Vantage Point

Vantage Point, originally uploaded by a b franzen.

Jane Addams thought that one's vantage point is of utmost importance both in understanding them and their social position in life, but also in making any kind of advance in terms of social change. This is, however, a highly complex thing to nail down. It is unrealistic to expect social change to be implemented and then naturally be internalized by the wider community.

But how is it that we can effectively know one's vantage point? Groups of people are far from being ubiquitous in terms of their identity, and it is often very unclear where the impulses of change are coming from. Even then, we do not share all of our self with all people. That is, certain people only know certain things that we chose to share with them. In these terms, it is obvious that there never can be a clear vantage point to be known.

The more that I learn and think about things, the less clear the world seems to become. There is always the same general outline, but in some ways, it is typically the fuzzy edges that are both most interesting and matter the most.