No Changes

When I walked into the One Question event, I had no idea what to expect. The question was unknown and so was what we were going to do with the question. They asked everyone the same question, what would you change about yourself? I could think of multiple things such as; socializing more, or speaking better in front of people. After they showed the video of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, I realized that I should be content with the way I am and I should not want to change anything about myself. Many of the people with disabilities said that they would change nothing about themselves and they loved themselves as they are. Some answered saying, they would want to be nicer or be less angry at others, but none of these answers are the one I expected. Nobody said they would want to live without their disability or be normal, which I found shocking. All of these people with disabilities love themselves and would not want to live any other way than they do now.

            After the showing of the video, a panel was introduced, where they explained what they do at the Arc of Baltimore and in their free time. All of the panel members seemed like they loved themselves and would answer the Question the same way as the people in the video. Especially a pair of twins, they were so excited to be up in front of the crowd and they seemed so happy that they got to give speeches and entertain the crowd. The panel members were happier than most people without disabilities. Everyone who was not on the panel could have listed things they wanted to change forever and would never be content with the changes. The changes would have amounted to an infinite list of small changes to who the people are, but they should be able to say they do not want to change anything about themselves.

            A few people in the video said they would try to be nicer to people, which means they regret things that they have done. If the only regret they have is not being nice to people, they are so much better than the normal person. Everybody has been inconsiderate or mean to other people in their life, it is unavoidable. Anybody else would have a more serious regret and would have changed that about themselves; they would want to go back in time and changed something that changed their life drastically. The panel members, however, would have probably said something along the lines of they had no regrets or agree with those in the video and say they should have been nicer. Regret is a crucial role in life, it is something highly unlikely or impossible to avoid and if it can be made in to something small, like not being nicer to people, then it is just the same as having no regrets.

            In “My Papa’s Waltz,” the father has a drinking problem, when I think of someone with a drinking problem they either have regrets or they want to forget something. The father would most likely want to change something in his life, whatever is making him drink. If he wanted to forget something, that would be something that he would change about himself. His regrets would also make him change something about himself, particularly his past. The father would have a multitude of things to change about himself, but the one that would be on the top of the list is to not have hurt his child.

            The narrator in “Cincinnati” says that they had freedom and no one knew them, but later they figure out everyone knows them because of their ethnicity. The narrator is Japanese and someone else in poem said “dirty jap,” so the narrator begins to cry over the derogatory remark. The narrator is probably proud to be Japanese, but at this point they probably wish they could be a different race. One with more freedom and where there would be no racism. If the narrator was asked the One Question, they would change either their race or where they live, so they could get away from racism and discrimination.

            The literature has two characters that have problems with themselves or how they are treated for being themselves. When asked the question, would you change anything about yourself, they would answer with a list of ideas. They should have nothing to change, like the panel and the people in the video. They should love themselves and not want anything different, except for a couple small things. The One Question event made me think about the things I am insecure about and that I should not want to change anything about myself.