Final Reflection

I came into this class ambitious and optimistic, ready to solve the world’s problems with a stroke of my pen (or keyboard more accurately). I leave it not quite so optimistic though perhaps slightly more prepared for the really world. We wrestled with some pretty difficult issues in this class; ones that go directly to the difficult questions of morality and reality. We talked a lot about what should be done and is that possible. We started out in this class by establishing that world peace is not possible. Though I agreed with this statement I felt like the class was throwing the baby out with the bathwater by saying that there was no point in trying to achieve peace. This made me wonder why I was here trying to make the world a better place. I realize now that that served only as the slight reality check I needed to bring my idealism into check with reality. I know now that it might take trillions of pen strokes, trillions of keyboard clicks, and many years of hard work and even then only slight changes might occur. However, in a universe full of evil, and yes goodness too, even a small individual triumph is a triumph. Maybe if we can spread just a little bit more goodness we can have an impact because while powerful governments matter so does culture and culture is created by individuals. I think the creation of a culture of goodness, acceptance, and harmony could have a dramatic impact while not completely solving the world’s problems.