Point of View

Every single person has their own point of view about what they see and about what they believe. You can ask any two people to describe a situation or event and it is highly unlikely to receive the same exact description. For example, an adult wouldn’t complain about a flu shot nearly as much as a child. And inversely, an adult wouldn’t be as entertained by cartoons as a child would be.  The culture, society and personal identity and demographics all dictate how one views things.

The way one perceives others and news and events indicates what kind of person they are. A person that really enjoys cartoons but doesn’t understand a thing about the economic situation would be thought to be a child. The view one provides is based on their personal experiences. A teenager in America might complain about their $8.25/hr wage while in a third world country, that’d be a fortune. This just goes to show that what a person is used to, what they have experiences and how they’ve grown up has affected their view on society and culture.

This reading provides a few points on the point of view one might take. There are two images in which the children have the same goal. Both have children trying to raise money for the Haiti relief fund, but both are taking two different approaches. One child has a bake sale sign with a heart on it. This child is taking a much more calm and happy approach towards the situation. The other children have a sign with pictures of suffering people, which highly appeals to ethos. While some people see this as disrespectful, others see it as an effective way to get their point across. The more sensitive people would go for the happy bake sale sign while the more sympathetic and easily saddened people would go for the suffering sign. Even though the sign holders, all of the same demographic, are baking food for the same cause, they have completely different takes on the same exact situation. This is proof to the fact that everyone is entitled to his or her own point of view.