Reflection # 8

I don't know that I've ever faced a situation where I have pushed the limits of what I believe or anything  like Kyle did, but I can tell a story of when I reacted out of pure emotion.
It's going to sound silly, but here it goes. I participated in the Alternative Spring Break trip last year in Kentucky. It was a poverty simulation, and immersed the five of us who went into the lives of those who truly live in poverty. Although we were always in a safe environment and never in any real situations that would affect our health, we were going through some of the same emotions one living in those conditions would feel. The fourth day of the trip is when everyone (including myself) had their breaking point and were just so frustrated and angry that we all had separate miniature freakouts. I felt all this anger building up, and I knew it wouldn't do me any good to hit anyone or anything, so I threw my bottle of water in a fit of rage across the room and broke it against a door. ( I told you this would sound silly.) As soon as it broke against the wall and my anger was released, i felt immediately guilty. Of course I didn't feel sorry for the person who had upset me to my breaking point, but it wasn't their facility and I went and cleaned up the mess I had made. It felt good though, to have that breaking point and just let out all of the negative emotions that had built up over the course of that week. I don't know if that makes any sense or not, or even properly answers the question.

I think the most important difference that the two experiences have are how those people are treated. The social exclusion that Beast, Nightcrawler, and other mutants like them face are only because of the way people judge them. Beast and Nightcrawler especially are arguably the nicest and most caring mutants, but because people judge them before getting to know that side of them those that judge will never know the compassion that the two share. I can't really think of how they'd be similar other than the fact that they share a home and the fact that they all have a mutation that makes them different. Now with all of that being said, I can remember when I have been judged or when I have judged others based on their looks or some other characteristic. I think that the comics or any other medium that people interact with the x-men can really show how to accept that being different is okay, and for those that judge others, interacting with these mediums can show how people that we assume are different than us aren't actually that different after all.

I don't have a mutant that I identify with, but I know that if i had a mutation, depending on what it is, I don't think I'd want the cure. If i had a power like Rogue, I would definitely take it though. I don't think I could live with a mutation like that, not being able to touch another person without killing them? No thank you.