I really enjoyed this piece. It forced me to challenge/evaluate my own preconceived notions. I have always felt a pushing and a pulling to the idea that "we desire others to accept for us that which we struggle to accept about ourselves." I wouldn't necessarily say that, in particular, is my “wrong idea”, but it is yours. What I took out of this piece is that I as well have one.

The issues I had most with this paper was the flow of it. I read it more as much of a paper of self-discovery and self-evaluation than about you learning that social problems start with people. They work hand in hand and I like how they compliment each other, but it seems very disjointed. The Conclusion comes a bit out of left field. The Intro discusses this idea of wrong ideas so deeply ingrained that they become reality, but as a whole this paper feels a bit unframed. I see how this notion of “wrong ideas” relates to many societal problems, but that doesn’t feel like the thesis of this paper or exactly where you are trying to go to me.

The paper to me read like the acceptance of change and how the only way to do that is through self-evaluation. I have always tried to accept who I am, as I thought others would see me as different. That turned into a need to be different, in order for others to see only the differences I wanted them to see. At times in my life, many times, I ran from away from myself, sometimes it meant acting out to fit in and other times trying my best to stay unnoticed. With the physical limitations I have, games like soccer and volleyball were an intimidating part of my life as an elementary school kid. Later on, in high school, I spent plenty of time as the obnoxious young student seeking attention. I yearned the approval of those around me; familial and societal approval. Why am I in law school? Is it to impress my grandfather, the patriarch of my family, or is it to challenge myself because other financial aspects of my life that will not be as challenged? Is it to have the preconceived sense of authority as a Columbia Law Grad? The two anecdotes and their “characters” each placed me at different stages in my life and had me question whether my ideas in those instances were right, wrong or so engrained that "the truth became incompatible with the idea that formulates it". I see it is much better to either be right or wrong than option #3. I sought approval, but on my terms; something I still do. It must first break to ever see it needed fixing. (If it ain't broken, maybe we need to break it.)

-- LeoFarbman - 19 May 2015