On Wednesday, as a class, we put earplugs in, left school, and walked to a nearby park. We had to walk there the entire way without talking, and, while still not talking, explain to a partner our views on Philosophy. I partnered with Elaine. It was a magnificent experience. Without being able to talk, it was down to gestures. So I had to think of hand movements to represent words like "me", "thinking", "Philosophy", etc. It was difficult. We both kinda got our points across, but when we discussed it afterwards, we both found out that we had gotten a crucial fact or two wrong. This made me think about what happens when someone tells something else something, and due to a simple misunderstanding, or even not hearing an entire sentence, how something can be misconstrued into something entirely different. Also while we were walking back later, Elaine was telling me about when she visits family in a different country (I cant't remember the country at the moment), how she understands the language they're speaking, but can't speak it herself. So, when they ask her a question, she can say yes and no and such, but can't ask them questions, or tell them anything. She told me instead she had to learn to gesture quite a lot to them. This speaks loads to me. Even if you cannot speak the same language as someone, who's to say you cannot befriend them? Why, just because you can't usher forth the same sounds from your mouth, should you not be able to interact peacefully? It left a lot to think about.
The 2nd part of the activity was when we reached the park. There, we sat in a circle, and put on our blindfolds, with our earplugs still in.
to be continued.........
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