Assignment Four: Maggie Anderson

         As I have grown, I have changed or evolved my positions on many topics, most without realizing I even held the first opinion. As a small child I feel that my thoughts weren't guided by my parents or community as much as they were nonexistent on many topics, simply because I had no experience with those things. I believe that many children are like this, intolerant and conservative in their opinions as they haven't been exposed to enough of the world. They can't be blamed for this, as they are doing what people of all ages do, deriving their opinions from their experiences. They just have less to work with. If I heard about something, I was more likely to recoil from it as I had no prior knowledge and chances are, I hadn't even really encountered it, just learned second or third hand of its existence.
       As I have gained more experience of the world around me, these things seem less alien because I encounter them more and more. This means I am also less likely to chide away from new things I hear of second or third hand, as I have the experience of realizing over time that newly learned of phenomena aren't as strange or repellant as they seem at first. I find that this mainly happens with things affecting the country as a whole, other countries, or the world, as these things are unlikely to significantly touch the life of a young person in Kentucky.