Today in class, the idea of only learning or studying a topic due to personal connection was brought up. One comment was on how people tend to gravitate towards ideas or topics that pertain to them, probably because it is more interesting if you have an actual personal experience or relation to tie into it. I realized how true this is.
I am a scuba diver. I've been certified since I was ten and absolutely love diving. Never have I been scared of diving. We've all heard the stories of divers disappearing or being attacked or drowning, but its never bothered me really. Even hearing about the movie, based on a true story, Open Water made me want to dive, and even go on a shark dive.
But about a week ago, something happened that for the first time, has truly scared me. Haigh Quarry, up in Kankakee, IL, is where I got my open water certification. I absolutely love it there, as do my dad, cousin and uncle. It is a place that to most is not the most ideal diving location. It has no big, beautiful coral reefs, it isn't tropical, there is not really any variety of fish, but for some reason, it's a place that will always be up on my lists of favorite diving locations.
Two days ago, my dad told me a kid, I think my age, drowned at Haigh while diving. Here is an article about the incident. This scared me. How could a place so near and dear to my heart, be the location for such a tragic incident? I never paid too much attention when a diver was injured or killed, but now that it relates to me, I can't get it out of my head. It could be considered selfish to only think of things pertaining to yourself, but it's just human nature. Parents always tell their kids that they will stop doing what they are doing once they get hurt. Bad incidents are often the way people begin to look critically at his/her surroundings and question what is happening.
Dani,
ReplyDeleteI really like your post because I completely agree with you. I think it is so true that you never really pay attention to tragedies or incidents around you until it happens to you. Obviously huge global tragedies capture everyones attention, but it's the little things you choose to ignore until they affect you personally. For example, with the current economic recession, I'm sure that there were many people who chose to not pay attention to what was happening, until it somehow affected them. I think it's unfortunate that it takes certain bad situations of become aware of what is going on around you, but I believe that there really is no way to change that. It is just human nature.