Reflection Paper

I’m asking you to reflect on what “The Common Good” in the age of the Imperialist White Supremacist Capitalist Ableist Cis (gender) Hetero (sexual/normative) Patriarchy means to you. This reflection is about you and your lived experience. Please tell a story.

First, you are going to attempt to define your position in society, as you are comfortable sharing. Who decides your position/identity? What would be your authentic position/self if the Imperialist White Supremacist Capitalist Ableism Cis (gender) Hetero (sexual/normative) Patriarchy were dismantled? Or do you think that is impossible given what you have been taught, what you have been conditioned to believe about yourself through the media, system, power structures, culture, etc.?  What if those influencing and exploiting structures didn’t exist? Can you imagine it?

After you determine your identity and your struggle, next you will decide how you wish to move forward to build “The Common Good.” You have to define what that phrase means to you. What is solidarity and how do you help establish and build it authentically (not falsely, as Freire warns against)? What does trust look like? Reflection? Risk? Community? Transformation? True liberation for the people? And what is your role?

In other words:

Who are you within society’s constructs?

Who are you/could you be authentically if you weren’t constrained by society?

What is true solidarity and liberation?

How does your identity relate to “The Common Good?”

Try to accomplish this through narrative and story-telling. Give examples. Show me both what you experience and what you imagine. Details go a long way. Most of us tend to write very abstractly, typically, because no one ever taught us otherwise. Show, don’t tell. Show me what you experience(d). Don’t just tell me how you feel. Describe it. You live(d) it, real or imagined, so try to find the words to let me live it too.

Let yourself become vulnerable. Also remember that reflection doesn’t require a ‘moral of the story’ or absolute closure. Reflection is often a work in progress. It’s ok to not know the answer.