Saturday, March 21, 2020

I Want Your Ugly free essay sample

A pigeon once nested in the front courtyard of my house. It moved grotesquely and could not fly, its physicality a result of birth defects. Neither my family nor I felt a necessity to relocate the unfortunate creature, though a sadness crept through me every time I was reminded of its existence. One day, I noticed a second, heftier pigeon in the courtyard, pecking at our resident bird’s mangled body every time it drew near. My poor pigeon tried desperately to befriend his visitor, but was met only with aggression. I understand that in natural world untouched by human will the defected are typically abandoned or ignored, but the sight of this incident broke my heart. I did not try to scare away the hostile bird for fear of simultaneously spooking my pigeon. Instead, I instinctively located my camera and snapped shots of this interaction for several minutes. If I could not help my friend, I could at least be a witness to his struggle. We will write a custom essay sample on I Want Your Ugly or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page My thoughts drifted to Lenny in Of Mice and Men, Leper Lepellier in A Separate Peace, and Ben in Ben X: lost souls that long so dearly for companionship and acceptance, but who are rejected for their inadequacies by the standards of society, leaving behind haunting, unsavory auras. I thought of my volunteer work at ARCH, the Arizona Recreation Center for the Handicapped, and my constant pursuit to show love and to listen to those whose minds and bodies prevent them from functioning normally. My stewing mind remembered a quote it once read and processed by Elie Wiesel that said â€Å"the opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.† As a journalist, I aspire to be a witness to those whose problems—be them physical, mental, environmental, or political—are avoided, or simply ignored, because they are too uncomfortable or disgusting to confront. In the eloquent words of the great Lady Gaga, â€Å"I want your ugly (†¦) I want your everything†; I want my life and its work to demonstrate that no living component of this beautiful world is undeserving of love and respect. My pigeon has since disappeared, his fate unknown, but not the stirring compassion he evoked in me. Taking photographs and writing fill me with the joy of expression, but remembering my pigeon and all that he symbolizes awakens in me more than satisfaction with myself, but purpose in using my talents to help others.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

All [Woman and] Men Are Created Equal essays

All [Woman and] Men Are Created Equal essays It is disturbing to see that in society today I see as many unjust women as men. Most women have declared that women and men should have equal rights and I, as a woman, have to agree. However, many women today are abusing their rights for their benefit. What happened to equal rights? We may have equality in rights but we are not created equal, yet in some situations, e.g., in the workplace, many women lash out their anger and blame men. We are put on earth to do different things. We are built differently and we think differently. Naturally, women and men will have disagreements now and then. However, women must recognize that misusing their rights to take revenge for what men did in the past will not solve anything. Many women still believe that most men today view women as inferior, but when the fight for equality becomes distorted, women can be as sexist, prejudice and biased as men. Many men have subtly degraded women for many years. Its either that many women do not notice it or choose to look the other way. In the essay, Invisible Women, Yun Yung Choi explains how one man, Confucius, changed the lives of women for the worse in Korea. Choi states, Throughout the first half of Koryo period, which lasted from 918 to 1392, and throughout the Yi dynasty, women were important and contributing members of their society and not marginal and dependent as they later became. Women were, in large extent, in command of their own lives. She also states, With the introduction of Confucianism, however, the rights and privileges that women enjoyed were confiscated (187). In her essay, Choi quotes from Confucian proverbs such as Men are honored, but women are abased and A daughter is a robber women who carries household wealth away when she marries (187). Still today, many men have the same thoughts that Confucius had. I have worked with battered and ab...