final post

I feel that one story that should be told is of Pastor Achtemeier’s personal struggle to reach out and help those in the community. She wants to help the needy in the Washington neighborhood, and so often gives them food or diapers or drives down to the gas station to put gas in the car of someone who comes to her looking for help. Sometimes she even pays for this out of her own pocket. She has told us that when people come to her door, she has often seen it as an annoyance and an interruption from her work; but then she started thinking: maybe this is my work. It’s obvious that the most important goal in her life is to be a good Christian, and I feel that this is a story that is definitely worth telling, and that someone would benefit from hearing. I feel that most of us are driven primarily by our own ambitions, and we are always trying to work our way up the ladder and get ahead in life; there isn’t necessarily anything wrong about this in and of itself, but I think that everyone could learn something about life from seeing what Kat does, and how she devotes herself to others. Really, what we do in trying advance our own fortunes is we try to achieve happiness, but I feel that Kat, by putting her main focus on others as opposed to herself, finds a deeper happiness and fulfillment than what most can find by trying to achieve their own personal goals. I think that hearing Kat’s story really puts life into perspective, and would make someone think about what really is important.

I agree with Nussbaum’s assertion that fiction is important because it can bring a reader to a deeper understanding of a social situation or issue as opposed to just looking at historical facts. I think that this is true, and I liked how she differentiated ‘knowing’ and ‘understanding.’ However, I think that when we read fiction—or anything for that matter—we always have to take it with a grain of salt. We have to take into consideration that any author is going to portray his/her situation and how it is from his/her viewpoint, and that they will not accurately portray all sides of the story. If we are trying to attain an understanding of a given situation or issue, an author’s input is valuable, but should not be considered by itself; it should be considered, but at the same time questioned, and even criticized. While truth can be found in art, we should always keep in mind that any form of art is just a representation of the truth through one person’s lens. Ultimately, reading fiction—or non-fiction, or watching the news, etc.—is good to help bring us closer to an understanding of a situation, but in the end there is no substitute for experience.