Reflection on a Good Life

I didn’t expect to learn as much as I did this semester. I honestly was looking for an easy A in a class that I was somewhat interested in. This took me on a journey and helped me to analyze myself in many different ways. I didn’t know humanities covered so many different topics coming into this class. The humanities are a group of subjects that range from literature, religion, culture, and more. Humanities teach us about ourselves, the people around us and our world collectively. For the most part, my ideas have not changed but I’ve learned a lot about myself and have set more goals. I think that humanities should be studied more in grade schools. It could possibly help with success rates on graduates, simply because students would be more aware of themselves. Things around them, and have a plan in action. After taking this class I’m more open-mined and optimistic about life.

I learned from doing the Good Life assignment that life is about the pursuit of happiness. After doing this assignment I questioned myself and reevaluated the people that I allow to be in my everyday life. I concluded that I couldn’t be truly happy until I know and understand who I am as I person.

The life map and eulogy I had to complete made the greatest impact on me. Imagine having to plan out your life until your death and then fabricating your own eulogy. As crazy as this may sound, I’ve never completed a life map of any sort, so it gave me insight on how I need to go about the rest of my life to find my better good. I thought it was bizarre to include death into my life map but to write my own eulogy, which scared me a little bit, and made me realize that life is precious and to accomplish everything you want. It also motivated me more to reach my goals.

I found myself reevaluating my thoughts about immigrants after watching the Latinos American videos. A lot of immigrants have been through the mud to pursue a better life for themselves and their families. Americans typically look down on immigrants because “they don’t belong here;” however who are we to tell anyone they can’t pursue a better life for themselves in our country. Isn’t life about finding the pursuit of happiness? One of the videos was a prime example of why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, not all the immigrants wanted to come over many were forced by family or the government. I’m grateful to had been born in America, the land of the free and opportunity.

The Harn Museum tour assignment was my least favorite even though art is form of humanities. I think there should be different assignments to exercise the art aspect of humanities. I believe it should either be required to view the paintings in person because of all the factors like the lightening, angle or source of viewing, in which can alter the projected meaning of a piece of art.

This has been a semester that I’ll never forget. This class gave me a reality from watching the immigrants and how they were forced to live and preparing my own eulogy. There were also things that I thought were pointless like the harn museum assignments. I was actually able to apply what I learned from this class to my everyday life or way of thinking. Life is about finding your happiness and being truly happy. After taking this class I’m more open-mined and optimistic about life.