Certainty

Monday, the 18th of November, 2012 was the by far the strangest day at school to date. I did something that surpassed my stupidity on so many levels on which I feel like I must look at in retrospect and analyze what I thought I knew at the time. It was the second last class of the day right after study hall and I raced across the quad to tell Mr Michel that I had solved a question I had been insisting to him about: a new method I had learned all weekend to solve a sin equation which was much easier to me than the graphing method he suggested. No one was aware of it so it was difficult to explain on my own. I hadn't been able to substantiate it at the time but in study hall I spent a couple minutes going over the homework and what I had done and was beyond excited about telling him that I had figured it out. After sprinting to him, he told me that I had been correct and he had tried the method after I left class which made me extremely happy. I have no idea what happened then but the joy I had after proving myself right about this made me forget that there was another class after that, that being study hall. I figured that had been the last block. Walking past German class, I saw that everyone was entering. I thought, oh maybe they have to finish a quiz afterschool. Dumbest. Assumption. Ever. I walked back to the Library to get my books and saw Laila sitting at the table working, which again I thought, oh she's working after school as she does everyday while waiting for Essa, so I took a seat. I even saw Hammad and Mustafa sitting on the beanbag and I wondered for a second why they were just there.. not doing anything.. Still, I was completely certain that school is over and took out my books because I was waiting for Tomi and Shaheryar to work on the presentation with me. I glanced at the clock, 5 minutes to 2. That made me slightly skeptical, was school over or not? I figured the clock was wrong as had been in ITGS class just the other day. I know this will come off as absolutely ridiculous but this was the degree of my certainty in myself. Just seeing Laila working and meeting Mr Michel in the quad on his way to the cafeteria had made me think that school was indeed over. It obviously wasn't. And I was willing to think that the clock was wrong in order for myself to be right. I think being right about this strange method in math no one knew about had got me in this weirdly euphoric state where only I was right about everything. So everything else seemed wrong, including the clock. Next, Shaheryar walked in to whom I asked, "when are you coming to work? We really need to use this extra day to practise" to which he answered, "yes i'm coming afterschool.." and then he probably realized or was unsure about what I was doing and asked, "you do know it's not after school yet, right?" No way. "..........Yeah" I replied. He exited the Library saying he'll come at 3 and I began to panic. What was I doing here and why had NO ONE asked me what I was doing? Mr. Patras who normally asks us what assignment we're working on hadn't even asked what I was doing in the library in the first place? NO ONE. I ran to History and Mr. Walton went, "there you are! Malika was just saying that you're probably in the parking lot" Without thinking that was just a joke, I was like, "How did you know!!?" to which the class reacted in conniption fits. Then I explained how I hadn't exactly gone to the parking lot but I did think school was over an hour before. That was so awkward for me. My certainty that school was over had blinded me to so many factors. And the worst thing is that there had been no accurate reasoning, communication behind that whatsoever. It had only been my emotions and my horrible sense perception of seeing people and thinking they were hanging out afterschool instead of between classes.  

The war against metaphors - Analysis

We received an article to read and analyse for TOK homework. It's titled "The war against metaphors" by Melinda Wenner and published in the Guardian. Essentially, the author argues that military terms are not appropriate for use in scientific language because it induces just one way of looking at a problem and that scientists who use such terms may risk credibility because they are not being completely objective as science is. War terms cause more subjectivity and hence enforce people to think of the scientific terms in one way, an extreme; such as bacteria being described as the "enemy" and the "war" against cancer making people think that the only way to eradicate the problem is to attack and defend it rather than having another approach and looking at the physical and social environment. The author does make a good point, but overall, I do not completely agree with her. Since this has to do with general public not specializing in the environments of bacteria and other factors, they should at least be aware of the high importance of such conditions and how dangerous they could be. Being completely objective and having a statement such as "The avoidance of cancerous cells in a body with the help of many factors such as learning about the environment and figuring out the cure through the study of..." will not appeal to anyone trying to help the cause. In terms of financial purposes, not many will donate understanding that this is a long procedure requiring the study of the best possible solution. Like George Lakoff said as an opposition to this was that, "this is not language, this is the way people think." He says this to illustrate how people's perception is restricted as a result of this. However, I think that using war metaphors in science is effective BECAUSE of that statement. When action is required, we want people to contribute and by using war metaphors, it will make the cause that much more urgent. Using these metaphors encourages people and causes urgency for them to take some action and help the cause because that is the way we think.

Eid Ul Azha (Fact, Opinion, Belief)

Eid break got my thinking about how Eid Ul Azha is one of the two Eids celebrated by all Muslims. It is known as the greater Eid of the two.There are so many aspects of the history behind Eid that are beliefs that I have always considered facts to me because of the actuality I see behind them having been raised with these ideas. The most common belief is that since Eid Ul Azha is the Feast of Sacrifice, it was derived from a sacrifice made by Prophet Ibrahim (who has also built the Ka'aba.) He had the same recurring dream three nights consecutively that God had asked him to sacrifice his son. This command made by God was made to see how obedient the Prophet was and whether he would actually perform this action. The Prophet told his first and only son Ismail about this dream to which Ismail was completely compliant to and said that there is a reason behind every action by God and he agreed with no hesitation. As the Prophet Ibrahim could not bear to watch his son killed, that too by his own hands, he covered his own eyes with a blindfold, and when he took the blindfold off, he saw that there was a ram in place of his son Ismail. He had passed the test of his faith in Almighty God, and soon, he was given the good news of a second child Ishaq.
Now looking at this, there are no concrete "facts" behind this story if we look at the standard definition of a fact which is that it is indisputably and incontrovertibly true for everyone. That is certainly not the case as not everyone believes this. I could argue forever by saying that it is simply written in the Qura'an which, in present-day is the only Holy book that has not been modified by man because there are so many that have memorized it by heart and to all Muslims including myself, anything that is written in the Qura'an is a fact. But I do understand that that is not a valid argument to convince people, as they need solid facts based on eyewitnesses and scientific proof and to them this story is too miraculous to have taken place. To me personally, the story is true because of my vested belief in it but if I look at it on a global scale, what I believe to be true is not a fact to everyone and I cannot make anyone believe in the same things as I do. As opinions are formed on a basis of facts, others that do not share the same faith as me would read this and say, what is she thinking, and they would probably say that I am so gullible to believe this. However in my opinion, I think that it takes a solid amount of investment to be able to believe so strongly without evidence and for 1.1 billion people to go for Hajj and celebrate Eid, there must be a reason why they do. For me, belief is much stronger than any trivial fact. I might be a person who thinks of science as being much more true to to me and know a hundred things about chemical reactions and oxidation but that wouldn't mean half as much as investing yourself into something that requires a lot of faith to be thought of as true. Muslims, Christians, Jews, and all other religions have the similarity that their followers are dedicated to the religion and believe in it no matter what, and no amount of counterarguments could deter them from believing what is true to them. This is why I believe that that is indeed the reason why Eid came into being. It demonstrates how truly Prophet Ibrahim believed in God as to follow his command even though it required him to sacrifice his own child. Now, Eid holds a different meaning to all of us. We celebrate Eid to honor the Prophet but also to distribute meat to the poor who do not get to have it all year round as it is too expensive to afford. In my opinion, that is definitely a great cause as well because there are so many things we take for granted and the origin of how the concept of this particular Eid came about is fascinating to me.