Are we products of our environment or products of our expectations?
For this week’s blog post, we are going to dive into the question: are we products of our environment or products of our expectations? And what it means to be a product of our environment in this day and age. In the time that we are living today, it can be easy for anyone to fall into a trap without realizing it. However, as humans, we are products of our environment, and we start to become our expectations that are placed, whether they are within ourselves or in our society. But with these expectations that are derived from our environments, it can be said that, as humans, we are the direct product of the environments we are exposed to.
As long as humans have existed, they have been shaped by many and all external sources that we surround ourselves with. And with that, everything that we are made up of comes from some other places and even from things that are considered to be on a minute level, like atoms. All things were not created or born out of nothing; there is always something that can be made out of nothing. One example that is unique to humans is our cells in our body, because in order for a human to function, we need to allow all of the cells in our body to grow and develop so that it can allow other parts of the human body, like our brains, to be able to perform the cognitive functions that we do on an everyday basis. One thing that can attest to this phenomenon is called the “spontaneous generation.” In addition, what this means is that it is the supposed production of all living organisms from any nonliving matter and is inferred from the appearance of life in some type of sterile environment. To have a better understanding of that, an example of this is anything that is rotting foods and meats that would produce files, or when a piece of cheese would mold over it, it would produce mice. In hindsight, one can see that this theory can be untrue and that in order for this to work, there needs to be one thing creating another life form, like when mice are born from other mice to produce more, and that they are naturally drawn to foods like cheese because it is something they eat just with other foods they consume, and it also ties with files. However, the same thing can be said about human abilities and traits because no human is born knowing and thinking that something is objectively bad for us or to us, and it is all gathered by our experiences, ideas, and knowledge that is what shapes us to be who we are. Thus, to consider something that is objectively bad for humans does not happen automatically; it is a combination of things that are determined by our experiences or research that was conducted to tell a larger audience that it is not the best for human consumption. Moreover, the expectations that we have are derived from any and all external factors and sources. If a person were to grow up with or have a specific hair or eye color, the treatment they receive is going to be met with kindness because it is known that for those specific treats, the person you meet is going to be known as a well-rounded and caring individual, and with that, the experiences you have with these kinds of people are going to turn out to be positive. Since any and all expectations are the product of our environments. Though everything is a product of the environment that it comes from, as humans, we can't claim things that are personal achievements to us or the skills and wisdom that we take on as our own. But instead, we claim it as collective achievements, skills, and wisdom that can be passed from one person to another. Having this in mind can be really comforting for me to think about because everyone is clever, strong, and creative in their own ways. In your communities, people are clever, strong, and creative. Although this may cause you to feel distrustful and anxious since it is a by-product of the environments that you surround yourself in. This is also something that I find interesting to put into perspective because it can mean that negativity, as we know it, is not internally generated. Distrustfulness and anxiety are not at the center of a person, which can mean that a person can be able to shed and replace all of the old experiences and turn them into new environments and experiences.
Furthermore, to come back to the main purpose of this week’s question, but also to add some of my own personal thoughts to this question through my life and the lived experiences that I have had. One that comes to mind is being the eldest daughter, being Latina, and living in the United States. There are a million and one things that are “expected” of me to do, and for many people like me who might be in the same position as me, it is hard to navigate in the world that we are in today because, in our society, they will tell us that we need to be doing this or that. And being a person like me who was born in the United States, we are not considered to be “Latina enough.” The reason for this is that in many communities like mine, there are a ton of expectations that we have to adopt from the product of our environments, and if we don't go through those things, we are not “enough” for our communities. And this is a very harmful way of thinking since not all things in our communities need to be experienced because they may be rooted in some sort of trauma or they are not good for humans to consume. However, to add to what this question means to me, it is important to understand that what makes us humans is all of the experiences that we surround ourselves with, whether they are good or bad. And that it is true that we are the products of our environments, because if it were untrue, that would mean that everyone would be the same person, and there wouldn’t be people that come from different environments. But I also do think that our expectations play a small part in the product of who we become. Finally, I have always enjoyed the creation of all things that are living because it always allows us humans to have universal connections just by existing. And what this means is that universal connection can be understood as a concept for every situation and as a way to find solace and be able to find answers. Even the atoms that are in our bodies are the same atoms that have existed in the same universe since the beginning of time. And we are all here by mere chance. To end this blog post, I will end it with a quote from Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is a known American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. “Most people who could ever exist will never be born. So no matter what your lot is in life, if you have a disease, you have cancer, or you are crippled, whatever is the thing at the end of the day, you are alive.” ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson
Sources:
1. Gunner, Jennifer. “25 Neil deGrasse Tyson Quotes That’ll Change Your Worldview.” YourDictionary, YOURDICTIONARY, 16 Feb. 2022, www.yourdictionary.com/articles/neil-degrasse-tyson-quotes.
2. “Top 25 Quotes by Neil DEGRASSE Tyson (of 764): A-Z Quotes.” AZ Quotes, www.azquotes.com/author/14904-Neil_deGrasse_Tyson.
3. “Woman Thinking Images - Free Download on Freepik.” Freepik, 30 Oct. 2020, www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/woman-thinking.
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