My name is C. J. Bonaccorso. I’m 24 years old and I’m a
freshman at EKU. After spending five years at a job in tech support, I decided
I would return to school for something I would actually enjoy, psychology. I’ve
only been attending classes for a few weeks, but I’ve grown to enjoy them.
Well, most of them anyway. I did not know what to expect when entering an
English class after my hiatus. The last class I had taken on the subject had
been mostly about writing and composition. The class before that was in high
school, and was over literature and its meaning. And before that, it was over
sentence structure, grammar and symbolism. English can cover a very wide
breadth of topics and having never taken a collage course on it before, I had
no idea what I was walking into. I was pleasantly surprised by what the class
was: A history lesson on the greatest minds of philosophy, politics and
individualism.
 |
Scene from “Mr. Smith Goes to
Washington”
representing the impact of one citizen on the government.
|
Section 2: Government
An ideal government is within reach. We’re very close, we
just need a little push. Despite popular opinion, not all politicians are evil.
Sure, many may be seduced by power and money, however at one point they were
once a citizen, who dreamed of change. The government and the citizen share a
symbiotic relationship. Without the protection and organization of the
government, we would not have institutes like the Center for Disease Control. But
with such a grand venture of trying to keep order, the government needs the
citizens to help them keep sight of what is important, and to keep them in
check. It is the citizen’s role in the government to speak out against tyranny.
The American Revolution was spearheaded by Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of
Independence. The Declaration itself was a laundry list of complaints from the
American colonists, who were receiving no representation in the government that
ruled them. This was an outcry against the ruling government, letting them know
that people would no longer stand for the injustices that were being committed.
The citizen should be at the heart of every government.
 |
The effects of the misuse of wealth and power.
|
Section 3: Wealth and Poverty
With my income alone, I would be considered lower class, but
I was born into a middle class family. However even on my salary, I still try
to have a balance in my financials for both obligations and pleasure. As payday
gets closer, I will usually spend money on myself, whether it’s a video game or
a more expensive lunch than usual; it’s always something just for me. The rest
of my money goes to bills. Regardless of class, all people should have enough
money left over to spend on recreation. There was a point in my life when my
income was more disposable. With that extra cash, I was able to be more
charitable. I never donated toward charity per se, but I would help people that
were close to me. I never helped with my friend’s bills, but when my friends
couldn’t go out to movies or dinner with us, I would always offer to pay their
way. I knew my friend’s money usually all went to bills and, following my own
standard, I would offer them the chance to join us for some fun. No one
deserves a life without pleasure from time to time. I would like to earn enough
money to where I can comfortably donate to charitable organizations and help my
friends and family. The upper class seems to have forgotten that not all people
are able to comfortably afford both business and pleasure. Andrew Carnegie was
born into a lower class family, and with hard work was able to produce a
fortune. After his success, he never forgot his humble beginnings, working to
provide other less fortunate people opportunities he did not have. Opportunities
that allow people to pull their lives up and make something of themselves. The current
gap between the upper and lower classes needs to be closed. The lower classes
can only ask. The upper classes are the only ones with the power to create real
change.
 |
Batman standing above Gotham, representing
a selfless
dedication to serving justice.
|
Section 4: Justice
Simply put, justice is correcting or making up for a wrong
doing. Injustices occur in the world every day in every corner of the globe. There
are still countries that treat women as second class citizens, places where stonings
are still written into the law as a reasonable punishment, places where human
lives are commodities. All three of these things are injustices against
humanity through prejudice, torture and depraved indifference. When these acts
are condoned by other humans, and empathy is all but lost, injustice is born. No
injustice should be suffered. To truly create change, one must stand up and
never give up their fight. In America, not too long ago, Martin Luther King Jr.
took up such a fight. He had been subjected to injustice for his entire life
before standing up and saying “no more.” Leading the civil rights movement in
the 60’s meant opening not only his life, but the lives of his followers to ridicule
and violence. King would eventually die before seeing his dream realized by the
hands of an ignorant beast who could not see past something as superficial as
skin color. But King left behind followers and a legacy that said loud and
clear that injustice should not be tolerated, and every person should share the
same rights.
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The endless competition between good and evil.
|
Section 5: Ethics and Morality
Ethics and morality are separate concepts that work towards
a person’s integrity. A set of ethics can be very different from person to
person. For example, one person may think it is completely unethical to eat
meat, while others see the practice as completely ethical. Peter Singer and Jim
Mason would argue to the former. But morality applies to the broader picture. It
is how you compare your ethics to those around you. In this principle, ethics
and morality would exist without religion. People would be able to recognize
amoral behavior without being told by the structure of religion that something
was wrong. Stealing is generally recognized as unethical in every sense of the
word. If I were to have had something taken from me without my permission, I would
have felt wronged without being told that this behavior is wrong. Knowing how
this feels would give us a moral understanding of the concept, and would
inhibit us from stealing from others. Without religion, humanity would have
been able to form the ideas of morality and ethical behavior.
 |
Juror number 8 from “12 Angry Men” standing
alone against
the 11 other jurors,
unwavering in his “not guilty” verdict.
|
Section 6: The Individual
Individualism is emphasized greatly in our society. To be an
individual is to stand apart from the crowd, to stand up and say “This is who I
am!” and feel comfortable about yourself, despite what other people may tell
you. To truly be an individual takes courage. It means standing against criticism
and not allowing others to change your core beliefs. Being an individual does
not always mean you must remove yourself from society as Emerson describes. Our
nation is based on differing ideas of individuals coming together as a
collective. Without the individual, we would not have a national dialogue. Without
individualism, we would not have the great arts, or different genres of movies
or music or writing. The individual is what makes our culture thrive. Without the
individual, the idea of the collective would be meaningless.
Section 7: Overview
This class has certainly been an eye opener. Learning the
history alongside the writing of these great minds has been an overall good
experience. I found some of the topics discussed difficult to write about
because they covered such a broad topic. I often found myself wrestling with
myself trying to form an opinion that was a good representation of how I felt,
even during this assignment. I also would have enjoyed more discussion based
classes on the topics covered. But overall, I came away from this class with
more than what I went into it with, and barring the headaches I gave myself, I enjoyed
myself.
Section 8: Works Cited
Carnegie, Andrew. “The Gospel of Wealth” A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for
College Writers. Jacobus, Lee A.
Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin, 2010. Print.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Self-Reliance.” A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for
College Writers. Jacobus, Lee A. Boston, MA: Bedford/St.
Martin, 2010. Print.
Jefferson, Thomas. “The Declaration of Independence.” A World of Ideas: Essential Readings
for College Writers. Jacobus, Lee A.
Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin, 2010. Print.
King, Martin Luther. “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for
College Writers. Jacobus, Lee A.
Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin, 2010. Print.
Manning, Doug. Reel
Life Wisdom. Reellifewisdom.com, 2011. Web. 14 Dec, 2011.
Singer, Peter and Mason, Jim. “The Ethics of Eating Meat.” A World of Ideas: Essential
Readings for College Writers. Jacobus, Lee
A. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin, 2010. Print.
Suckerpunchcinema.com. Suckerpunchcinema.com, 2011. Web. 14
Dec, 2011.
Wallbase.cc. Wallbase.cc, 2011. Web. 14 Dec, 2011.
