Making a Difference: A Lesson in Legacy I felt a rush of excitement after being called to the office to leave, as any high schooler would, but this time seemed different. I felt sick as I collected my things and started my way to the office. Walking in, I saw the secretary standing behind her desk with a distressed look on her face. It became clear that something was horribly wrong. As I approached her, she informed me that something had happened to my grandpa and that I would get picked up shortly to be taken to the hospital. Upon arrival, my grandpa laid in an unconscious state caused by bleeding within his brain from a stroke. I saw many people I’ve never seen before while sitting in the waiting room. One after another, they came and …show more content…
As unhealthy as it seems, it’s almost fostered in schools today. Where students in honors classes are held to a higher standard, separated from everyone else who didn’t make the cut. We are a class divided. Walking into the lunchroom, I often feel like a stranger in a class I’ve been a part of since kindergarten. From there I ask myself how I’ll be remembered when I graduate. A superb class ranking? A solid score on a geometry final? My answers were insignificant. What I had been defining myself as throughout my school years had no meaning to the odyssey that is this life. I had this epiphany shortly after my grandpa’s passing. I began to realize that it’s not the accomplishments or achievements of social status that’s important but instead the legacy that one leaves. Loretta Stewart wrote about how a mirror altered her mindset forever, she writes, “The mirror meant nothing without the stories behind it.Therefore, I will pass on the reflections that the mirror witnessed” (Stewart 17). Stewart’s words resonate to my circumstance. A life lead by merely academic and other societal success is one led by a blind man, mindlessly driving down a disastrous
“Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” This mantra from Margaret Mead is a somewhat humorous yet slightly satirical spin on how people tend to think of themselves as one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable human specimens. However, one English teacher from Wellesley High School takes this critique one step further with his polemic presentation at the school commencement. David McCullough, a Massachusetts English teacher, gave a seemingly somber sendoff to his graduates in 2012, with a speech that contained some unapologetically harsh sentiments. However, by looking past the outwardly dismal surface of the speech, the students can infer a more optimistic message. By incorporating devices of asyndeton, paradox, antimetabole, and anadiplosis, McCullough conveys to each student that even though none of them is unique, their commonality is not a fault they all have merit and should strive to view the world through a more selfless lens.
When I hear the word “legacy,” I often feel intimidated because I instinctively compare myself with those who have accomplished something significant. In fact, I get the impression that I am disadvantaged, or strictly speaking, useless, compared to those who are leaders. I feel that my fate prevents me from meeting new opportunities, which ultimately impedes me from making great accomplishments. However, after reading “Home of the Free” by Wendell Berry, I am forced to riffle through my life span and smile at the great accomplishments that I, as a “disadvantaged” kid, have taken pride in. Berry’s thesis can be summarized by a quote from the famous existentialist Friedrich Nietzsche, who wrote, “If you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire.” Nietzsche establishes the notion that, in life, we should not avoid “the necessary work of human life” and only seek pleasure and peace. This notion, which is what comprises Berry’s concept of “satisfaction,” makes me ponder everything in life that can make existence prove worthwhile.
In the essay “Achievement of Desire”, author Richard Rodriguez, describes the story of our common experience such as growing up, leaving home, receiving an education, and joining the world. As a child, Rodriguez lived the life of an average teenager raised in the stereotypical student coming from a working class family. With the exception, Rodriguez was always top of his class, and he always spent time reading books or studying rather than spending time with his family or friends. This approach makes Rodriguez stand out as an exceptional student, but with time he becomes an outsider at home and in school. Rodriguez describes himself as a “scholarship boy” meaning that because of the scholarships and grants that he was receiving to attend school; there was much more of an expectation for him to acquire the best grades and the highest scores. Rodriguez suggests that the common college student struggles the way he did because when a student begins college, they forget “the life [they] enjoyed
Every day in our lives, we desire to be perfect to please others. No matter how hard we try, if we do not achieve the concept of being perfect, then we would feel like failures. For example, every year in the Olympics, a new crowned Olympic champion receiving a gold medal persuades young athletes to worry over winning a medal in every competition they compete. If they do not win a medal in a certain competition, then all their hopes are vanished for the next competition. This action shows how if we do not strive to emulate other people’s achievements, then we will not stand out from the rest of our population. In “Suicide Note” composed by Janice Mirikitani, Mirkitani describes the speaker as a college student who kills herself after not receiving a perfect grade point average. When people look at her body lying down on a cover of snow, they perceive that her suicide is due to her inability of becoming perfect. However, on a deeper meaning, the suicide symbolizes her inability of realizing the concepts of family love, hard work, and happiness.
Many are expected to aspire to being a professional football or basketball player, not to being a senator or a college professor. Their sense of self is molded by the social expectations
It had been a rough couple of weeks for our hospital. Just the week before this day two grown men had been pinned under the currents of a local river and drowned. It felt like hours standing there waiting in dismay for the ambulance to arrive. When we finally heard the blaring sound of the truck backing up we scurried to our places, ready to go. It’s such a surreal feeling to see someone trying to be resuscitated.
My Legacy Leader is LTC Brian A. Coppersmith, USA, Ret. LTC Coppersmith exemplified Army leadership from his character, presence, and intellect to his ability to lead, develop and achieve. LTC Coppersmith’s leadership ability directly affected me as a Human Intelligence Collection Sergeant operating under his command in garrison pre-deployment, and while deployed forward to Iraq. The example that LTC Coppersmith set for me is the foundation that I have used to guide each of my actions on as a leader. It is my hope that I will be able to positively influence and inspire at least one Soldier in the same manner that LTC Coppersmith inspired and influenced me.
“One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.”- Shannon L. Alder, American author. Even with all the temptation and pressure we feel just to fit in today's society, or to be normal, it's crucial that you hold on to your passions, goals, dreams, values, and to hold on to yourself. Being yourself is very hard to do especially in today’s society. Such as the short story “Initiation” by Sylvia Plath.
After visiting my grandparents several times I began to explore the hospital floor. Although shy at first, I began to talk with the patients and better understand their situations and difficulties. Each patient had his or her unique experiences. This diversity sparked an interest to know each patients individualized story. Some transcended the normal capacity to live by surviving the Holocaust. Others lived through the Second World War and the explosive 1960’s. It was at this time I had begun to service the community. Whenever a patient needed a beverage like a soda from the machine or an extra applesauce from the cafeteria, I would retrieve it. If a patient needed a nurse I would go to the reception desk and ask for one. Sometimes I played checkers or chess with them during lunch break. I also helped by mashing their food to make it easier to swallow. Soon, however, I realized that the one thing they devoured most and had an unquenchable thirst for was attention and the desire to express their thoughts and feelings. Through conversing and evoking profoundly emotional memories, I bel...
Just like Richard Rodriguez one can have struggles with school and home, for instance at home one is taught to speak their mind, told that everyone will understand. At home formal does not exist; serious and organized is an option. Yet at school one must learn to think before speaking, to raise your hand and to make sure you sound just like everyone else. At school one is taught to not make a fool out of themselves, to be serious and formal to be just like everybody else. But yet again as a student, although one has been taught to be like everyone else, one can still feel like an outsider, like Rodriguez describes you still don’t fit in. As a student one must learn the difference between formal and informal and when to use both, for some students like me formal and serious might be the only way to socialize. And just like Rodriguez one
Summer vacation, and school ends for about three months, and then you have as much fun as you can, then back to school… right? Well I had to go to summer school, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Everything was going fine, I had a job after summer school, and that was going fine as well. They say that summer is supposed to be fun and exciting, and it usually is for me and my family. However in July my father started coughing up blood. My father usually doesn’t make it his top priority to go to the doctors, so he waited about four weeks until he really didn’t feel good.
Let’s flash back in time to before our college days. Back to then we had lunch trays filled with rubbery chicken nuggets, stale pizza, and bags of chocolate milk. A backpack stacked with Lisa Frank note books, flexi rulers, and color changing pencils. The times where we thought we wouldn’t make it out alive, but we did. Through all the trials and tribulations school helped build who I am today and shaped my future. From basic functions all the way to life-long lessons that helped shape my character.
Ever since I was a child, I’ve possessed a love for a medium that’s still popular even to this day and possibly will be for all eternity, superheroes. Growing up, I had an epiphany, that whatever occupation I pursued in the future, it would involve me writing stories that featured incredible superheroes. In a nutshell, I dream of being the next Stan Lee, the creator of Spiderman. As the years went by, I began to set goals, and execute my plan. I am on my way, turning my childhood dreams into reality. I’ve created my superheroes, and during high school, I published my first novel, Champions of Integrity. Champions of Integrity, is about a group of superheroes on a quest to restore integrity in a challenged futuristic society.
I wake up in this room. My mother is to my left crying with her face in the palms of her hands. My dad, he paces the floor with his hands in his pockets. I am scared I can barely remember what has transpired. As my mother stands and looks at me square in the eyes, the nurse comes and says with a grin on her radiant face “Hello, Mr. Howard. How are you feeling?” I attempt to sit up, but my body is aching. My dad hurries over to help, but it was no use the pain was overbearing. I began to weep and apologize. My dad with a stern look on his face says, “Andra, you are fine now just relax”. How could I relax? I am stuck in this room with no memory of what happened.
Years ago I had the most terrifying, shocking day of my life. I had between seven or eight years when this happened. The day before the accident, all my family was at my grandfather’s house. We all were eating the food my mother and my aunts brought, telling jokes at the dinner table. Meanwhile, I was playing with my cousins in the backyard. Everyone was enjoying the family meeting. As the time passed by and everyone was about to go home, my mother suggested the idea that we all should go at my grandparent’s ranch next day, since everyone was in town we all could have the chance to go. Everyone liked the idea. It was the perfect time to go because it was a weekend. As they all agreed to go, they begun to decide who bring what to the gathering. Who would have thought that thanks to that suggestion, I would lead me to the hospital the day of the reunion.