We can and must do better
I may be wrong but I sense at least in myself that a writer has a compelling beginning. Mine was in the home of my parents, in the schools of my youth, in the service forming a worldview.
In her parenting, my mother was fond of paraphrasing the counsel of the Scottish poet Robert Burns: “Oh the gift to gie us (what a gift it would be) to see ourselves as others see us.”
One reference has Burns’ original as “O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us/ To see oursels as ithers see us! / It wad frae mony a blunder free us,/ An’ foolish notion: / What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us, / An’ ev’n devotion!” and its Standard English translation as: And would some Power the small gift give us / To see ourselves as others see us! / It would from many a blunder free us,/ And foolish notion: / What airs in dress and gait would leave us,/ And even devotion!
This is the final stanza of Burns’ poem “To a Louse”. He composed it after seeing a woman in church, dressed to the nines and, unbeknownst to her, further adorned with a parasite in her hair. One analysis calls the poem a reflection “that, to a louse, we are all equal prey and would be disabused of our pretensions if we were to see ourselves through each others’ eyes.” The poet may have been also “musing to himself on how horrified and humbled the pious would be if aware of harboring in the hair a common parasite.”
In America, long before we fell in love with a technology that executes wars by remote control, before patriot became synonymous with commerce, careless consumption and indifference, we used to embrace with pride our beloved “Old Glory.” Now, and for a long time, this flag of brilliant colors and stars and stripes we have desecrated with the...
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... fear and change our thinking. “Much of our thinking is being distorted as it is based on the emotion of fear of ‘otherness’, she says, “We see other people and countries, through the lens of fear which leads to hatred and demonization of others whom we see as separate and different, because of religion, race, class, etc. We have allowed fear to be our master but there is another way to think and live and we are challenged to change both individually and collectively to bring about real change in our world.”
Our next stage of evolution as the human family, Máiread Maguire says, “is to embrace nonviolence.” This means, “rejecting violence in all its forms and solving our problems together through nonviolence, human rights and international law. … We are challenged to stop killing each other, and instead use alternatives to violence in order to solve our problems.”
¬¬¬Though most American people claim to seek peace, the United States remains entwined with both love and hate for violence. Regardless of background or personal beliefs, the vast majority of Americans enjoy at least one activity that promotes violence whether it be professional fighting or simply playing gory video games. Everything is all well and good until this obsession with violence causes increased frequency of real world crimes. In the article, “Is American Nonviolence Possible” Todd May proposes a less standard, more ethical, fix to the problem at hand. The majority of the arguments brought up make an appeal to the pathos of the reader with a very philosophical overall tone.
...able to showcase the great power that nonviolence could have on the world and how by using methods such as that one would be more successful than if one used violence. As Mahatma Gandhi once said “Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.”
When people see “Old Glory” flying, the experience should take their breath away. From the Omaha beaches in Normandy, where over three million soldiers stormed the German Nazis, to Iwo Jima, where the exhausted marines raised the proud flag, to the h...
Despite the current scrutiny that her race faces she asserts to the reader that her race and color define her as a person and does not determine her identity. Despite the mindset that most of her peers keep about the inequality of race, she maintains an open mind and declares to the reader that she finds everyone equal. Thus proving herself as a person ahead of her own time.
For those who want to light Old Glory on fire, stomp all over it, or spit on it to make some sort of "statement," I say let them do it. But under one condition: they MUST get permission from three sponsors. First, you need permission of a war veteran. Perhaps a Marine who fought at Iwo Jima? The American flag was raised over Mount Surabachi upon the bodies of thousands of dead buddies. Each night spent on Iwo meant half of everyone you knew would be dead tomorrow, a coin flip away from a bloody end upon a patch of sand your mother couldn't find on a map.
A strong example of this flattery is seen in line 297, “What say’st thou, noble heart....
“...Guarding the door of Darkness, knitting black wool as for a warm pall, one introducing, introducing continuously to the unknown, the other scrutinizing the cheery and foolish faces with unconcerned old eyes.” (Page 14).
...nishing desecration of the flag dilutes the very freedom that makes this emblem so revered, and worth revering."
There is much controversy surrounding the idea of patriotism and the iconography of the American flag in today’s society. Some believe patriotism is simply the act of supporting the decisions of the leaders of the country. Others say, to be patriotic, people should be outspoken and voice their oppositions to what is going on in the government. Opinions also differ on the idea of what the American flag represents. One opinion of the flags representation is that the flag represents our history, and the formerly mentioned idea of patriotism. Others believe the flag also represents our history as a nation, but these beliefs focus much more heavily on the negative aspects of our history; such as slavery and other injustices carried out by our nation. These people often believe we should find a new iconography for our country’s ideas of patriotism. As Barbara Kingsolver states in “And Our Flag Was Still There,” “Patriotism seems to be falling to whoever claims it loudest, and we’re left struggling to find a definition in a clamor of reaction” (Pg. 1). Therefore, every American’s duty is to define patriotism amongst the clamor of reaction, recapture the American flag’s representation, and create a new icon for the flag.
In this essay it will be argued that nonviolence encourages violence by the state and corporations. The ideology of nonviolence creates
First, there is Martin Luther King Jr. who practices nonviolence. He does not believe violence to be an effective approach for long-lasting change. In fact, he states in his Nobel Prize Lecture that, “[he is] not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results (King, 4).” The key phrase is “momentary results” which means that violence only solves a problem for a certain amount of time. His example includes how violence won independence for nations. However, no set peace is achieved by it. King regards it as temporary peace. In fact, he states that it creates more complex, unresolved issues, with a never-ending series of self-destruction. He claims that, “It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers (King, 4).” All of those claims just portray destruction in itself. There seemingly lacks a positive ring. Instead, he preaches nonviolence because it concerns the majority of the people and their goals concerns the peace and harmony of the community. His nonviolent approaches include persuasion with the use of words. However, if that fails...
venturing higher than my lot. Shall that be shut to man, which to the beast is open. (Milton,
Butt, John (Ed). The Poems of Alexander Pope. A one-volume edition of the Twickenham text with selected annotations. London. Methuen & Co Ltd. 1963. First published in University Paperbacks 1965, Reprinted with corrections 1968. Reprinted 1977;
Eye for an eye leaves the world blind. Non-violence has been proven to be the best and least destructive way to resolve conflicts. The main problem that arises with violence is that they quickly reach a point where the involved people and parties are only interested in defeating the opponent. And in the process, the objective and the goal of the movement and struggle is lost. Some of the best examples of non-violence in the recent times are from Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela. All of them were successful in exercising this philosophy. Gandhi won independence for India, Nelson Mandela achieved independence for South Africa, and Martin Luther King Jr. got the Civil Rights Bill passed and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Nonviolence is the best way to resolve conflicts as it is a philosophy that achieves resolution without causing harm to others.
“If half thy outward graces had been placed upon thy thoughts and counsels of thy heart! But fair the well, most foul, most fair. Farewell, the pure and impiety and impious purity. For the I’ll lock up all the gates of love and on my eyelids shall conjecture heading to turn ...