OUR CATEGORY : Focus Soup Results

Many of us reflect upon our lives and wonder what could have been. We also look towards the future and make plans for what is to come. We wondered what goals, aspirations, and regrets people have about their lives. As always, we took to the streets as well as created an online survey to find out.

We received online answers from a range of ages and from both genders. When asked how satisfied you are with life, most answered “satisfied for the most part.” There were no extreme answers, “Completely satisfied” or “Completely unsatisfied.” Therefore, there seems to be something lacking in each person’s life, but on the whole, our audience is happy and content.

When asked about what goals, aspirations, and dreams you had envisioned for yourself, there were definitely some themes that dominated the answers. They were money, freedom, happiness, marriage, health, children, and most popular were travel and a successful career. Most respondents answered that they had achieved most of their goals and dreams. When asked how their aspirations changed over time the most popular answer was that wealth was traded for happiness and careers took the backseat to raising a family. So what seemed paramount as a young adult, a successful career and money, suddenly isn’t as important as we age. Happiness and family take precedence.

Children and happiness also were the forerunners when asked about your greatest achievement. Some of the biggest regrets were “worrying too much about what other people think,” “holding onto grudges,” and the possibility of letting go of a loved one that could have been “the one.” On the bucket list of things to do before dying are to marry, re-marry, have grandchildren, and the number one answer was to travel more.

It’s hard sometimes to put your life in perspective and to concentrate on the values you believe are most important. We seem to hurry through life and don’t even realize what we are taking for granted, whether that be our friends, family, or our health. So it’s important to sit and take a minute to reflect on what you have to be thankful for and to live day-to-day keeping those things in mind.

Filed under: Focus Soup Results by admin Date 17 August, 2010
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“The important thing is to not stop questioning.” -Albert Einstein

We’ve asked some fairly controversial questions in the past months that we wanted to lighten it up a bit and tap into what inspires people. Some from Portland and Chicago let us know what inspires them and we also asked Facebook and Twitter followers for their input.

Normally we have people respond through all age groups – interestingly this time no one up to 25 years old or those busy bees from ages 35-45 seemed to be inspired by anything. Is this a case of the youth and those in an (presumably) age group of higher management who are just to focused to be inspired?

When asked what inspires, not surprisingly we are inspired by many different things: from famous people to weddings, to nature’s beauty, but even to the most simple of things as listening to a song or reading a book.

When asked who personally inspires you, it seems that blood is thicker than water. In every case it was either parents talking about kids or vice-versa, rather than a friend or colleague who may have been inspiring.

When asked who in history was most inspirational, the ‘usual suspects’ surfaced: Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Joan of Arc, Ghandi and Jesus. What is interesting in this case is that these are people who have either lived in extreme poverty of have suffered to great lengths. Why is this inspirational? Is this inspirational because the human spirit doesn’t believe that generally they can be that selfless – in which case, why is this inspiration? Is this simply a case of guilt that we then pedestal others as a defense mechanism?

When asked how often you are inspired, the answers ranged from once a day to once a month. So on a whole, respondents were inspired on a regular basis, which may be why they chose to complete the survey. Someone who couldn’t think of an inspirational moment off-hand, may have chosen to not answer the survey.

In any case, whatever arouses our minds and causes us to act on it is a complex matter. But perhaps we should all just take a moment each day to look around us and be inspired by the most simple of things.

Filed under: Focus Soup Results by admin Date 12 July, 2010
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For this month’s topic we decided to dig into to something a little more sensitive. We asked people on the streets in both Portland and Chicago several questions about racism. Are we all racist? Is there racism within races? How does social pressure affect racism? Will racism ever not exist? We got some very compelling answers from the street as you can view in the video.

Then we expounded on these questions on our online survey. We created the survey to be a lot more open-ended than previous surveys so that the respondents could have more freedom in describing their personal experiences.

The majority of our respondents indicated that their family contributed to their views of other races. Most said that their parents taught them to be open to other races. Yet one person wrote as an adult, he found that his family was wrong and “ignorant in their thinking of other races.”

Eighty percent say that they consider themselves less racist than their parents.
One person said, “My parents judged people by their character first and then by action and then by appearance. I learned not to judge people by appearance.” So although family was an influencing factor, it seems people have learned to break away from these influences and form their own beliefs.

Half of our respondents indicated that they have been subjected to racism. Fifty percent of those who have felt discrimination based on race were African American, 17% were Asian, and 33% were Caucasian. One poignant story, told by an Asian respondent, relayed that while at boarding school in Kentucky, she was classed as “black” or a “VI (Virgin Islands) girl” by students and faculty. She was classified as black just because she wasn’t white.

There also seems to be a trend in the answers where a person who has felt discrimination feels they have to somehow determine how a group or new acquaintance views other races before they can really feel comfortable. This is a troubling thought. Not that their behavior is unjustified if they have been treated differently based on their race, but it seems like this is a safety mechanism used to not be themselves until they figure out how others feel. How will minorities ever feel comfortable in their own skin if they act differently or even choose not to be in someone’s company who they perceive as being racist? Then those people who are viewed as racist are not being exposed to other races and therefore do not ever get to have the relationship that might change their mind.

An overwhelming 90% of respondents believe that there is racism within races. Our participants in our video said that this could be based on socio-economic status, education, and even the shade of skin within a race. Again, how will racism ever be eradicated if those within a certain race have prejudices against each other?

Sadly, eighty percent indicate that racism will never completely go away. The general consensus is that with every generation, racism becomes less and less of an issue. Although we are making progress it seems that racism might always be a part of our society at some level.

We would like that thank those who shared their personal experiences and thoughts

Filed under: Focus Soup Results by admin Date 6 May, 2010
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