A couple weeks ago, Harnoor created a blog post that related our reading of Persepolis to Shahzad’s essay. She explained how we each have our interpretive communities that influence and shape our understanding. She also mentioned that the first time she read Persepolis, she was a lot younger (close to Marji’s age) but that time the content didn’t resonate with her as much as it did this time around.

This got me thinking about how our understanding of the world changes due to a shift in interpretive communities. In Harnoor’s case, her interpretive communities regarding Iran derive from her Iranian friend, her interest in Shahs of Sunset and now, Satrapi’s book Persepolis. The first time Harnoor read Persepolis, she may have been lacking some of the interpretive communities that are present to her today, for example that friend, or that reality T.V. show. This will obviously influence the type of content that resonated with her at that age.

This can also be applied to a broader range of ideas and people. Our opinions on some subjects obviously change and mature as we get older, but perhaps it’s not because we’re getting smarter, or more tolerant. Perhaps it’s because we’ve surrounded ourselves with a completely different interpretive community than before. As we grow older, our group of friends is likely to change; people move away, you lose touch. Whatever the case may be, old friends are often replaced with newer ones, with different opinions and different insights to bring.

Maybe this is a different way to look at loss. Maybe we can stop seeing loss as a negative thing, but as the potential to be positive.

As you get older and your interpretive communities branch out, broaden or in some cases, completely change, so does your opinion. In fact, we may just be a mixture of ideas from our interpretive communities.

Loss can be subjective. After all, when you lose your phone, it may get replaced with a newer, shinier version of itself.

By: Naima Mansuri