From Different Perspectives E. F. Female, high school student (tenth grade) in Kyoto

Have you ever been to a world that you have no knowledge about? Have you ever been put into a place where you feel very insecure and unsafe? Have you ever felt that you just want to scream your mother's name and cry? All of these things occurred to me when I was in fourth grade. I felt many pains and at the same time, I thought I was taking huge risks. However, this was the very first door that I opened to see an other world. It made me think differently from how I used to. It made me see things from different perspectives. If you take a minute to think about many events that took place in the past, there were times when people had to be courageous and see the other world. One time was when Japan was not trying to negotiate with other countries, and the other time was when there was a Civil War in America.

There are many distinct and varied ways to think in this world. The way that people think is not just limited to one idea. I feel that people should be able to recognize and respect each other for their different thoughts. It is not an easy thing to do, of course. However, if you see a completely different world, it will make you think in a way you never thought you would. One way of apprehending different thinking is to see how the other countries are with your own eyes. By seeing this, you are one step closer to seeing things from different perspectives. The very first time I came across to see a different thought happened to be when I was in sixth grade. I started to understand English more, and I started to see how American people were teaching children. When I was growing up in Japan, there were not many times when teachers gave me a grade without comparing me with other classmates. Even if I did well on the tests and behaved nicely in the class, teachers in Japan always compared other students with me. However the way American teachers graded students was completely opposite. Many teachers encouraged and praised students if they worked hard. Anytime when the teachers thought the students were doing well at any kind of things, they observed it well and never missed it. I think American teachers understood about the students far more than Japanese teachers did. In addition, when they graded each student, they never compared them with other students. They always graded them individually. I saw another side of how teachers should grade. It gave me another way to think and see from an other perspectives.

Let's talk about this topic on a bigger scale. In the long Japanese history, there was a time when Japan didn't negotiate with other countries. Japan was afraid to conclude a treaty with foreign countries because Japan was behind in many things compared to European countries and America. Japan thought they would have to face some unfair treaties since the people did not have any ideas of how things were outside of the country. However this one person put a period on that dark era. As you all know, this person was Matthew Perry. He had to visit and negotiate a couple of times, and he finally reached the point where the treaty was set for both America and Japan. After that, Japan started to import many things such as clocks, lamps, recording players, and many more. Not only the things we use on daily bases, but also meat and other fruits were imported. Dancing became common in Japan. Buildings looked like the ones in Europe, and people who were rich went to dance parties. Amazingly, an unbelievable amount of things in Japan were changed since people started to look at a different side of the world.

Seeing from different point of a view can also occur even within the same country. The time between 1861 and 1865 was one of the most disappointing historic times. During these four years, Civil War took place in America. Unfortunately, the country was divided into two sides, North and South, and the South even formed its own country with a President. The reason why they were arguing was because the South wanted to use numerous slaves to manage the plantations, but the North opposed slavery. Also how each wanted to administrate political things was different, too. The North wanted to move forward as a whole country, but the South wanted to do it as an individual state. As time went by, other states from around wanted to join in, and every time they decided which side they were going to be on, there were always some devastating arguments. Then the Civil War started. A great number of soldiers suffered and died during the war. Many families lost men and young sons, and some people were never to see their loved ones again. Battles took place in various states, and the final battle was at Gettysburg. After this war, the North earned the victory, and slavery was abolished. Nowadays, many people think that slavery was the wrong thing to do. Some humans treated each other differently and cruelly, but it was not an acceptable issue. After this war, many people started to think in various ways, not just be limited to one certain ways of thinking. It is very important that people look at things from different points of a view.

Your world would be much bigger if you just take a look at different things. I even think if you read some books about the unknown world, it could change the way you think. I am very sure that you all already know that there are many ways to think, and there are many right answers. If you just change the angle of where you are seeing things from, you would see different ideas. Try to think and encourage yourself to see the world from different perspectives.

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