A Grey World

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Good and evil, darkness and light, peace and war, fear and courage, love and hate. It can be said that all things in the world exists with parallels and contradictions. Counterparts to everything can be found and nothing stands on its own unrivaled stage.

There exists a notion that everything in the world can be classified using their counterparts, as either black or white. A mindset of good or evil rules over us as we are forced to choose a single path of the multiple laid in front of us, spreading the idea that one must choose one side of the fence over the other. They believe that to embrace one idea means the other has been renounced. There are those who believe that one word is sufficient enough to describe anything that they know and understand.

However, to disregard the middle ground, the grey area, is akin to willfully embracing ignorance, something I would even go as far to describe as a crime of grand proportions. To force definitions onto every existence of this world under two categories is severely limiting and ultimately serves only the purpose of restricting potential.

Similarly, to classify bystanders as ignorant, displays a level on ignorance in itself and represents a kind of hypocrisy. To deny the existence of a bystander, to force them to conform to a set of beliefs or be deemed ignorant, is to deny the in between area that exists in the black and white world. The bystander is not ignorant but overly aware. They understand their position and don’t have to label themselves.

Rather, the world is vast and without boundaries, without lines that divide us into separate sections. In reality things can be described as a spectrum, a wide range of opinions and perspectives and while we may seek to understand all of these views, we never truly will. We cannot antagonize those who choose to remain quiet, those who refuse to speak up, or those who do not challenge your status quo for we cannot claim to truly understand their beliefs or their ideas. I believe the most appropriate course of action is to simply trust in the bystander’s true belief and trust that they have accepted the circumstances with their own worldview in a way that they are able to comprehend.

Over the years, the world seems to have forgotten this idea. Time and time again, whether in activist movements or in the beliefs of others, I have seen people taking on an “us against them” mentality. They have lost the interpretation of the idea that all of humanity is connected. They have taken on fights with those who don’t represent what they fight against. They have forgotten that they are not underdogs but the majority in control. To treat a minority as a majority gives far too much credit to those unworthy.

The world cannot be answered by a yes or no.

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4 thoughts on “A Grey World

  1. Vincent,

    You made a very miraculous point! I too agree that people often overlook the area in the middle. When you discussed how people often over look the areas in the middle and are quick to look for a distinct category, I related it to the human need to compartmentalize things. This can be carried over to the common reaction that people have to the unknown. People are never satisfied with not knowing the answer to a posed question. You wrote this piece beautifully and your chosen images only added to the quality of the writing.

    My only critique would be to reread your blogs before posting, especially if you are writing in the edublog space. There were a few typos in your blog that easily could have been avoided if you had double checked or read it aloud. Without the typos your blog would have had a perfect, uninterrupted flow to it!

    Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog and the thoughts it provoked. You had a pleasant tone and the topic was captivating!

    Sincerely,
    Alexis

    1. Dear Alexis,

      I’m glad to know that my writing was able to evoke profound thoughts in you. As soon as I saw your comment, I immediately went over my blog and fixed the error I believe you were referring to. Luckily for me, your proactive nature which drove you to comment rather early meant that I was able to resolve the issue before too many people saw that and for that I thank you. I hope that my blog was up to expectations. Thank you once again.

      Regards,
      Vincent

  2. Dear Vincent,

    Your philosophical thought, and ability to formulate sentences that synthesize your complex ideas, is something that I have always admired. Every word in your piece was carefully and effectively chosen; your ability to achieve the correct diction is remarkable. In addition to this, your blog stimulated a lot of questions in my mind about the human tendency to think in black and white, which goes to prove the insightfulness of your chosen topic, and your writing. Specifically, I really like where you said that to ignore grey areas is to be ignorant—often, when we see people taking a middle stance, we label them as ignorant, for we believe that their understanding is weak. I have also noticed that you tend to embody this “grey perspective,” and reading this post enabled me to develop a better understanding of you as a person. Overall, this was truly an interesting piece to read, and I loved every word.

    To improve, I would suggest adding a few different sentence structures throughout your post. Although the simplicity of your sentences allowed for your thoughts to be communicated clearly, this would challenge you to take your writing to the next level. It could work to improve style and structure, and make your piece just that much better!

    I look forward to reading more of your philosophical writing! Reading this was truly an enjoyable experience. Thank you for this piece.

    Kindest regards,
    Riya

    1. Dear Riya,

      With such praise coming from an individual as talented and hard-working as you, I have been given an honor I do not deserve. The way you interpreted my blog is the exact idea I had been attempting to display through this piece and I’m glad to see you were able to catch on. I will definitely do my best to implement your suggestions to improve my writing style in future pieces. Thank you for taking the effort to attempt at helping me better my writing.

      Regards,
      Vincent

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