Jordan Robinson's Final Blog!

Introduction

Hello, my name is Jordan Robinson. Coming into this first semester of college made me really nervous. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but after a full semester I know college is a lot better than what people pan it out to be. English was probably one of my favorite classes to take in high school, and still even in college is the most fun and enthusiastic class you can take. Was that because of the teacher? Probably. Most of this class was considered to be an intensive writing class and for the most part it was. I really enjoyed it most of all because, as a History major, we learned more about important people in history and their writings rather than just going over basic grammar, sentence structure, etc. From Thomas Jefferson, all the way to Emile Durkheim, this class fit right in with my major even though it was English.

Government

As a citizen, we play a critical role in our government. Every citizen makes up part of the government in a democracy. The people have the power. As a citizen it is our duty to vote for the legislative, and participate in local and state government events. Gandhi believed in self government because he said it depended on your own internal strengths. By saying this he also meant that not one group no matter how big is better than individual rule in a self government. I’m not sure if I totally agree with this statement, however I do think everyone should have fair “say so” in their government. I fell like the people’s opinion should count just as much as official’s. On the other hand, Lao Tzu I thought did an excellent job at describing his perfect government and to me it makes total sense. He makes it seem as if we have to reduce the amount of governmental power in order to keep it from oppressing the people. I like the thought that he thinks the government should govern in a way that it is almost hidden. Having said all this I feel like, in order to have a perfect government, you must have an almost perfect leader. One who is open to opinions, who is willing to give up power for better decisions if necessary, and who is humble and respectful of others.

Wealth and poverty

Andrew Carnegie is the main guy when it comes to talking about wealth and poverty. He said things like its most people’s preference to remain where they came from instead of trying to go look for better opportunity. In order to being the rich and the poor together to unify this country, I feel like we have to raise the taxes against the rich, and lower them for the poor. In my opinion it is not the fairest that we as a middle class pay the same taxes as the poor and the rich. There needs to be amends to wherever the law of taxing is. Mr. Carnegie also talked about how there is no middle ground, your either behind or ahead. I agree with this statement, but only about 90% of it. The other 10% makes me want to say there is a fine line that is drawn between being “average” and being in poverty.

The government even though unfair at times still tries to help the poor even though we are in an economical hardship. The distribution of EBT and FHA housing are two of the most common government help outs I see in Mount Vernon, Ky. Even though, living in an FHA someone might not ever get the house paid off, the government still privileged them with a low enough house payment they can afford. In those cases the government does what it says it will do. However, you know as well as I do, there are many people that abuse these privileges.

For an “average” college student, times are rough. Even with financial aid, it may be hard for some of us to pay our bills and still attend college. I do think there should be some extra options put forward by law to help out college kids even more to the extent everyone has a fair chance at going to school. I know financial aid may pay off your schooling, but what about the kids who don’t receive aid for books, gas, and other supplies needed to attend? What about them?

Justice

Justice is a very strong subject to handle. I say this because it is almost impossible to talk about justice without emotions coming into play. In my personal opinion justice is never served to the fullest potential. As the movie, “Stoning of Soraya” showed the brutal stoning based on the true event, of Soraya who was framed and accused of adultery with another man. However, because her husband was not happy with her, he set her up and at the time the woman had no say so, the man ruled all. Because of a jealous and unhappy man, he had her killed. Justice in this cased was definitely not served.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and jailed because of a letter he wrote. “Never again can we afford to live with this narrow, provincial, ‘outside gator’ idea.” (King 214) By saying this he clearly gets his point across that we must fight for justice and we must continue to fight until changes are made.

 Ethics/Morality

Ethics and morality is the most difficult subject that I struggle to talk about. To be ethical means you know what is right to do and what right decision needs to made when acting upon a situation. Almost common sense in a way. Aristotle stated it best, “this one end must be good-even, indeed, the highest good” (964). Sometimes a fight for what is good is only a mere attention getter. Leopold fought his entire life for rights of the land. Through his struggle he earned what he fought for. “There is yet not ethnic dealing with man’s relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it” (749). This statement is not obeyed by many of us, for example the pollution struggle we deal with every day.

Ethics and morality can’t be interrelated with religion for one purpose only. We grew up being taught right from wrong with no idea of religion. Pleasure is ethical because we can be pleased by doing well. Aristotle says happiness is the goodness can endure everything. Sometimes doing the right thing is not always the best thing to do though and we have to keep that in mind.

Individual

It is important to be an individual. Each person in this world is very different from one another and if we start coping each other everyone would be the same and the world would be a very boring place and this is what each author in this section was trying to prove. Each author stated that conformity would be the death of the universe which is true. Emerson states this best, “I hope in these days we have heard the last of conformity and consistency.” (Emerson 266)

It is always good to be a true individual. Each and every one of us in the world is different from one another and if we start acting the same as the other, the importance of individualism would cease to exist. Emerson puts it simple, “I hope in these days we have heard the last of conformity and consistency” (266).  As an individual we have many obligations to the nation. We elect the officials we want, we do this by voting. We as individuals have the responsibility of producing the changes we want.

I look at myself as an individual. I am not like any one person who I communicate with. I live my life. I vote according to how I and only I want to. However, no one likes to be lonely, so because of that I have become somewhat the same in my ideas about Government, Justice, and Ethics/Morality because of a strong relationship I have developed with my fiancé.

Conclusion

To wrap things up, ENG 101 with Dawna Benningfield was been one of the interesting and most fun English class I have ever taken. She is an outgoing teacher and really knows her stuff. I’m glad I took this class. She showed all of us some very useful writing skills and really helped me in my vocabulary skills. My favorite work was probably by Gandhi, because he was a very powerful man and a great leader. He was a very religious man also. Once again I have really enjoyed taking this class and look forward to taking some more classes with Mrs. Benningfield.

Works Cited

Aristotle. The Aim of Man. World of Ideas. Ed. Lee Jacobus. Boston: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.

 694-709. Print.

Carnegie, Andrew. “The Gospel of Wealth.” World of Ideas. Ed. Lee Jacbous. Boston: Bedford  

                St. Martin’s, 2010. 396. Print.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Self Reliance.” World of Ideas. Ed. Lee Jacbous. Boston: Bedford St.

                Martin’s, 2010. 266. Print

Jefferson, Thomas. The Declaration of Independence. World of Ideas. Ed. Lee Jacobus. Boston:

                St. Martin’s Press, 2000. 80-83. Print.

King, Martin Luther, Jr. “Letters from a Birmingham Jail.” World of Ideas. Ed. Lee Jacbous.

Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2010. 220. Print

Leopold, Aldo. “The Land Ethic.” World of Ideas. Ed. Lee Jacbous. Boston: Bedford St.

Martin’s, 2010. 749. Print

Tzu, Lao. Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching. World of Ideas. Ed. Lee Jacobus. Boston: St. Martin’s

                Press, 2000. 24-33. Print.

Pictures Cited

Beale, S. (2007, September 21). Kentucky State Capitol Building Frankfort, KY. Retrieved Decemebr 14, 2011, from LaughingSquid: http://laughingsquid.com/kentucky-state-capitol-building-frankfort-ky/