Choices

Today I was faced with choices in each of my classes.
Paradise Lost is ( as far as I have learned today) based on the choice of whether Christ or Satan is the hero, on whether God could have chosen to forgive sin and then Jesus would not have had to die for us. Admittedly, I have not yet read more than some passages, so Paradise Lost is still quite a mystery to me.

Then in French, again, a choice: is it necessary to tear down old buildings to make space for new ones? Do we need to destroy past artefacts in order to build our own, contemporary legacy over it? I think this is different in South Africa, when we compare our city structures with those in Europe. We have a lot more space. We tend to build in rings around a centre, and the further away from the centre, the better ( meaning more $$$$$$). And we like building repetitive enclosures, little Truman Show's. Perhaps crime has forced people to live in their own little prisons, but I think instead of trying to shut out the world, we should (have) fought. We should have said: I am not willing to live like this. I am not willing to build walls and security gates and live in a place where people cannot come to visit me because they need to prove their blood type before being allowed to enter. I remember I once dropped my friend off at her house, but because we went in with her security tag, I could not get out with the password she gave me. So she had to come and speak to the night guard and it took forever to get out. Tsss. I can understand that the guards are just doing their job and that crime creates jobs (haha) and so on, but if there were less crime, maybe people would find jobs not protecting others, but rather helping others. We could all help a little more.

Anyway. Next class. Visual Communication. And Art History. I always leave these classes questioning what I have thought before. And not in that fake "who am I? oh I'll just read some Baudrillard to relax"-way. More in the: hmm. I have never thought about that way of seeing the world. Interesting. After every class I have more choices to make. More ways of approaching everyday encounters. I am glad I choose these subjects. People think, ag, art history. Michaelangelo and that. How will you ever find a job?! But I think, economics? engineering? You will always only see a formula that needs to be followed. Perhaps you will think outside the box, but you will always see a problem that needs solving. Hopefully I will not see the world in terms of problems. Hopefully I will see it in terms of people, of reactions, of emotions, of a reality that is not mine. I do not know exactly where I am going with this.

So on to French. Again. Thursdays are wonderful for my French. Here the choice concerned press freedom and the media tribunal that the government wanted to create. I am glad that so many opposed it. The freedom to choose what to write about, what to report on, is integral to any democracy. I mean, once you start censoring, where do you stop? And who decides? People argue that some things should not be spoken about, but is that not then your choice to react to it? The information should be available to those who want it.

That is it for now. A bit of rambling. Today was just such a good day for thinking.



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