The word opportunity has been stressed to me my whole life and has caused me to really ponder its true definition. On my quest to find the significance of opportunity I first began to think of the different types of freedoms that I’ve been presented with on a daily basis. From the simple things, such as being able to breathe, wake up, and see, to the more substantial matters such as freedom, education, and shelter. After listing a seemingly infinite examples of personal liberties in my head, I realized there is no “true” definition to the word. What I found out is that opportunity is whatever you make the word out to be. I came to the realization that the question I should be asking is “If the definition is so ambiguous why is it so important?” …show more content…
I began to think about the privileged life I live and how it came to be. To me opportunity could be portrayed through the efforts of my parents to finance me through an elite private school, driving me 30 minutes every morning for three years before work. While the public school was just around the corner. Opportunity could also be my mother and her parents emigrating from Jamaica to the U.S in search of a better life. A better life so that they could establish a home and future possibilities for themselves and family to come, such as myself. Or it could even just be me studying, working, and traveling to further my education so I can provide opportunities to others. However, the example that stands out the most to me, is my luxury of having a stable family environment. From having both my parents involved and available throughout my whole life, to having three loving siblings, all the way to my supportive extended family. They have presented me with so many chances to succeed and prosper, a chance that not everyone receives. Without my family, the goals I have achieved and set out to attain are not possible, the little things I enjoy such as playing sports would not be available, but most importantly the support I need to be successful would not be present. This example by far had the biggest impact on my definition of
Everyday we have the chance to make her own opinions and give reason to our own voice. We have the chance to live in a country that encourages freedom in society, which separate ourselves from any restrictions imposed upon by authority, actions or any political views. liberty is the power we possess to act as we please through freedom and independence. But what happens when we choose to give away our basic liberties for temporary safety? Benjamin Franklin once stated, “They who give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Those who decide to give away their personal freedoms for something that is temporary do not see the value in the long-lasting gift called freedom. In
In Eric Foner’s book, The Story of American Freedom, he writes a historical monograph about how liberty came to be. In the book, his argument does not focus on one fixed definition of freedom like others are tempted to do. Unlike others, Foner describes liberty as an ever changing entity; its definition is fluid and does not change in a linear progress. While others portray liberty as a pre-determined concept and gradually getting better, Foner argues the very history of liberty is constantly reshaping the definition of liberty, itself. Essentially, the multiple and conflicting views on liberty has always been a “terrain of conflict” and has changed in time (Foner xv).
The interpretation of freedom can sometimes be viewed differently among people, which creates the pursuit of liberty to be much more arduous. Property, the right to vote, and the color of your skin, all contribute to the equality or inequality we face when searching to create a society based on a populations overall needs and whether or not we have a voice in electing our representatives. Freedom is a burdensome idea that is defined differently among society and leads to several areas of conflict and confusion. Even though people have signed petitions and laws to create freedom, several instances have emerged documenting how freedom and equality are harder to gain. In order to eliminate oppression in any environment, it is necessary to level
Since the beginning of humanity, a large part of humankind’s focus was directed towards survival. A person’s primary function is to survive and reproduce. As society progresses the the more contemporary of what is expected today, success has become jointed with how an individual works with others and less on how much they achieve by themselves. Mencken wrote that “the average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.” In comparison to modern beliefs this notion is quite true. The average American may say they love freedom, but just what kind of freedom are they talking about? For the majority, what they mean is that they want a safe environment where people can do what they want within reason and not bring about harm or discomfort
Stricken with rickets, attention deficit disorder, a severed facial nerve, and being voted "most likely to end up in the electric chair" by his fifth grade class, this individual triumphed over many obstacles. As an aspiring writer and actor he was rejected as an extra in the film The Godfather and was persuaded to switch careers for more realistic goals. Sparks of genius were recognized in his script writing, but he was told only legitimate actors would have a chance at performing the title roles.
“You need surgery.” Just a few weeks before a national basketball tournament, these words would change my life forever. Basketball is my true passion that is a part of who I am. Unfortunately, I experienced failure at meeting my athletic aspirations, due to an injury. Although my particular injury was out of my control, I constantly felt ashamed that I could not completely fulfill my athletic goals as I had hoped. I felt I had let everyone down who had been there for me and supported me. This injury has also shaped me and changed my perspective on how I see and appreciate certain things.
Over time the idea of freedom and liberty has changed. Americans from the forefathers to present have had an ever evolving idea of what is personal freedom. What should the government regulate, what is the most vital right to guarantee freedom? These ideas have ranged from civil liberties to economic stability. Personal freedom also had a different meaning to Americans depending on their race, social class and gender.
Some life lessons are better to be learned at an early stage at life and for my situation it’s good that I did. I learned that one should never depend on others when it comes to doing your own work. You have to work hard to get what you want, you can’t just wait for others to do it for you. This is one of the toughest lessons I learned and it’s good that I learned it. Although, it was tough for me the way I learned it.
The prompt for this essay is, “Does freedom need to be won more than once?” In my opinion, it does and it has to be won with every generation. I think even though there are laws ensuring our rights, they are not always upheld. For example, women and men are supposed to be equal, but in some situations they get paid less. In this essay, I will argue that our freedoms must continually be earned. For instance, the Revolutionary War was fought to gain independence from Britain, the Civil War was fought to abolish slavery, and the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the 1910s to 1920s was aimed to allow women to vote.
Freedom remains the sole basis for American society as we know it. Without freedom the great nation of America would have never been founded. To understand the true principles of freedom, one must understand the scope of the word. Philosophical freedom encompasses the ability to make choices without restraints, while political freedom is the state of being free rather than in physical confinement. Despite the importance of these ideas to our founding fathers, freedom has lost much of its importance in modern American society. The failure to stress the importance of freedom has diminished the quality of life for the entire American populous
The idea of liberty and freedom runs widely across the United States of America, influencing the people’s beliefs and judgments. Even though many Americans share this communal belief in equality, they are still yet at an unrest in finding a balance concerning rights and freedom within the governmental system. Whether restrictions should apply to maintain the order of “political equality” and “equality of opportunity,” or should people consider “laissez-faire capitalism” the better option, the issues are critically debated upon worldwide (We the People 24-25). These three notions all share a similar quality in trusting individual rights to the people based on their common belief in freedom, nevertheless the levels of restrictions continually differentiate alongside their purposes.
Many authors have addressed the concept of true freedom in their work; in letters, essays, short stories, and memoirs. The definition of true freedom has been debated, but there are a few aspects of true freedom that almost all authors seem to agree on – safety, the ability to freely express oneself, and the right to live without been oppressed by the government. If one of these principles is missing, no person can achieve true freedom.
being able to help other people so they don’t have to go through the same things that you have.
Let’s start with something simple. Oxymorons. Let’s say you’re getting ready for a job interview and as you’re leaving the house, someone yells out behind you, “Just Act Natural, you’ll be fine.” You get in the car and the only thing you get on your mind is “acing natural.” A person can’t act and be natural at the same time and the entire time you’re driving to the job interview, you’re thinking, what can I do to act more natural. That, my friend, is an oxymoron and can easily be mis-interrupted. You’ve heard of them before. They can easily be defined as a couple of words contradicting one another but used as a fixed expression. A couple of examples, found missing, same difference, good grief, and airline food.
There is a secret in life; the path pave with success is the same path pave with dangers; the course with success and dangers is the road of opportunity. Countless numbers of dictionaries describe this term in a monotonous fashion, “a favorable moment,” in effect, contributes to the lack of substantial meaning perceive by humans. The word opportunity is intricately significant in meaning and is vital for success: consisting of misconceptions such that opportunities are forever, symbolic in structure, composing of two components, and essential to life, the primary element that is necessary to develop achievements.