#3 Light Switch

#3 Light Switch

English 102

Gary Brown

‘Light Switch”

A response to Age of Enlightenment and RS(A)nimate Videos

Various Artists

The Age of Enlightenment was an educational promotion period which took place in the late 18^th century. Its sole dedication was to turn the light switch on to a lot of beliefs that society formed through tradition faith and religion and promote awareness through science. I think Immanuel Kant put it best when he defined it as “freedom to use one's own intelligence”. If we wanted to live differently all we had to do was simply perceive life differently. Sounds simple huh? We had everything capable for change but we put a lot useless and unwarranted stress on ourselves. We fall into the genre of correlating right and true to be what is familiar to us and wrong or false being what is unfamiliar. The Age of Enlightenment challenged us to dig deeper and still challenges us today to seek more profound answers to life’s questions. Change is not hard and does not require a lot. Just flip the light switch. Many of us are handicapped by our own fear. What we aim for is just as important as what we actually achieve. Anthropologist, Margaret Meade, expressed that we can never doubt a small group can change the world for it is the only thing that ever has. Change is not always popular.

We must become more self-aware of the assets and tools in society. Different laws of nature served as the foundation and each generation has added another element to the age. We too, must Turn on the light switch and tap into the age of enlightenment to add our very own element. Our culture has advanced through Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Matthew Taylor and Sir Ken Robinson. We still must do our part to continue this age. If we are standing still then we are going backwards. Turn on the light switch.