Which Way Your Heart Will Go

Upon viewing "Jesus Camp", a documentary about evangelical children's ministry, it became more clear to me how completely and naturally people can be so opposite. People either come into the world with really strong personalities or they're somehow formed, either actively or inactively, by the people they're surrounded by. Though I am a thoughful person who questions intentions and direction with each person and event, I am a creation of my surroundings. It reminds me of Chuck Klosterman's writing in Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs; A Low Culture Manifesto;   "In and of itself, nothing really matters. What matters is that nothing is ever 'in and of itself.'" 

I guess something else that became clearer to me is how strong persuasion is, which really makes me question how strong the human brain is. Re-reading that sentence, I'm not sure the human brain is weak at all. I think personal thought and individual actions are hard to come by and especially difficult to have in an environment that seeks to assimilate. Now I'm just wondering, how many groups or systems am I a part of that tries to assimilate. It's not always a bad thing to try to group people. It's probably a wonderful idea at many points, but how do you make that differentiation clear to people who abuse the power of the human spirit? And really, who agrees on the point at which any of these actions are abuse?

-Emmalee