Josh
Lykins
Section 1 -
Introduction
I am Josh Lykins,
my hometown is West Liberty Kentucky, I am a freshman at EKU studying criminal
justice, and a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. When I first came into
this class I was expecting it to be different than it is. Due to the amount of
homework that was given right off I was a little worried, but after being in it
for a few weeks I quickly learned that it was not that bad. This class has been
very enjoyable for me; I have been introduced to an abundance of information
not only in the area of English, but in history. It has broadened my knowledge
on topics such as government, justice, ethics and morality, and individualism.
This has helped me become a better-rounded individual on these subjects due to
the fact that I have studied the thoughts and opinions of such great writers
such as Gandhi, Machiavelli, Thomas Jefferson and others.
Section 2 –
Government
Government
is a very controversial topic. Many people have attempted to form what they
call an “ideal government.” I for one believe that there is not an “ideal
government.” Every form of government is going to be flawed in some way, but we
must realize that nothing is perfect and we must make the best of the
situation. Men such as Thomas Jefferon, Machiavelli, and Gandhi all expressed
their views on an ideal government, but the only persons ideas that are still
around today are Thomas Jefferson.
Machiavelli
and Gandhi are two totally different sides of the playing field, Gandhi being
very passive and against war and law is much different from Machiavelli who is
extremely pro war and law. Gandhi’s way of government is much too passive; it
is not human nature to obey laws without the fear of immediate consequence. His
belief in nonviolence would leave his civilization vulnerable to any form of
attack. A government based on the teachings of Gandhi would only result in pure
chaos. Machiavelli, however; believes that military and law should be the main
focus of a population. This leads to an uncomfortable lifestyle for people
living in this society. Unlike the two authors mentioned Thomas Jefferson’s
form of government has lasted over one hundred years and is still used today in
one of the world’s most powerful countries, he taken teachings from Gandhi such
as civil rights and freedom, and teachings from Machiavelli considering the
fact that America has one of the best military’s in the world. Jefferson is
truly the best of both worlds and in my opinion he and his companions have
developed the closest thing to an “ideal government.” In one of his most famous
quotes witch describes how he truly is for the people as well “Whenever any
form of government becomes destructive, it is the right of the people to alter
or abolish.” (Jefferson 80).
The
picture above describes my view of government because of the fact that it is
the declaration of independence a document written many years ago that still reigns
over all countries as (in my opinion) the best form of government so far.
Section 3 – Wealth
and Poverty
Living
in an era that demands economic success it is difficult to close the gap of
wealth and poverty. Andrew Carnegie and Kenneth Galbraith believe that the
wealthy have an obligation to assist the poor in a way that will give them the
opportunity to make a better life for themselves.
The
writers mentioned believe that the unbelievably wealthy should not waste there
money on insignificant items, but use their
wealth to assist not only unfortunate individuals but give many people the
opportunity to succeed through ways such as bettering a school in a poor city. As
Galbraith mentioned in the first sentence of The Gospel of Wealth “The problem of our age is the administration
of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and
poor in harmonious relationship” (Galbraith 391). This will give the children
in attendance a better chance to seek higher education and contribute to
society in a positive way. Giving money to charity’s such as school systems is
a great deal better than just handing the poor money for them to waste on
insignificant items that will not benefit them in a suitable way.
Taking
into consideration the Carnegie and Galbraith’s view on wealth, poverty and
charity we can attempt to help the less fortunate in better ways than simply
giving them the money they need. I believe that if we can achieve this goal it
will enhance the economic system as a whole by giving the poor a push to help
stimulate the economy by contributing to society through the workforce.
The
picture shown at the beginning of this section shows a poor girl on a chalk
board, this represents charity work for unprivileged children
Section
4 – Justice
In
the world today injustice can be found everywhere you turn, and the only way to
terminate injustice is to challenge it. There is no greater challenger to my knowledge
other than Martin Luther King JR. This man was cursed, humiliated, and put in
jail just to stand up for the unjust discrimination that was being done to his
people. In his Book Letter from
Birmingham jail he states “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here” (214).
Although he knew that his actions to stand up for justice would put him in jail
he still bared through and eventually it paid off and his dreams of equality came
true.
Civil
disobedience, if preformed in the correct way, is completely necessary for the
betterment of society. Henry David Thoreau was a great man like the King, and
during times of slavery hid slaves and helped them escape the clutches of the
south, and risking his own life in the process. This was an action that paved
the way for the Kings success. Without people who use civil disobedience for
what they know is right, the world would basically live under a dictatorship.
This is why we need people to take a stand of civil disobedience even in the
modern world today or else I fear that injustice will become more and more
common before we can even realize it.
The
picture shown above describes this section because it illustrates the disobedient
support equality witch is a large reason of why our justice system is today.
Section
5 – Ethics and Morality
Ethics and morality should be
the building blocks to a happy and successful society and is the guide to
personal enlightenment. In my experience these two words are very much the
same, they can be defined simply as good and bad, as a society this should
stressed on the individual to be held to a greater standard of living for the
betterment of society as a whole.
Those
who are not serious about living a life in which ethics and morality are priorities
to be successful will inevitably stoop to a level of crime and chaos, this is where
we often associate ethics and morality with religion. Iris Murdock gives a good
explanation to the ties of ethics and morality to religion in this statement “In
the background of many of these arguments lies a question about the relation of
morality to religion, the difference between them, and the definition of
religion.” (Murdoch 734).
For
one to truly be happy I believe they must be satisfied with the life that they
live. Aristotle Provides us with a good quote involving happiness “The majority
of men, as well as the cultured few, speak of it as happiness; and they would
maintain that to live well and to do well are the same thing as to be happy.”
(Aristotle 696). To me this means how well your life is spent on things that
matter such as family and friendship and not so much money and items. In my experience,
topics such as friends and family have truly made me the person I am today, and
without them I don’t know where I would be.
The
clip shown at the start of this paper portrays a family that is happy with each
other, this describes this section because they appear to be ethically sound
with only themselves as a family.
Section
6 – Individualism
Individualism is something that should
be taken very seriously, in the end the only thing you really have to show for
is who you are and what you have done with your life. Ralph Emerson Summed up
individualism in a short quote “To be great is to be misunderstood.” Emerson (265).
This is a very influential quote because it speaks for so much in such a short
saying. Nobody in this world is truly normal, everybody is weird in their own
way, some just choose not to show it, but in my opinion individualism is the outward
expression of you.
My
parents told me growing up that one of the most important things I need to
accomplish is to make a difference in a good way, and being the individual that
I intend to be I strive to rise above the norm of the people in my generation
today and try to be more polite, by doing things a simple as opening a door for
somebody, or holding the elevator that may make a difference in somebody’s day.
Typically
people that are brought up have similar personalities; this is where culture
comes into play. I do not agree with the fact that somebody is stereotypical to
their culture is not an individual, it is only human nature to follow that pack
subconsciously and not even know what is that you are following. Every culture
is going to be alike in some way whether it is fashion, music, or whatever it
up to the person to determine what truly makes them happy and not be afraid to
show it.
The
illustration above describes this section because the one fork is different
from the rest showing that it is an individual.
Section
7 – Conclusion
Coming
into my first semester college English class I really didn’t know what to
expect, I had heard that college English was really hard and that it is easy so
I was in the dark about everything. My personal experience with the class has
been a great one, I really enjoyed some of the topics we covered and I felt
like I learned a lot. I also really enjoyed the professor she did a great job
of making topics should be boring somewhat interesting, and appreciated her
compassion toward students.
Section
8 - Works Cited
Aristotle. “The Aim of Man”. Ed.
Lee A Jacobus. A World of Ideas:
Essential Readings for College Writers. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s 2010.
691-711. Print.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Self-Reliance”.
Ed. Lee A Jacobus. A World of Ideas:
Essential Readings for College Writers. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s 2010. 255-269.
Print.
Galbraith, John Kenneth. “The
Position of Poverty”. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. A
World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s 2010. 405-417 Print.
Jefferson, Thomas. “The Declaration
of Independence”. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. A
World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s 2010. 77-85. Print.
King Jr., Martin Luther. “Letter
from Birmingham Jail”. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. A
World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s 2010. 211-231. Print.
Murdoch, Iris. “Morality and
Religion”. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. A World of
Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s
2010. 729-743. Print.
Photographs Used:
Hello, my name is Chris
Brock. I’m a freshman at EKU. This course is English 101, a basic English course
that is a requirement for a bachelor’s degree and graduation. When I first
started the class, I knew that it wasn’t going to be a pushover like high
school English classes are. We hit the floor running with writing assignments
as soon as we got in there.
The first unit that was covered was government, we read
about a few people who had different ideas about how a government should be
ran. I think that a government should set the law and uphold it, only changing
it if it’s necessary to do so. The citizens play a huge part in a government. If
there were no citizens, the government wouldn’t have anything to govern. The citizen
should be an obedient person who will support their country and try to make it
better for everybody. My role that I play in government is that I’m an obedient
citizen who will always be loyal and try to help my country.
The second unit that we covered was wealth and poverty. I
think that the best way to close the gap would be to try to get the poor jobs
working for some money. Most of the people who are in poverty are the people
who have no job, so if they start working, they can get money instead of having
none at all. I think that it isn’t necessary because if we were all rich, the
price of everything in this world would be so high that the rich people today couldn’t
afford it. i try to help the poor the best that I can. If I can donate old
clothes, I will. If I get the chance to donate, I will. I love to help those
less fortunate than I. my aspirations for money is to do the best I can in
order to survive. I don’t need much more than that.
The third unit that we covered was justice. To me justice
is taking the reasonable measurement of punishment for a crime. There are definitely
examples of injustices in the world, the stoning of the Iranian woman would be
one, even though she committed crime in her country, being stoned to death just
seems too harsh and cruel. I would make it, somehow, to that people wouldn’t want
to break the law or commit crimes. Laws, unjust or not, are laws and should be
abided. If a law is broken, then punishment should be issued. I don’t fight
justice, but I would like to see it fought. What stops me is my physical power
and lack of wit for when someone tries to overpower me or outsmart me.
The fourth unit that we covered was ethics/morality. Ethical
behavior is behaving based on what is right, not what is cool or wrong. Some
unethical behaviors in our countries are prostitution. It is still going on,
despite the laws against them. I think we can, people can act good without
being religious. If someone does something good, they will feel good about themselves;
if they feel good about themselves they will be happy. I think that I am happy
compared to this because I know I’m a good person. In order for me to be happy,
I have to be myself, not who someone else wants me to be. I find happiness by
being with people I care about.
