Wash it Away -Sara Rosenthal

Flash Fiction

      Why do you still talk to this guy, move on! It’s only middle school and some odd reason you can’t see past his innocent blue eyes. He possess hands that leaves red marks on your wrists that stay but then disappear. But it’s your fault why because you don’t want to give him that hug. I know he sends you paragraphs through a screen on why he needs you. I know you think you can’t let him down because the videos of him harming himself carry a message to strong for your heart at the time. But I promise your heart is stronger than what you think it is right now. I know he says his life will end if you want to leave. But you already have moved on in life and he will too. You already aren’t in a good spot in life. Why would you do this to yourself? Are you waiting to be rescued? You don’t need to help everyone. It’s time to use your voice again, save yourself like always, and take the advice you give other people. There will be one night where you have to tell his friend to call the red and blue lights to his house. But I promise you he will be ok when you end it. The guilt of letting someone down will remain on your hands, but when he gets better again you can wash the guilt away.

                                                                                                       Artist Statement

      In this piece I tried to incorporate the overall theme of self help. In the photo you visually over all see a color theme of darker colors besides of the light hitting the skin. First thing you should see is a person slouched over with barely a face showing. Leading the viewer in question of who is going through this emotion. While looking more in depth the viewer should noticed the person is wet and then fore looking into the background revealing that the person is in the shower. We all consider the shower a valuable spot in our daily life. The black hands should pull you in at any time with the person “washing the guilt away”.

      How the photo ties in with the second person flash fiction piece is the person in the picture is in self reflection. The last line in the flash fiction is “The guilt of letting someone down will remain on your hands, but when he gets better again you can wash the guilt away.” This is the line I chose to paint because it shows overcoming things by yourself. With the person washing away the guilt they are saying the flash fiction piece to them self for comfort and self help. While they are trying to understand that everything will be ok so its alright to wash away the guilt of not being there for someone for a long time.

                                                                                                       They Say I Say
      Most people today tend to think that they don’t have a bias. “What's on the inside matters more than what is on the outside”, but would you walk up to a random person at night in a black trench coat with their hood partially over their face? The bias in our life were created by the influences of others and then our self to create a safe zone around us. To make us feel comfortable about the world we barely know about. Bias are people's mindset about others to keep the person safe and they are just as responsible for their thoughts as on their background they grew up in.
Verna Meyers TED talk  “How do we overcome bias? Walk boldly toward them.” states “Biases are stories we make up about people before we even know who they are" (Meyers). This statement connects with the idea that people judge other people who they don’t know for protection. Later on she states “young black men, what I'm saying is if someone comes your way...take the invitation. Not everyone is out to get you...Something really powerful and beautiful happens: you start to realize that they are you” (Meyers). The statement connects with the idea that its the person responsibility for their thoughts and not others because in history black men have always been looked down upon. This knowledge creates a bias in their heads that they need to watch out for themselves from basically everyone. That history makes them believe that bias more and if that history correlation happens to then they will go back to believing it once it happens to them. In Robin Hauser TED talk called "Can We Protect AI from our Bias" she states "We all know if your human you have bias...Bias at it's core is a survival technique." (Hauser). She states the fact that these bias we usually have and use are part of our survival agreeing with Meyers. Even when humans make artificial intelligence they unknowingly add bias to the intelligence. 
People’s bias are just on them self as it is on the people who have helped shape some also. “But you learn the bias from how you grow up” yes, that is partially true, but in my opinion if the person doesn’t think that they won’t listen to that forever (Meyers). If people always held onto the bias that they learned when they were younger there wouldn’t have been a progression in human rights at all. A person is just as guilty of their own bias if it’s how other people act, appear, and their background. The people around them just give a platform to believe or not believe it. I agree with Verna Meyers in that people can change their bias, but I don’t believe that they can be fully changed by self reflecting on the bias the person has. Doing that can help the person realize that they have a bias and can help them try to change their bias. But once that bias that you once believed was in the news the person will believe in it partially again. There is always “but what if”,  “see it happened once”, and “I knew it” statements that will come back to the person. It’s like a theory that has been proven to the person and will take more then just acting upon their bias to think differently. Bias are put in the mind to create a safe boundary and it has to take a lot for that person to take down.