Slippery Slope of Sociological Mindfulness

Schwalbe describes sociological mindfulness as appreciation of other's unique qualities that were formed by the way they were raised, the struggles they endured, and the ideas and beliefs of those that surrounded them. It is the understanding of this uniqueness and the courtesy to alter behavior based on others because our actions inadvertently effect a large number of people. Reading about sociological mindfulness helped me to see a parallel in my parent's own teachings. Both my mother and father drilled into my head that every action you make effects people every where no matter how small you think a decision is or how minor a comment may be. Although I try, I have a lot of difficulty implicating this into my own life. I am completely aware of how my actions effect others but sometimes I choose to ignore. Maybe because it's too painful. Maybe because my own emotion are getting in the way. But for whatever reason, I ignore it.

Maybe that's why when it comes down to it, people ignore what's right in order to get what they want. The middle aged man refuses to give up his last seat on the life raft for the young mother. The son yells at his hard working mother. The rushing car cuts off the student driver on his way to work. All these things people do knowing that there are better, more mindful ways to act. People choose to ignore them. This style of action took the stage when the class partook in the "Life Boat" simulation. After our fictitious boat crash, each student was given a different part, and we were meant to vote off 7 of our 16 passengers because the life boat was only designed to hold 9. As the debate began, the first person to come under fire, was the overweight passenger. With no mindfulness for how the conversation made the person feel, we attacked the issue of weight on a small vessel or the issue of rations for a person with a larger diet. We spoke of the benefits of keeping this passenger on and of kicking him off. After choosing to kick him off seeing as the risks out weighed the benefits, we moved onto our next passenger. This is where whatever sociological mindfulness we were still clinging onto was thrown out the window.

As the witch hunt progressed, the next to fall under fire was a Navy Quarter Master. The others on the small life raft went right for the most obvious reason that this person was "expendable" enough to no longer deserve life, the immobility of her hands. The mob pushed on the points that as she couldn't use her hands, what use would she be? This was where mindfulness completely disappeared. Although she was a part of the Navy and therefore could help in any navigational attempts, the inability to use her hands made her less useful than an able bodied person. The others lack of mindfulness made kicking a married mother or four off the boat that much easier. Though, after put myself in their shoes I would have made the same decision. In order to survive, able bodies people were of higher importance.

Given the situation, I realized in life and death some people will take the chance to hold on to their mindfulness and some will let go.