The Unable Eliminated Nature
Edward R. Mirrow once said, "Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences". It means that everyone is restricted by his personal experiences while observing something or making some decisions. Here, "experiences" not only refer to what hardships people meet in their life, but also the education they receive since their childhood, the broad background they live in. And I think it's a kind of nature we are unable to eliminate.We know that in the feudal China, small kids were usually taught to be loyal to their sovereigns and their countries. This kind of thought had been deeply rooted in their minds since it was taught to them for so many years. No matter how ridiculous the requirement is, the Mandarins would try their best to achieve it if they were asked to, even if death. There were many scholars in ancient China killing themselves when their countries were broken down by the enemies, such as Wang Yirong in the Qing dynasty. Wang Yirong is the first person who discovered the bone inscription. He was trying to do some research on it when The Eight Power Allied Forces involved in Beijing. At the same time, he was also appointed as the Mandarin to defend the capital. Thus he chose death when he was unable to prohibit his country from being insulted, though he wanted to make some contributions to the discovery of bone inscription. The reason why he chose to die was based on the thought of loyalty taught to him. Therefore we can say that the decisions made are largely influenced by the education people received.
Sometimes people's perspectives of observing something are restricted by their own life experiences. We all know that You Da in A Dream of Red Mansions wouldn't consider Lin Daiyu as a beauty though she is complimented by the nobility, for what You Da in need of is a woman who can help him to do the housework. The two different perspectives spring from what they go through in their lives. Another example is that you would consider a person as a good man if you ever got help from him, while the other would regard him as evil since he was badly treated. Unique personal experiences make us hold different opinions upon the same thing.
People always have different sentiments and beliefs under different ages. That is because people have different demands under certain circumstances. We can see that soldiers would be awarded during the war if they behaved outstanding in the battlefield. Killing enemies is not blamed by people. Nonetheless, if you killed someone in the peaceful age, you committed a crime and would be punished by the law. What is right in the war becomes absolutely wrong in the peaceful period. That is what living background makes beliefs change.
Can we observe things without being influenced by our experiences? I think the answer is no. We can only try to "objectively" view things with the experiences we already have. To make this possible, we have to do as follows:
Firstly, we should read more books and broaden our minds. Different people have various points of views upon the same events since they have different experiences. If reading widely, we can make acquaintance with a variety of thoughts and wouldn't be restricted to a narrow extent when we contemplating something.
Furthermore, we should go out to experience more. There is a old Chinese saying goes. "Travel is a better way than to read", which means practice is far more important than reading books. Thus, a more important way for us to view things "objectively" is to go out to come into contact with different cultures, different races and different life styles.
In fact, everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. It's a kind of human nature and we are unable to eliminate this nature. Therefore, what we can do is just trying to observe things more objectively through enriching our personal experiences.
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