is different from that. And much harder. But IMO very a very valuable skill.
Thanks for this. My takeaway from this, having been through the critical discourse mirror myself, is that no one can teach you to love something more than your self. It was your father’s quiet comment to think about the experiencing of real privilege and real oppression that allowed you to be free of the potentially intellectually imprisoning of an ideological framework. Those who choose to harden their hearts will never escape the maze.
Feeling uncomfortable within an organization is not necessarily a bad thing especially if you are interested in actually accomplishing something. Once you become at ease within an organization and everything said and done seems to make sense, your ability to foster change for the better drops to zero.
A wonderful and inspiring essay. Thank you. I applaud your ability to take thought and make such a fundamental change. But I'm puzzled by one remark: I’m not sad that I read those critical theorists. I think it’s a useful perspective to have.
I understand being glad you read them. I'm glad that I've read quite a few of them. But (and this is a genuine question, not a comment) do you actually mean "useful to have," as in you might actually use it as it's meant to be used in some circumstances. Or do you mean, you are glad to have that understanding of what we are up against, so you can better help to defeat it?
But I wonder whether you have overcome your instinct to criticize. Yes, you seem to have turned one critical thought into a useful career--for others as well as yourself. But do you still feel--or even express--criticisms as a matter of habit? The art of turning criticism of others into understanding of others is different from that. And much harder. But IMO very a very valuable skill.
Thanks for this. My takeaway from this, having been through the critical discourse mirror myself, is that no one can teach you to love something more than your self. It was your father’s quiet comment to think about the experiencing of real privilege and real oppression that allowed you to be free of the potentially intellectually imprisoning of an ideological framework. Those who choose to harden their hearts will never escape the maze.
Feeling uncomfortable within an organization is not necessarily a bad thing especially if you are interested in actually accomplishing something. Once you become at ease within an organization and everything said and done seems to make sense, your ability to foster change for the better drops to zero.