osha+essay

Individuality is a color, which paints this world with different appearance, voice and thinking, but also distinguishes one person from another. People who have a similar color would assemble into a group and repel people marked by different color. This exclusive behavior casts a big shadow between two people’s mutual understanding, which also can be called empathy. It is understandable that people are hard to get empathy as every one would hold firmly what they believe. Nevertheless, someone does cure this frigid estrangement, but how can they do that? In Prayers of Bobby, a movie conducted by Russell Mulcahy, a gay boy named Bobby killed himself because of the dearth of understanding from his family, especially hie mother. She is a Christian so she is deeply convinced that gay is a disease and can be healed if his son pray to God devotionally. The conspicuous truth is that this mother sincerely want to help Bobby, but it turns out to be an increasingly heavy pressure exert on Bobby and finally leads to his suicide. Though that mother is in a gigantic grief, she does not think she is guilty at first. But stimulating by this great tragedy, she begin exploring the root of her son's death. The process is long and zigzag, confused by the bible, she talks to a priest who declares homosexual should be legal, then she knows some sin alleged by the bible are not useful nowadays; urged by a priest, she reluctantly meet some parents whose offsprings also are gay, then she know the same ordeal experienced by them at the begining but totally different result comes back to her; compelled by will to know Bobby, she read every poem written by him, then she understand how the enormous despair encroaches his last life. Eventually, this mother brust into cry. "I know now, why God did not heal Bobby, he did not heal him because, there was nothing wrong with him."(Prayers of Bobby). It is hard to say whether she can understand gay people if that boy is not her son, but what is clear is that this empathy stems from her love to her son. Although the bible tells her gay is a sin and must be eradicated, she begin exploring the truth for love's sake. And love eventually overshadows the belief, in that her beloved son's life is much more precious than bible in her heart. Therefore, the empathy will be established if one's positive emotion towards the other is strong enough to beat his/her belief.

In book “To Kill The Mockingbird” by Harper Lee demostrates a grouth of a belief. In the first place, the belief comes from other’s gossip because people are tend to be convinced by what the majority of people think about without the knowledge to seek truth. For example, Boo Radley, a character in “To Kill The Mockingbird”, were described as a monster by other people. As Miss Stephanie Crawford said, she woke up in the midle of the night one time and saw Boo looking straight through the window at her,and she heard him scratching on the back screen(Harper Lee,16). Hearing what other people said, Scout, Jem and Dill, who are three main characters in this book, forming a image of a crooked, scary eccentrc of Boo in their mind. Boo never shows up after all, so there is no oppotunity available for these children to talk to him and to see what he really is. The only source of Boo’s infromation is other’s gossips, and they believe those gossips signify other’s witness of Boo’s depotment. But if what they were told is only a story made to scare children or an unsure statement heard from other one, is there any truth existent? One believes what the other one believe, and then like a contagious disease, every menber in this society accepts this opinion, consequently, this gossip transforms into the truth. Convinced by this truth, people just used their color to circle a social group: we are normal while Boo is a horroble madman, so he must be excel from our living circumstance. Boo was seen as a ghost haunted in the deep darkness and his building also was connected to death. People can judge a person even without a basic contact. Moreover, belief can be intensified by self-imagination because without any cogent prove or comfirmation for this belief, one can add every element into it causually. In the perspective of Jem, Boo dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that is why his hands were bloodstained. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of time(Harper Lee,16). This image can be ascribed to every information Jem heard about: Boo tried to kill his father before, he peeped at people at night and scratched the back screen, and his own visualization. In these children’s mind, a tag shows evil and horro had already be sticked to everything about Boo, so the appearance they traced for Boo is much more like a monster than a man. Though they just compelled by their curiosity rather than malicious, the imagination only makes things worse, because putting this horroble face onto Boo, they condensed their fear towards him and also deepened their chimerical belief. “Every night-sound I heard from my cot on the back porch was magnified three-fold; every scratch of feet on gravel was Boo Radley seeking revenge, every passing Negro laughing in the night was Boo Radley loose and after us(Harper,74). Appolled by the gun shot when she went to Boo’s house secretly, Scout can hardly fall asleep since she’s mind is teem with Boo’s horro. However, she even did not verify the one who shot to them is Boo. Unconciously, Scout pointed everything evil to him, because that is what she think Boo would do. The belief is so strong, like thounds of roots spread deeply in ground, enriched by gossip, fertilized by imagination, finally it becomes part of one’s mind.

Truth can always be revealed one day. Same consequence comes to Boo Radley at the end of “TO Kill The Mockingbird”. The truth which shows the easy-going and kindness of one who used be considered as evil, can bring a positive emotion to people. Firstly, the difference between truth and imagination makes people are capable of rejudging a person because truth is the best description than any other gossip. For example, after Boo’s show up as a soldier who rescue Scout and jem’s life, Scout finally got a chance to see this “monster”. “They were white hands, sickly white hands that had never seen the sun...His face was as white as his hands...His hair was dead and thin, almost feathery on top of his head.(Harper lee, 362). Boo even can not be seen as strong. His pale and weak hands are not able to rip cats and squarrls, his face hints he is old and fragile rather than mighty and scary. Realizing this person is who she feared all the time, Scout cried with guilty. There is no better way to dillusion people than letting reality to show the truth. No matter how strong a belief one hold, the reality would not change by one’s mind. Compared with the statement fabricated by others, reality serves as a prove with which people can find mistakes by themselves and really accept it, because what is seen by eyes can outweigh every testimony heard by ears. Thus, the belief dies and a rejudgment is born for one’s new belief. Furthermore, the amicability and innocence of one’s personality can bring up a positive emotion for others since accepting a friendly and childlike person is easy for everyone. This is indicated during the contact of Scout and Boo. “An expression of timid curiosity was on his face, as though he had never seen a boy before...His hand came down lightly on Jem’s hair(Harper Lee 372)”. Boo’s movement is gentle and shy, like light feather brush slightly with the air. Boo’s behavior conveys a sense of innocence to Scout which generates a affinity toward Boo in her mind, as she used to be so fear of him, while now she lead him to Jem’s room and let Boo to touch Jem’s hair with her own will. She try to release Boo’s shy even she do not know why. People will not hold their hostility if others pull them off the difficulties, people will not speak mean words if others is weak and old. Kindness is a infection, when one was given friendliness by others, he/she would pay this affability back automaticly. Emotions ranging from love to gratitude effectively diminish the estrangement between two people, like the warm sunlight of spring melts the cold ice, because with the help of these emotions, the conversation becoms warm and comfortable, which is adorned by everyone. Lastly, positive emotions play a crucial rule for empathy because they are the fundation for people to understand each other. For example, after Scout escort Boo to home, she lingered at the porch of his house, then like a magic, she saw what Boo used to see. “It was summertime, and two children scampered down the sidewalk toward a man approaching in the distance...Winter, and his children shivered at the front gate, silhouetted against a blazing house... Autumn again, and Boo’s children needed him(Harper Lee 374).” She passed this porch thousands of time but only this time, she does not have fear but teem with tranquility and warm. The former belief has gone and a childlike and innocent Boo is in her mind, so now she can “stand in his shoes and walk around in them(Harper Lee,374)”. Empathy needs a intention of understanding, but people rarely can do that, in that a biased belief impedes this intention by making people feel something or somebody has a causal relationship with something evil. However, it is broke by positive emotions. Not only do them provide kindness between two people, but also give them a desir to know, a guilt to regret for their misunderstanding.