Bryce's blog post

 

Introduction

Hello, my name is Bryce Krebs I am a student athlete here at eastern and this semester I learned more than expected in my English 101 course with Ms. Benningfield.  Our English class looked at different aspects in literature including, wealth and poverty, justice, ethics/morality, government, and what it means to be an individual in society. All of the readings throughout the semester were for the most part interesting and jammed packed with information. English 101 was great to be a part of because topics and authors were broken down and processed to make a clear understanding of the topic. The class made great advancements in the improvement of is skills including visual analysis, and writing skills. The importance of being a good author in each of our essays was stressed and improvements of things such as grammar, paragraph length, and voice were made. The semester was another great learning experience and a step to becoming a better writer. English 101 was great to be part of learning was at an all time high.

Government

                             Shows how the citizens have to stand up and have a voice about government issues

Many opinions are made on how to maintain a great government. After discussing in class and looking at the authors Lao Tzu, Fromm and Machiavelli it shows how different opinions on how to make an ideal government.     The ideal government is one that is the voice of the people and has no power than the people do.  Along with the government laying low the citizens play a role as well, citizens have to take control and want to have a voice.

 

          A government must A government must be there for its citizens.  They are obligated to provide protection for them.  However, concepts like this can be taken too far.  Yes, the government should be involved in people’s lives, but only to a certain extent be there for its citizens.  Stated by Lao Tzu”If a country is governed with tolerance, the people are comfortable and honest. If a country is governed with repression, the people are depressed and crafty.”  (Tzu 29) This meaning the less government puts strain on the people and kind of let the citizens work it out the more honest and true they are to the government itself, so it is helping the citizens along with giving them there space. Seems like the perfect balance to make the government run smoothly.

                When a government is striding towards success it is coming from small work of the government, and more work from the citizens, making it a citizen run nation Fromm tells us that citizens have the “freedom to participate actively and responsibly in all decisions concerning the citizen, and freedom to develop the individual’s human potential to the fullest possible degree.” The government should just be in the passenger seat helping the citizens improve and stride to make positive changes for the world.

               

Wealth and Poverty

 Wealth and poverty is always a debatable

topic to many in society today. It remains to go back and forth between whether poverty is a positive thing or a negative one. Some believe that it is needed because it shows the gap between the classes along with letting the people know their spot within the community. On the other hand an argument is made that it is wrong to have barriers and classes, and we should as a nation work to unite as a whole to make a more attractive place to live.  Necessary for a change, but it is way harder to do than say Carnegie has a statement that got to me it says “The problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship.” (Carnegie 391) To fix the gap of poverty and wealth is for the wealthy to teach and educate, along with donate the poor to help them make advancements and have a chance to get out of poverty.  Like Galbraith states “The only sound way to solve the problem of poverty is to help people help themselves.” (Galbraith 413) The wealthy then actually have the responsibility to help out the less blessed people, it may not be right but when wealthy you have that responsibility. 

Justice

  Justice is very popular when it is being served the correct way, but when people start to abuse Justice then that is where problems start to come up. Justice is supposed to be honest and fair, but there is always an argument on unjust and just acts. For example in the movie of Stoning of Soraya were Soraya is sentenced to death by stoning for committing an “unjust act” which was very questionable at best. So in my eyes justice will never be a change in injustices but it does need to change, because everyone should have the right to be treated in the right eyes of justice. An example I have found was Martin Luther King Jr. When put in to Birmingham jail where he writes a letter “Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial, “outside gator” idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.” (King 214) From this quote I get that we should always fight for injustice even though it will be real slow and take awhile just think if Martin Luther King Jr. had not fought for his rights, even though it took it a long time to be put into action he was always fighting. So yes everyone should fight against injustice.

Ethics/Morality

   Ethical and moral behavior is always a debate. Aristotle states “Every art and every “scientific investigation,” as well as every action and “purposive choice,” appears to aim at some good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things that aim.” (Aristotle 694) This saying that all points at good in some way it just is a choice to make the wrong decision.

 Religion you would think would have all the effect on ethical and moral behaviors, but this is seen to be untrue, even though it might affect some people’s beliefs and moral behaviors. If one is not religious does not mean that you cannot make unethical and unmoral decisions. Murdoch states a good point “The moral (or spiritual) life is both one and not one. There is the idea of a sovereign good, but there are also compartments, obligations, rules, aims, whose identity may have to be respected.”(Murdoch 735)  So she is saying that sometimes when religious and when giving it becomes an obligation like you are giving money for the wrong reasons , yes your giving which is great but it is for the wrong reason like your obligated to or it is a rule of your church to give a certain amount.

Happiness is tied to ethics and morality as well. I believe if you are a moral, and ethically sound person you will have happiness  even if going through hardships that life puts you through being a morally, and ethically sound person will make you stronger and help you adapt better to change than others not as morally and ethically sound as yourself.

Individual

 Many struggle with being an individual and they are just in denial about it. Now a day’s people often tend to be followers of everyone else not being their own individual self’s. Emerson states “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men-that is genius.”(Emerson 260)  Emerson is absolutely right if you follow what is actually true in your heart then you are truly a genius it is way easier said than done everyone struggles with it, just a struggle to find your individuality. I believe it is more important to be an individual I say this because in the world today there are many people that will screw you over so it is more important to worry about yourself first as an individual, not meaning you do not care collectively but it comes in a close second but being an individual is more important.

                An individual has an obligation to believe in themselves and that is about it I believe there is no other obligation you have as a citizen or to your nation. I believe I am working towards being an individual throughout high school I was more of a follower, but now that I am starting to grow up I have been working towards just being me and not worrying about what anyone thinks.  Although I do not really believe in conforming it is necessary in some manners, only when actually needed which sometimes it is like when you have to get a big project done and you cannot do anything but conform.

Conclusion

 When in English 101 I learned many things that will help me out in the future. I am not much of an English guy not really into reading or the writing exercises. Nothing against the essays but I was not a fan of the essay it was hard for me to relate to any of them, just did not peak my interest. Although I did not enjoy most of them I did learn how to write reaction papers well, and how to somewhat do use visual analysis. If I could change one thing throughout the class is to make it more interactive because sometimes I felt myself zoning out during the lectures making it hard to pay attention, but overall I did learn a lot of things that I will carry with me as I move along Mrs. Benningfield taught the information real well throughout the whole semester.

Works Cited:       

Aristotle. “The Aim of Man.” Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. A World of Ideas. Boston,

                Massachusetts: Haddon Craftsmen, and RR Donnelley & Sons Company, 2010.

                Print.

Carnegie, Andrew. “The Gospel of Wealth.” Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. A World of Ideas.

                Boston, Massachusetts: Haddon Craftsmen, and RR Donnelley & Sons Company,

                2010. Print.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Self-Reliance.” Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. A World of Ideas. Boston,

                Massachusetts: Haddon Craftsmen, and RR Donnelley & Sons Company, 2010.

                Print.

Fromm, Erich. “Humanist Socialism.” On Disobedience. New York, NY: HarperCollins

                Publishers, 2010. 67-91. Print.

Galbraith, John Kenneth. “Position of Poverty.” Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. A World of Ideas.

                Boston, Massachusetts: Haddon Craftsmen, and RR Donnelley & Sons Company,

                2010. Print.

King, Martin Luther Jr. “Letter From Birmingham Jail.”Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. A World of

                Ideas. Boston, Massachusetts: Haddon Craftsmen, and RR Donnelley & Sons

                Company, 2010. Print. 

Machiavelli, Niccolo. “The Qualities of a Prince.” Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. A World of Ideas.

                Boston, Massachusetts: Haddon Craftsmen, and RR Donnelley & Sons Company,

                2010. Print.

Thoreau, Henry David. “Civil Disobedience.” Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. A World of Ideas.

                Boston, Massachusetts: Haddon Craftsmen, and RR Donnelley & Sons Company,

                2010. Print.  

Tzu, Lao. “Thoughts from the Tao-Te Ching.” Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. A World of Ideas.

                Boston, Massachusetts: Haddon Craftsmen, and RR Donnelley & Sons Company,

                2010. Print.