Enculturation to critical thinking (#2221)

Here has been my life in a nutshell. When I was young I mostly followed along with what everyone else was doing although I still found myself being somewhat a rebel in minor ways. But in the major things in life I accepted what was the norm without too much question. I even felt that being consciously cruel was okay since so many others around me were practicing the same ideal. However, inside me I was a skeptic of how I was acting and upon further research and awareness, I found that what I was accepting as normal was actually not normal but elementarily crude. I realized that I had accepted what was in front of me as fact or correct without questioning other possibilities. That was me in the formative years of my life, a first act if you will. I have since become a critical thinker, more comprehensive and objective in my thinking and actions. How? I allowed myself to question the basics in my life. I reduced myself down to being two things, caring and curious. From there I have entered into the second act of my life. Where nothing is a given outside of who I am. I realized that we are all human and no one knows all things. We all may choose to investigate what it is about life that is real and not imaginary or initial inculcation. I learned to think and act for myself on every issue that confronts me. Now my caring isn't just one sided, I can be harsh and uncaring when a unbearable limit has been reached. No one should ever lose sight that not everyone is here in this existence to be a model human being. So being a person who is cautious about his curiosity and caring seems to be the right blend of living. I may not leap into my present with a gusto but I do move forward with my eyes wide open. If I have had this dilemma of having lived in two acts of my life then surely others are struggling the same. I learned with the first act of my life and because of me striving to be a critical thinker, I am now living and repairing the consequences of that first act. Thank goodness and luck that I didn't destroy myself or others during that first act.