We Perceive What We Want To Be Reality

            I am currently reading The Lighting Thief by Rick Riordan. The book is about a boy named Percy Jackson and his two friends, Anabeth and Grover. In the book, the Greek Myths are real. Monsters, Gods and Titans really exist to this day. Percy and his friends are on a quest to retrieve Zeus’s master bolt. During their quest they stop and a casino called the Lotus Casino. They are given free rooms, free unlimited game cards and find clothing in their rooms that are just their sizes. It occurs to Percy that something weird may be going on, but he continues to dismiss it until he comes to the realization that time moves more quickly in the casino. When he and his friends exit the casino after being inside for a few hours, they realize five days had past. Percy had noticed odd things from the very beginning but he didn’t act on them because what was happening to him appeared to be good to be true. He wanted it to be true so badly that he was willing to ignore the inconsistencies.  This is something I have noticed that humans do a lot. When we want something to be true badly enough, we cant trick ourselves into believing it is true. We perceive what we want to be reality.

            During the Holocaust people wanted to believe that the concentration camps that Jews were being sent to were safe. Germans watched as their neighbors and friends were carted away and many did nothing to stop it. Even some of the Jews who were taken told themselves that the concentrations camps were okay places. The Red Cross even inspected one of the concentration camps and said that they were safe and okay. This is a terrifying example of how people can ignore the parts of their reality that don’t fit the picture they wanted to believe. The Red Cross is supposed to provide relief to people in need. The fact that they visited a concentration camp and declared it safe shows how powerful this can be.

            People often walk through life with blinders on. We hear information and then pick and choose which parts to listen to. This is an important part of what is wrong with our political climate as well. People edit clips to support their statement and only pay attention to the things that go with what they believe. This makes for a nation of ill-informed people who make bad decisions. People need to stop picking and choosing what they hear. Just because you want to believe something is true doesn’t make it okay to ignore the facts. If you want to make informed decisions in you life, you have to look at all aspects of it. Not just what you want to see.