Golly Gee, I Hope I'm Not the Last One!!

I actually have thought about the right to think, but not to a terribly deep extent. Nonetheless, I do exercise my right to think daily, as does everybody else. I think we take that right for granted, and it’s more on a subconscious level that everyone uses the right. People can’t help the way they think, simply because that’s just the way it is.

I’m always getting to debates with my friends over the most random topics. For example, I was walking to the bakery with my friend today. He made me go because he wanted a smiley face cookie. As usual, I was being difficult, and we had an argument that lasted about 20 minutes about whether macadamia nut cookies or smiley face cookies were the best. I’m completely pro-macadamia, and he kept insisting that smiley face cookies were better because they smile back at you. We never agreed with each other, not once. However, we both have the right to think that the cookie we like is the best.

Something I do wonder about sometimes is how much people’s thoughts effected by their environment. For example, I am a huge David Bowie fan, and almost everyone who knows me is aware of this. The reason for me loving Mr. Bowie’s work is mainly because of my dear father. Ever since I was an infant, he would play Bowie’s music for me. In fact, as a 2 year old, I would run around the house and say “Hot tramp, I love you so” (a lyric from one of his songs) to anybody and everybody who had the ability to hear. My musical tastes are very heavily influenced by my father, and I had never really questioned it. Everyday on the school bus, my friend shows me what song she’s listening to, and everyday, I answer by showing her what song I’m listening to. This song is almost always a Bowie song. She just looks at me and rolls her eyes, expressing her disgust for my musical idol. But she still respects my right to think, and I accept her right to think that I’m a crazed Bowie maniac. A lot the time, I think people’s thoughts and actions are influenced by others around them, being it their tastes in music, or they way they dress, or even their religion.

By reading Inherit the Wind, it helped my understand people’s right to think further than I already did. I think this is the case because it presents another example of how people should respect the right to think. Also, it shows that no matter how hard you try to change the way people think, their thoughts and beliefs may never change. If they are so set in their ways, like Brady, there is no way you can force them to change their beliefs, thoughts, feelings, etc.