Theory of Knowledge Journal 2
This thought started as I was walking downtown to Tropitana to go tanning. As I was walking I began to have this giant ongoing TOK moment. Here goes. Tanning is bad for you, marijuana is supposedly not. Yet one is illegal and one is perfectly acceptable. Personally, I never thought I would try either. I knew the cancer risks involving tanning and didn't think it was worth the darker skin. As for pot, I find the attitude towards it disgusting. Its not the illegality that bugs me. Its the mentality that surrounds it and the worth people give it. I just don't get it. I've never done it and don't plan on it. But I never planned on tanning either, yet here I was walking downtown to go do exactly that. I knew the risks, but I was willing to take those risks to look tan for prom. Although it didn't start out for prom. It started out as an experiment to see if I would help me feel better. My parents believe I have S.A.D. Seasonal Affective Disorder. As sort of seasonal moodiness and depression caused by the lack of light in winter. So my mom bought me a tanning package as a sort of light therapy. This was a huge surprise. My mom had breast cancer two years ago. Anything that was a potential carcinogen became a big big BIG no no in my house. I never in ONE MILLION years thought my mom would let me tan. I never even bothered to ask. Here is the funny thing, Marijuana helps relieve the side effects of chemo therapy. It in a way helps cure cancer. Yet my mom would never go out and buy me some weed and say here try this! So why do we as a society allow certain thing that we know are life threatening to be acceptable, legal, yet things that we can use to help us and benefit us become hidden and against the law? It seems illogical, backwards, and yet I still find myself not being able to fully support the legalization of marijuana. I believe it goes back to the idea of the default position. Drugs are bad. This has been ingrained into the human race for a long time. When research and evidence begins to surface contradict this we as a society refuse to accept it. As far as I know, tanning beds had no known risks when they were first invented. Yet even though it has now been proven to greatly increase the risk of skin cancer, we still tan! We as knowers rely on previous knowledge, experience, stories, and our own beliefs to tell us what we know and don't often accept new information. So this got me to thinking why is it that humans fall back on the default position? On my way walking back from tanning I found myself an answer. As I was walking home I kept thinking to myself "This isn't me, I don't go tanning" In my mind I associate tanning with those orange tinted girls I see at school. They talk about boys, the next biggest party and if they should go on another diet. In my mind these girls had no interest in the world beyond beauty and men. This is not the stereotype I saw myself fitting into. This is not a stereotype I would ever want to have or give to myself. Walking home I didn't feel like myself and suddenly I realized BOOM that is why we as humans return our default position. Because opening up, changing our opinion, believing in something different is change. We are scared to change because as we leave our default position we feel as though we are losing who we are. The opinions and beliefs that I have held my whole life helped to shape and make me who I am today, without them where does that leave me? That is a terrifying thought. Yet if I don't change, how do I grow? But if I do change, and not even a portion of my beliefs stays static how am I the same person? How do I not lose myself. It takes a brave person to have an open mind. For now I have come to the conclusion that one can have an open mind and still let a set of beliefs and moral standards act as guide lines. But these guide lines must have windows. That way you can see to the other side, even somewhat understand the other side, but stay inside yourself. As a learner and knower this is what I hope to do. Grow and change, but grow and change within myself. This may mean redrawing some lines or erasing a few but a general outline is kept. Who knows, maybe someday I'll be brave enough to leave behind the outline all together. But is that a good idea? I really don't know.
