How does someone who is seen only as a “statistic” enlighten others of the next generation and those who fault them?
Burger defines a beautiful question saying, A beautiful question is an ambitious yet actionable question that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something—and that might serve as a catalyst to bring about change. In so little words a beautiful question is one that would make you genuinely think. It wouldn’t make you contemplate about whether your answer is right or wrong but more so about how you can create a positive change in your environment or society.
I chose this to be my beautiful question because not only hearing about traumatizing events happening in people’s lives close to me, I have experienced a few of those moments. Moments caused by gang-related violence, a specific role model not being in one’s life, or growing up in an “unsafe” environment. I feel as if this question challenges the guidelines of what society put forth and embeds in the minds of the past and future generations of this specific “statistic.” People believe that if you grow up in the ghetto or a bad part of town, you are automatically put into the category of being forever in poverty with no chance of making it out. With that being said, you are forced to steal, sell drugs and commit heinous acts of crime to get by. When in reality, that is not the case. From a realistic point of view, one can make it out of the “projects.” They can live a successful life without the worry of having to figure out where their next meal will come from. You cannot judge one and place them in a category when they have not even made it out into the world yet. How can you judge a newborn based on its actions when he cannot even walk yet?
In one rotation we talked about the logo of Agnes Scott and how its change made the college more recognizable. The same thing could happen to those who are labeled as a statistic. If there were someone to help change the appearance or “logo” of an area or merely a handful of a rising generation, there would be less crime happening. If there was at least one person to talk to the next generation of kids and inform them that they can change their way of living step by step starting with their appearance. Looking nice is one way to get better recognition from others in a more positive way. With a positive look on your appearance comes positive help. If a college can change their logo to appeal to the human eye why can’t a person do the same?
In another rotation, we talked about memes and how memes help us throughout the day. With this relating to my beautiful question id like to introduce that there are plenty of memes that joke about the harsh realities that come with being a statistic. When in reality the memes of a statistic should be a reminder to others that the life of a statistic is nothing to joke about. Laughing at what happens in one’s life especially being that bad is never a good thing, and its something society as a whole should not do. If one should use the experience of a statistic as a meme, it should be for empowering one another.
