Consolidation for the past three weeks

I have learned about interpreting a picture by describing what is shown in the picture. I also learned how to look beyond what is on the surface and how to observe things around me. I learned that there are three different stages of pictures: facts, process and emotions. Facts mean just describing what people see, process is elaborating on the picture and emotions is knowing how to empathize with the picture and understanding its true meaning and story behind the picture.

There is a lesson about understanding the importance of looking beyond just what is on the surface. During the lesson, we were shown two pictures: one is of a man with a sign asking for help as his items have been stolen; the other is of a woman, carrying a child, who is asking a stranger for help. We were told to decide who to help. Some decided to help the women and some wanted to help both but no one chose to stand with the man. People say that the man could go and work to earn money but the woman had to take care of the child and could not work, hence they chose to help the woman. However, when their stories were revealed, the decisions made by us changed drastically. Aparently, the man had only one arm and he was from an orphanage. Someone stole his belongings hence he was begging on the streets. On the other hand, the woman was from a group of syndicate beggers who would trick people by carrying a child and asking for money or pretending to be handicapped in one way or another. Most of  the money they earned was taken away by the syndicate so the beggers weres still poor at the end of the day. When we found out their stories, many majourity of the people decided to help the man instead, saying that the woman was cheating people. A few still stood up to the woman, saying that the woman was still poor and they wanted to help the woman as much as they could. I initially decided to help both and in the end I still decided to help both but I was very surprised by the drastic change in the decisions. It was only then that I realized how deceiving looks could be. From this exercise, I learnt not to judge a picture just from what is looks like as there might be a story behind the picture that contradicts what the picture looks like.

 -Jessie (2)