Perception

prompt: Perception

Perception is defined as 'the process by which an individual receives, selects, organizes, and interprets information to create a meaningful picture of the world' (Belch and Belch 2007). As a child, I was raised to believe that anything worth having is worth working for, therefore, the welfare system was there for those who only wanted a "hand out" and not a "step up". During the course of my life I would perceive those who were receiving welfare to be lazy and not wanting to better themselves. My perception was that the system was rewarding failure by saying it is okay to become pregnant at an early age and drop out of school. It appeared that people in the "system" just wanted everything handed to them on a silver platter. I believed that it was not fair for those of us that were working hard to have to pay for those who did no work at all. I also perceived that children of the "system" would become adults of the "system".
Since I have reached the early adult hood stage, I see that many of the perceptions I have, were derived from my family. When you are growing up, you receive the information given to you by your family as though they were legal and binding laws. When I began to really look at the welfare system, I realized that all of my perceptions were not correct. Everyone that is on the welfare system is not necessarily looking for a handout, neither are they being lazy. Many people are there because of jobs being discontinued, major health problems and various other reasons. Do not misunderstand me, there are some that do abuse the system and are truly lazy and just looking for a hand out. I also realize after having an opportunity to speak with some children who were children of the system and are now adults, that the perception that children of the system become adults of the system is not necessarily true. My beliefs and perceptions were those given to me by my parents and other strong independent adults that played a major role in my life. My great-grandparents owned a restaurant and my grandfather even built his own brick house, therefore, my parents were taught that laziness was not an option and that nothing in life was free and it was passed down to my generation. As a result of this, we were always given small jobs to do which increased as we grew.
Since I am a little older, I realize that my values and morals were shaped by my parents and grandparents, whether they are considered to be right or wrong. I see know that many of my opinions on the welfare system were based on perceptions I received while growing up. We must realize that our perceptions need to be objective ones because everything is not always as we perceive them to be.