Summary & Response - A View form Mount Ritter

Summary:

Joseph T. O’Connor, an eighteen years old senior high school student in Stanton, is the author who writes this article. He tells us that an experience of mountain climbing to the top of Mount Ritter in northeastern California has changed his lifestyle and ideas. He describes his experience in detail and lifelike. According to paragraph two, he characterized his experience to the lightning. It struck a tree only about 20 feet from where he was standing. And, he tells us what he had experienced during his way to the top of mountain, such as lasting all day downpour, fumbling with the ropes with our frozen hands, and constructing their tents in the dark.
After this trip of mountain climbing, he thinks it will become the most fulfilling and stimulating experience in his whole life, at the same time, he feels born again. Meanwhile, he totally agrees what Robert Louis Stevenson had written, “Youth is wholly experimental.” because of his unforgettable trip. Surprisingly, he starts to think about his future, his goal, and what he needs to do. He was just a kid who thought he could do anything perfect on his own without any preparation before. However, he becomes a new person and understands what he should does now.


Response:

Life can be changed completely because of an unforgettable experience in your whole life. Just like the author, an eighteen-year-old senior high school student, change his mind and manner after this memorable experience of mountain climbing. He no longer does a childish person, who always flatters himself and ignores everything that parents and teachers suggest, and starts to think about his future and work hard. On occasion, we need a key point to make us grow up and be maturity, it could be a person, an experience, or even a book. No matter what it is, everyone has his/her own chance to grow up. For me, my life in club is the chance to make me become mature. Regardless of in senior high or in university, it absolutely teaches me how to think and stop being like a childish person. I learn a lot of things in there so that I can’t agree with the author’s perspective anymore. “There will be mistakes, but there will also be success.” We need to have a lot of experiences in youth so that we can understand current events and expand our knowledge. In a nutshell, the more experiences we have, the more knowledge we will get.

Summary & Response - Ordinary People Produce Extraordinary Results

Summary:

When it comes to Rosa Parks, who is called mother of the civil rights movements, you must know what she had done on the bus. This movement, refusing to go to the back of bus, makes her become famous and celebrated. However, everyone only sees what she did and what powerful she is. No one tries to understand how to make her successful.
After the show that the author participated in, we could know Rosa Parks in detail. Before giving up her bus seat, “she had spent 12 years helping lead the NAACP chapter” and “had attended a 10-day training session” so that she could know more knowledge about racial discrimination and tries to change this kind of environment. Meanwhile, the media played an important role to fill our society with this belief. To sum up, Parks does not come out of nowhere. Even though she felt hesitant at first, she learns how to get over this feeling and keeps going straight without any fear.
Many people in the world always remember what the famous person had done, but they forget the most important thing, how much they have pay. At the same time, it could be the most useful thing to inspire our courage and conscience, such as their failings and uncertainties. Just like the problems that Rosa Parks faces and how she solved them. In conclusion, a hero is just an ordinary person in the beginning. When you act, you have the chance to shape the history.

Response:

It has no reasons that heroes, such as Rosa Parks, come out without paying any efforts. No matter what makes them become a legend for a long time, they need to pay a lot of efforts to achieve their goal, which is such a difficult and hard work for them to do. It could take them a lifetime to become successful, such as Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln. However, most of people only focus on their success, and forget what they had paid for that. For example, we only know that Thomas Alva Edison invents an electric light, which makes him become a legend, but most of us do not know that it takes him about five years to finish this work. Meanwhile, the reason why Rosa Parks become the mother of the civil rights movement is what she had experienced and learned in her youth life. Because of these reasons, she realized that everyone in this world is equal so that she starts to fight with her own and her racial rights as possible as she can. In conclusion, the most important thing that we need to focus on is not what their goal is, is why they become successful and what efforts they had paid because it can help us feel more courageous and confident effectively.

Summary & Response-Three Passions I Have Lived For

Summary

Three Passions I Have Lived For, written by Bertrand Russell who is a British philosopher, talks about the most important three things – love, knowledge and the suffering of human beings- the author Bertrand Russell aspires after and how these three things affect him throughout his whole life. Bertrand Russell points out that, at the beginning, the first thing he longs for is love. To Bertrand Russell, love is a kind of fantastic and wonderful thing which let him be ravished with joy. Because of love, loneliness in Bertrand’s mind can be eliminated. Because of love, Bertrand’s heart can be saved from the suffering. Love can lead him to heaven.

The second thing Bertrand care about is knowledge. He wants to know the deep thoughts of human beings; moreover, he wonders why the stars shine in the dark sky. He is eager to gain the knowledge he does not know on earth.

After chasing love and knowledge, Bertrand says that pity brings him back to the real word as soon as he almost arrives at the heaven. Because all people are born to be human beings, people have to feel lonely and despairing when they suffer from torturous things.

Because of love and knowledge, Bertrand finds the reasons and meaning to live in hopes. In addition, Bertrand has the courage to face the suffering in front of him and solve them.

Response

“What are the most important three things which are worth pursuing throughout my life?” I ask to myself. After pondering, I think that those are love, family and friendship.

The first thing I am concerned about is family. We all are born in one family although the real “home” is not really existent in everyone’s life. To almost people, they are born in the world because of their parents; there is invisible but indivisible connection between parents and their children. In my thoughts, it is predestination that we can be born in the same family, meet each other and have so much time getting along with my family members. Because of these precious reasons, we should cherish the family members around us and treat them well.

I believe that, secondly, everyone needs friends; friendship is an important element to everyone. When we go outside from home, there are no parents caring about us. We are bound to care ourselves; however, there are still some situations that we cannot deal with. At the moment, friends around play an important role to us. I have a memorable experience that one of my friends save me when I need help. Once I had a serious stomachache at midnight, only one of my friends can come to the house I live and bring medicine which can take me to heaven from hell.

Last but not the least, love is the priority I consider throughout my life. I deeply believe that to love and to be loved are both happiness. When we feel depressed and need help, there are always someone giving us a hand; on the contrary, when we have happiness and enough ability, we can help others who need us.

In conclusion, no matter friends, family or love, I am deeply convinced that we should appreciate people around us and things we have. Because we never know what will happen in the future, we should seize the moment and continue to live seriously.

Summary and Response: Ordinary People Produce Extraordinary Results

Summary:

Paul Rogat Loeb presents a new conception of heroic figures. He once were on the same show with Rosa Parks who refuse to give in the front seat to a white person, and He turned out to find Rosa doesn’t emerges out all at once; she had spent twelve years helping leading local NCCAP chapter and attending several courses. Specifically, she has been a member of a certain movement when achievement was still untouchable.

Paul said her critical step participating in the movement by refusing go to the back of the bus fits into the feature of fabled movement. Yet the conventional retelling usually enhances the standard that seems too far to reach; suggesting heroes bobs up alone to take vital actions. He said the belief has permeated through the whole society, partly attributes to media’s selectively report of a certain historic event. Furthermore, publics consider most people’s action as futile efforts or insufficient ability. An activist from Atlanta said this phenomenon hurt their scarifies.

Lastly, Paul concludes that people are misled to public myth that neglects the positive encouragement Parks brings with. She was at first hesitant, gradually become confidence, and last sparkling on the stage. Therefore, he urges people to struggle for success despite uncertainties and doubts are waiting ahead.

Response:

When it comes to famous historic event, many people could first come up with the most well-known great man. Rarely do they know others who also play a role in the event. Additionally, people sometimes exaggerate these huge figures’ virtue, forgetting that they also pay some expense; making normal people feel these great dedicators are too extraordinary that seems impossible to keep pace with.

Actually, most of people always merely look upon on their achievement rather than consider about their background. Some people praise for giant’s terrific achievement while disincentive to other’s diligent works. I think this thought submerge many contributors’ capability, even frustrate people who have spent long time endeavor to help the society. I remember once a teacher taught me a philosophy of life when I was at junior high: “Do as possible as you can, and fear not about others. No matter how other depreciate your efforts, go persistently and you will find a stage that belongs to you.” This inspiration is correspond to Paul’s article. Just as he wants to convey, the significant story behind every somebody can bring people more power instead of blindly worshipping. Success doesn’t come out of thin air; it is a process of many efforts and decisions.

Sometimes we hesitate; don’t know how to do in the next step. Sometimes we frustrated; don’t have any energy to go forward. However, these challenges are inevitable. Although we may not achieve something as astonishing as great man has done, we must never forget that they were doing their best in the past. What really precious is the force to get through quagmire. They did affect the society, or the world; likewise, we can also do something to benefit our society. Ultimately, one should also recognize others’ efforts that are behind the stage, for they help great man push something through without receiving any feedback.

Summary and Response: The Decline of Neatness

Summary:

In this article, Norman Cousins is talking about the issue of the climate of untidiness; the situation is as he said:” the sloppiness virus has spread to all sectors of society.”

The first example is the change of wearing style. People nowadays like blue jeans that are far from clean and intact, reflecting the conception of desperate conformity. He thought what they try to do are no more than the same style they want to keep away from. Another sloppiness takes form of speech. Cousin consider that the tidiness of language is as important as dress, for English is one of the best derivation in the world when it comes to linguistic treasure. Nevertheless, not only people communicate in incoherence sentence, but also speech itself goes beyond the slovenly to violent. The overflow of improper speech leads to offhand attitude toward cruel-related incidents. Cousins argues that people are becoming relentless and neglectful of all brutality and violence due to such TV and movies.

Overall, these phenomenon in consequence affect human relationship badly, which can be easily found everywhere. People’s recession of emotion and overexposedness of privacy affairs makes them senseless toward things. Finally, Cousins concludes that he demand not for Victorian attitudes, although he wish people’s sloppiness will disappear and go back to their own track.

Response:

Sloppiness does make people become more arbitrary in many aspects. People speak with segment, incoherent phrase; sometimes even use language as a weapon to insult others. Their minds are going away from respect, worsen people’s relationship. However, I wonder about the definition of the word “slavish”. If pursue sloppiness is really a kind of slavish uniform, why it is?

Personally speaking, slavish conformity means someone who doesn’t really know what they are doing, just to follow the trend because many people are doing or elders tells them to do so. In this case, Cousin’s thought may mainly attributes to the phenomenon he had seen before. Moreover, the cutting-edge media affect people hugely since they are young; violence, sex, and bloody TV or movies are the cause to changes their minds. From these two circumstances, it seems plausible to conclude this kind of person as slavish conformity. However, another question comes: Can gracious things improve people’s emotion and relationship? I think it depends. If adult people are easily affected by both things, then the world must be promiscuous. One don’t need put on a set of rule toward people to hope what they ought to be, not everyone inwardly share the same thought. In addition, as soon as the sloppiness totally disappears, there will come out another kind of sloppiness: perfectness.

People are different, as a saying goes: “It goes all sorts to make a world.” As standpoint diverse from person to person, we should try to judge people as a whole, not by what they behave outwardly. It is impossible to change the world to Utopia-like society, neither past nor future. Who knows, maybe some people in the corner who look sloppiness, watch violent movies possess more wisdom than average people.

Summary and Response: A Generation of Bigots Comes of Age

Summary:

Richard Cohen said a worrying inclination has been found; the situation is like what he described: “the generation of bigots is coming of age.” This discovery is based on a survey conducted by two corporations famous for dependable public opinion research.

According to many opinion polls, people who had more education show better tolerance in several issues. Older people, who have the least education, would be the most intolerant group in a country. Recently, however, Anti-Defamation League found both older and younger American people share the same bias toward black people. Through a sequence of questions concerning black people, their attitude of bias has been lead out. The cause of this phenomenon is referred to age, for under-30 generation knowing nothing of recent history of civil right and severe discrimination. The other factor result in this finding is affirmative action. Many people receive inverse discrimination under several circumstances, which make them become prejudicial.

Although these statements don’t stand for the verification of bias attitudes, he said, it is true that both races have induced more discrimination. While the economic situation is in plight, racial intolerance would be more intense. Therefore, Richard suggests both black leaders and affirmative action programs evaluate their behavior and damage they had done before take in action.

Response:

Difference of tenet or appearance among races had triggered various problems over many generations. Stronger ethnic always infringe upon the weaker one; enslaving and ravaging innocent life. Uncountable victims of discrimination live under tough life.

It seems that the race problem has improves a lot nowadays. However,Richard put forth an important assertion that if people have not receive enough background knowledge of equalization, a new potential problem is predictable. Plus, the action of reverse discrimination should be taken seriously. Despite got insulted in the past; victim side should not take intense action against people who want to help them. No matter what happen before, all races are human is truth; no one has the right to tread other’s life just because of their color or even gender. From one of the books I had read, I had learned people’s original sin, which is by the way not about the conception of a certain religion. In the beginning, three races lives peacefully without any quarrel in a nation. This tranquil, however, is on the surface. They don’t express their discontent for the fear of rigid punishment of law. One day, conspirators abruptly overtake the nation, topple the regime, and deliver a provocative speech. The long term hatred was emerged out; even came the raid of monsters, they are still repelled each other. At last, the nation was destroyed from place to place, no race survived.

The story is thought-provoking, it is in many aspects implies the importance of collaboration, and above all, the notion of so-called “human”. It is not appearance that makes a human, but heart. People share the same sentiment, from happy to sad. Both strong and weak races could suffer the same pain and starvation when unknown disasters befall. Hence, people need to view other races in a new way; no more pure life should be sacrificed for nothing. After all, human don’t receive better treat from nature for their privilege.

Summary & Response – Mathabane: Appearance Are Destructive

Summary

Appearance Are Destructive, written by Mathabane, which is about the author’s sisters are discriminated by their appearance and their clothes in school. He hopes his sisters can learn better with modern textbooks, computers, and technology so he enrolled them at American local public school from South Africa. But despite these benefits, they were mocked by their homely clothes. After visiting other schools, the author knows that his sisters’ experiences are not unique.
In school, students know brands like Nike, Adidas and Calvin Klein more than Shakespeare and Zora Neale Hurston. Too many students lay too much stress on their appearance than their minds. Their competition is even not constructed on academic achievements but on who dresses more expensively or fashion. And comparing their parental love by how their parents are willing to pay money for them. At the same time, parents without paying money for their children’s appearance are considered cruel. Most students think that the more cool appearance they have, the more respect and status they get. And civil libertarians think that dress codes violate freedom of expression is wrong.
Finally, the author says that academic environment must have dress codes because they should create the proper learning environment and let students focus more on learning and less on materialism.

Response:

In this material world, it is not easy for students being attracted. Nowadays, more and more brands and material things attract students’ attention. That’s the reason why students will compete with each other. Modern world brings people more effective and more convenient; on the other hand, it also let people be more lazy and value external but not internal.

Why students will value appearance? The answer is bad society custom. For example, show girls, receptionists, models, and more and more occupations all need “a good appearance.” If you have a good appearance, your society status will ascend and other people will respect and flatter you. This vanity makes you satisfy. I think that nowadays, students pay more attention to their external and focus less on their minds. According to this condition, when they are growing up, most students become useless because they do not have profession and they cannot do anything well. They forget their duties, including studying and improving themselves.

For me, appearance is not the most important because except being a model, you cannot earn money or get anything by your good appearance. So I prefer improving my ability to making up myself.