This was one of the most eye-opening letters that I have read thus far. As I sat and read, it seemed that every sentence, every word, opened me up to ideas that I had never considered before. I always think of much different ideas and motivations that rule my day, but never have I considered fear to be one of them. But what a concept! I began to think of the things that get me through the day. Going to class and doing homework and studying for exams, I thought I did them because I wanted to graduate and get a good job, but when I honestly assess what makes me want to get through college is that I'm afraid of the person I might be if I don't. I'm afraid of what my parents and family and friends would think. I'm afraid of what the world would see me as. But that's not even all of it. Fear really is the ultimate motivation and I never thought of it in that context before. Examining my own life, I could make a list 5 times as long as his of things I'm afraid of. And most of them are not huge life decisions, like college, but every day situations. This letter really changed my perception of how my life has gone, is going and will go from here.
But, at the same time, I won’t necessarily let the idea overtake my life. I understand that fear is a great motivation, but I don’t want that to be confused with being afraid of life. I won’t let myself fear the unknown or be a factor in my decision making, but rather to help lead me down a good path in life, and motivate me to be the best person I can be. Fear, the great motivator.

My first reaction to this video was, "I wouldn't turn around if that was me." At least at first, that is. As the video progressed, I realized, as I'm sure everyone else did, that we all do this many times every day. I never give it a second thought, though, because like it says above we are socialized from an early age to conform. Maybe not to such a dramatic degree, but small, everyday things. And like we talked about in class, we conform in almost everything we do, including the way we dress for example. After it ended I really started to go through my day and think about everything that I did, that I said, that I wore. I realized that it started while I was getting dressed. While getting ready for class I put on my Hollister jeans, Timberland boots, Northface jacket and for the first time I thought, "Oh my god, I look like every single dude on campus." It was scary at first, I think to some degree we all think we are very unique, and in some ways we are, but for the most part we all fit a certain mold. The worst part is it's not necessarily a bad thing. Sure we all need to be our own person, but the more I thought about it, it's good for us to fit into a society. We are all students at Penn State, and we live together and work together and we are our own society and for most, we want to fit in and be a part of that society. But like before, I still want to be my own person. No one wants to be a robot. Every person has a unique personality and certain characteristics that make them who they are, and I believe that when there is a balance of individuality and conformity then there is a productive society. We should all be able to fit in and also be ourselves.

soc 001