Blog #5 Martineau

I thought the entire reading and class that we had about Harriet Martineau was very interesting. I like the more "feminist" views and I think it's cool that we can look more into the female perspectives because so much of that work has been lost throughout history. I really just like the basic ideas of Martineau's writing this week. I already find it extremely impressive that she overcame the struggle of being deaf and in addition conveyed so many truly important life messages. I love that the "law of social life" all in all is happiness. It was a vague description on what exactly happiness is to each and every person, which I think is almost impossible to figure out. I think there are some things that people can universally agree bring generic happiness such as physical health in terms of having food and shelter, and also freedom. I also liked the concept of applying sympathy when we look at different cultures. I think it's a really inspirational way to live to try to be understanding of other cultures without being biased by your own life and culture. We should embrace and be open to the diverse world that we live in, and also learn from one another to possibly adopt styles and cultures that may suit our lives better than what we know. I do think it's important to stay true to our own cultures and not ignore who we are, but we also need to be open minded. By practicing this open mindedness, different problems could be easily solved. We often think people are strange or that their way of doing things in wrong, simply because it's different from our own. Yet to others, some things we do in our own culture may seem extremely odd to people in other cultures. No one can really ultimately judge who's way is right or wrong, it's just clear that they are different, which is something we should embrace rather than be afraid of or judge. All of these concepts are things that I agree with that I think offer a more open and diverse way of life. It seems less judgmental to me to be open to other cultures and start celebrating our differences, and all work towards the ultimate goal of happiness. I learned that the term "anomaly" refers to a disruption from achieving goals. When thinking about these seemingly simple goals of happiness, many things can get in the way. For example, different obstacles we have come across are slavery, war, gender inequality, and social class issues. While we still have such big roadblocks in the way, it seems hard to reach certain goals such as diversity and happiness. If we can just break all of these barriers down, our world would continue to be a more accepting and peaceful place. 

Below I have a sort of hierarchy of happiness, which is what I believe is generally thought of around the world as happiness. As I said, physiological needs such as food and water is the base of happiness. Once you have that covered, I think people do search for safety, love, and esteem. Even though we are all different, these are the simple aspects of happiness that I believe all cultures can agree on and strive for.