Final Thoughts

I definitely learned a lot in this course. I was really nervous when I signed up to take it, because I don't know anything about Czechoslovakia, but I'm glad I took it because I learned so much about it, and about the Communist party. I really enjoyed the books we read too. It was hard for me to get into The Miracle Game because the story moved around so much, but I loved reading Havel. The idea of living in the truth in times such as Communist Czechoslovakia seems like it was so foreign to people and so difficult to do. The fact that Havel needed to write a whole essay about how important it is to stay true to your beliefs even if it means that you could lose everything shows how crazy things must have been for people who lived there during that time. I also really liked reading The Joke. I think the portrayal of women in all three books, but in that book especially, is so awful which is why I chose to do the majority of my writing project on how these novels and Havel's essay relate to our society today. I didn't think that I would be able to relate a Czechoslovakian's novel to American culture in the 2010s, but I believe that the parallels I made are true. I thought all of the movie choices were great too, and reading The Joke and watching The Unbearable Lightness of Being really made me want to read or watch other works of Kundera.

I think that the fact that I was able to connect so many of Havel's and other authors' ideas based on Communist Czechoslovakia to our American society today shows that all cultures really aren't that different. People still want the ability to speak freely and to do what they want to do no matter where they live or what culture they are a part of. Havel talks about the musicians who can't even play their own music because of the Party. Imagine if that's what happened in America. If you couldn't even play a song that you wrote without going through a process to get it approved by a bunch of people in power. I can't imagine what it would be like to have to worry about saying that wrong thing to every person you meet. I think we all are scared of our first impressions when we first meet somebody, but to worry about whether or not the person you are meeting for the first time could report you if you said anything against the people of power, which would then cause you to lose so many things in your life, would be a constant bother. I think the main lesson I learned in this class is that every culture has that constant, that wanting to be the person you want to be without being judged, and wanting the ability to say how you feel. I'm really glad I took this course because it seems like an idea that is so obvious, but it definitely brought a whole new side and perspective to that idea.

Greek Life

When I think about Havel's description of "living within the truth" and how I want to relate that to Beloit College, I mainly think of Greek Life. Partially because I am a member of Kappa Delta Sorority, but also because I think of how Beloit College is. Beloit is supposed to be a liberal arts school where everyone can have their own opinion, everyone can talk about current events and situations and not feel like they are going to offend anyone with what they have to say. Unfortunately, after my two years at Beloit but also more recently in the past couple of months, I have realized that this isn't true when it comes to Greek Life. It is so easy for people on campus to say that they are open to all ideas and all kinds of people, but when I hear how Greek Life is described by some people on this campus, it makes me sad and also angry that people like to call themselves "liberals" and "open" to all ideas and all kinds of people. If these people think that they are living in the truth, then they are very wrong. In one of my earlier posts I argued that you have to live within the lie to then be able to live within the truth. Maybe the people on this campus who are not accepting of others have not lived within the lie and therefore can't live within the truth, but it makes more sense for them to be living within the lie right now. Also, I'm not saying that people who are judgmental of Greek Life are the only ones who are not living within the truth. There are many people on this campus, in Greek Life or not, who judge others and are not open to new ideas and people different from themselves. That is living within the lie. The reason I bring up Greek Life, however, is because I am a Kappa Delta and I am so tired of hearing how people who are not in Greek Life talk about my sorority. They judge an entire group or organization based on the few people they may know in that organization, but they don't understand that every Greek organization on this campus is made up of a diverse group of people.
In Middle School and High School, I was in many different groups of friends. I got to know lots of different kinds of people, so when I came to Beloit I felt like I could have a conversation with anyone. I consider myself a liberal, and I was exposed to all kinds of diversity growing up - different races, classes, disabilities, etc. Of course it's easy to get annoyed with people sometimes, or to get mad during an argument with someone who has an opinion that is different from yours, but I've never hated anyone at Beloit and I've never judged someone for the way they look, talk, or act, especially if I don't know them. I think everyone has different personalities and should be able to be whoever they want to be. I believe that I am living in the truth at Beloit, because I am a part of Kappa Delta but I am also part of other groups on campus, such as Girls Empowerment through Mentoring and French Club. I've also helped out other organizations with their events, like SPIEL's Milkshake Monday. I think I have lived in the lie before living in the truth, because in Middle School I was a part of a group who was very judgmental of others. I think once I realized that that's not the way to live life, I was able to be more understanding and open to others. I also think that's why I was able to join a Greek organization, because I realized that all of these women in Kappa Delta are so different from me and have helped me become more understanding of others. People on Beloit's campus have the idea that everyone in a Greek organization is the same person. Of course we have similarities, which is what draws us to the Greek organization, but if we were all the same exact person, everyone would get sick of each other. The differences are what make us who we are, and I just wish that people would accept and understand that, instead of saying that they "live within the truth" and are open to all different kinds of people, except for people in Greek Life.