Exploring Perspectives

Aria Bashizadeh Fakhar
Daily Journal Entry
What I Learned
At the start of the class, I knew I would be determined to finish it. I had taken two separate literature courses in the fall and winter quarters, but I had dropped them almost immediately, using excuses for myself to make up for my laziness and lack of motivation to actually READ the content. However this time it would be different, as they say, third time’s a charm. I learned that in the summer, it really does feel good to just sit, and read a book and reflect on what had happened and what the intended meaning of what was written was. I also learned that it certainly does take time, and that you cannot take shortcuts when it comes to reading a piece of literature analytically. You have to sit down and concentrate to fully absorb the meaning of the piece.
This class’s topic of forgiveness has interested me the most; as I have really never thought about what kinds of thought processes can go to fully forgive someone or something that has traumatized your life forever. Seeing the characters such as Simon and Lily go through their situations made me realize that forgiveness is not an easy thing to achieve. In fact, I have seen the repercussions of not forgiving and not forgetting what has happened, and not learning from the lesson that the tragedy was supposed to teach you can do to your psyche. Simon Wiesenthal was plagued by this question for all of his life, and he keeps ruminating on the issue. Granted, a Holocaust isn’t easy to get over, which is fully understandable, considering the conditions people are under. However, I can see that he has been trying, and that he did something with that terrible situation in his life, and has improved himself and those around him based on what he has learned in his life on forgiveness.
Questions that have been raised (and partially answered) to me have been how I can apply this analytical thinking to other classes. As a psychology major, the real dry and jargon filled journal articles are usually straight to the point. However, using a creative mind and some analytical reading, I can find alternative interpretations (if there are any) of the results that have been stated in the article. We’ll have to see how this will be efficiently applied to the classes in question.
I am surprised at how much I missed reading. I used to read novels all of the time, but other interests have been getting in the way of actually sitting down with a piece of literature and enjoying it. It really is a joy to do so.