Today, as I walked into class a little late, I slipped on the floor and lost my balance for a few seconds. The immediate reaction everybody had was to laugh. When Ms. Serensky commented something along the lines of, "of course nobody acts concerned because you are all too ruthless and selfish to even pretend like you care". I was also laughing at myself, (of course), but realized how my fellow student's lack of sympathy really is not entirely their fault. In psychology class, we are learning about the development of the frontal lobes in adolescent's brains. In fact, our frontal lobes are not quite fully developed yet. Insight is what gives us sympathy and compassion for others. Since our lobes are not fully connected, ,(and won't be until we reach about age 25) we often act self-centered and more careless about the well-being of others as compared to our parents, who have fully developed frontal lobes. The nerve cells that connect teenagers' frontal lobes with the rest of their brains are sluggish. Teenagers don't have as much of the fatty coating called myelin, or "white matter," that adults have in this area. Think of it as insulation on an electrical wire. Nerves need myelin for nerve signals to flow freely. Spotty or thin myelin leads to inefficient communication between one part of the brain and another. Therefore, I forgive all of my ruthless classmates for laughing at me today, because really, they are all too immature to act any less-selfish.
Meghan,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I have to say you tripping in class the other day was hilarious. I thought your post was very interesting because I did not realize we can really not be at fault for our immature behavior and natural tenancy to laugh at the misfortune of others when they trip.