Post by Kamilla Lestrange on Jan 12, 2009 15:02:11 GMT -5
Life is filled with sporadic pleasures and pain. The tiniest events can harm you. Your smallest accidents can affect another person’s life. Life is simply an overlapping series of events. And when those events seem to descend into a tragic fall, it is best to have persistence.
Without persistence, many people would have never been treated as human beings. Our current generation knows, learns, and reads of Martin Luther King Jr .’s civil rights campaign but not many of us can fully comprehend how courageous and persistent the campaign members had to be. For years, America had been segregated despite giving black Americans citizenship. They were treated as second citizens – citizens that did not matter. Finally, the black citizens of Montgomery, Alabama united and led a successful boycott. The boycotters persistently trudged through the degrading comments, hateful glares, and attacks. They remained peaceful and were finally awarded with equal rights for their hard work.
Had Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters stopped fighting, we would not be able to elect a black president into office today. Schools would be segregated and the country’s diverse music scene would not be the same. By never ceasing to fight for their rights, the boycotters achieved their goal successfully.
Had Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton not been equally persistent, mothers would not be venturing towards office buildings every day. Women would be forced to be house wives and mothers. Their sole purpose would be to wait on their husbands, brothers, fathers, uncles, or grandfathers day after day. By fighting for women’s rights, the National Woman Suffrage Association empowered women and allowed them to succeed in territories that had been claimed by men. The women of the late 1800’s were unrelenting when they marched for their rights. Those same women provided all American women with the right to vote and choose the future of their country. They made America see women not as scrubbing maids or just mother figures, but as people who deserved to have their opinions vocalized. And without persistence, feminists would still be struggling to have their gender recognized as human.
Many movements that show persistence in history gathered thousands of supporters and thousands of enemies. But sometimes, when persistence is holding a small group of people together, it seems that there is more to lose and more to gain.
My father, after his first company went bankrupt, had become an absent figure. He had never seen a play, concert, or awards ceremony. My brother went to his hockey tournaments with his mothers and when I was young and bitter, I made plans for my uncle to give me away at my wedding. The gap my father left increased over the years and caused a chasm in my family. We became wandering figures trapped in a house. We were not united with love, compassion, or generosity. We did not know each other and the canyon that was left was too treacherous to jump.
My family became increasingly unstable. Tears were shed, shouts were a daily necessity, and some times, we ran away from each other. My mother, brother, and I all had an instant where we had simply stood up and walked out the door. There seemed to be nothing that could change the blackening situation, but my small family decided that we wanted to have a happy home – despite having an absent father. We struggled to find stable footing and we struggled to close the gap my father had left. A father cannot be replaced – no matter how many times a family tries. Actors cannot be brought in to act like a father, but a man who claims to be your father but does not know your face – he cannot be a father either.
It has been a year since we finally became stable. The past year was a year filled with fights that ended with a tiny, wobbling step towards happiness. It took us over twelve years to confront our problem, but one persistent year to change it. Currently, my mother is in Guyana nursing my ill father. And we all persistently pray and hope that when she comes back, he will step of the plane as well and join our now stable family.
Sometimes, no matter how much we hope and try, something cannot be done. We fail over and over again. We fail so many times that it becomes unbearable and quitting seems like a plausible exit route. But persistence is required in life. Everyone needs it to push through those unfortunate coincidences and events that seem to plague our every turn. Because without persistence, nothing could ever be achieved and nothing would ever change.
In 2008, many things happened. People learned that presidential candidates did not need to be white or male to succeed. The Summer Olympics were held in China and many spectators discovered Tibet’s struggles to become a country. Plastic, a commonly used substance, was discovered to be potentially dangerous. But people have always been affected by small, personal changes that affect their lives directly. And in 2008, I learned that it was acceptable to fail.
Previously, I had looked at failure as a way to define myself and I did not want to be defined as a failure. Fear paralyzed me because it made me analyze my situation over and over and over again. I constantly thought of what could go wrong and how I could fail. I never thought of how I could learn from failure. Failure is a way to learn what was done properly and what should be modified. It is like an individualized teacher because it analyzes what you specifically did.
Fear changes you drastically. It makes you into a passive person who avoids blunt confrontations. It knocks down your self confidence because you always doubt yourself. Fear makes you indecisive so you miss opportunities because you cannot decide. Fearing failure causes you to run past great opportunities. You avoid trying new things because there is a higher probability for you to fail. But failure makes you stronger because you can learn from your mistakes.
Failure should be welcomed and not shunned. It is an effective learning process as it teaches you what was flawed and what was correct. To fail means to learn. It means that you have taken risks to improve your education, health, or athletic ability. It signifies a growth and a hopeful venture into progress. But to take risks and to learn from failure, you must ignore your fear of failure. You must overcome your fear
Without persistence, many people would have never been treated as human beings. Our current generation knows, learns, and reads of Martin Luther King Jr .’s civil rights campaign but not many of us can fully comprehend how courageous and persistent the campaign members had to be. For years, America had been segregated despite giving black Americans citizenship. They were treated as second citizens – citizens that did not matter. Finally, the black citizens of Montgomery, Alabama united and led a successful boycott. The boycotters persistently trudged through the degrading comments, hateful glares, and attacks. They remained peaceful and were finally awarded with equal rights for their hard work.
Had Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters stopped fighting, we would not be able to elect a black president into office today. Schools would be segregated and the country’s diverse music scene would not be the same. By never ceasing to fight for their rights, the boycotters achieved their goal successfully.
Had Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton not been equally persistent, mothers would not be venturing towards office buildings every day. Women would be forced to be house wives and mothers. Their sole purpose would be to wait on their husbands, brothers, fathers, uncles, or grandfathers day after day. By fighting for women’s rights, the National Woman Suffrage Association empowered women and allowed them to succeed in territories that had been claimed by men. The women of the late 1800’s were unrelenting when they marched for their rights. Those same women provided all American women with the right to vote and choose the future of their country. They made America see women not as scrubbing maids or just mother figures, but as people who deserved to have their opinions vocalized. And without persistence, feminists would still be struggling to have their gender recognized as human.
Many movements that show persistence in history gathered thousands of supporters and thousands of enemies. But sometimes, when persistence is holding a small group of people together, it seems that there is more to lose and more to gain.
My father, after his first company went bankrupt, had become an absent figure. He had never seen a play, concert, or awards ceremony. My brother went to his hockey tournaments with his mothers and when I was young and bitter, I made plans for my uncle to give me away at my wedding. The gap my father left increased over the years and caused a chasm in my family. We became wandering figures trapped in a house. We were not united with love, compassion, or generosity. We did not know each other and the canyon that was left was too treacherous to jump.
My family became increasingly unstable. Tears were shed, shouts were a daily necessity, and some times, we ran away from each other. My mother, brother, and I all had an instant where we had simply stood up and walked out the door. There seemed to be nothing that could change the blackening situation, but my small family decided that we wanted to have a happy home – despite having an absent father. We struggled to find stable footing and we struggled to close the gap my father had left. A father cannot be replaced – no matter how many times a family tries. Actors cannot be brought in to act like a father, but a man who claims to be your father but does not know your face – he cannot be a father either.
It has been a year since we finally became stable. The past year was a year filled with fights that ended with a tiny, wobbling step towards happiness. It took us over twelve years to confront our problem, but one persistent year to change it. Currently, my mother is in Guyana nursing my ill father. And we all persistently pray and hope that when she comes back, he will step of the plane as well and join our now stable family.
Sometimes, no matter how much we hope and try, something cannot be done. We fail over and over again. We fail so many times that it becomes unbearable and quitting seems like a plausible exit route. But persistence is required in life. Everyone needs it to push through those unfortunate coincidences and events that seem to plague our every turn. Because without persistence, nothing could ever be achieved and nothing would ever change.
In 2008, many things happened. People learned that presidential candidates did not need to be white or male to succeed. The Summer Olympics were held in China and many spectators discovered Tibet’s struggles to become a country. Plastic, a commonly used substance, was discovered to be potentially dangerous. But people have always been affected by small, personal changes that affect their lives directly. And in 2008, I learned that it was acceptable to fail.
Previously, I had looked at failure as a way to define myself and I did not want to be defined as a failure. Fear paralyzed me because it made me analyze my situation over and over and over again. I constantly thought of what could go wrong and how I could fail. I never thought of how I could learn from failure. Failure is a way to learn what was done properly and what should be modified. It is like an individualized teacher because it analyzes what you specifically did.
Fear changes you drastically. It makes you into a passive person who avoids blunt confrontations. It knocks down your self confidence because you always doubt yourself. Fear makes you indecisive so you miss opportunities because you cannot decide. Fearing failure causes you to run past great opportunities. You avoid trying new things because there is a higher probability for you to fail. But failure makes you stronger because you can learn from your mistakes.
Failure should be welcomed and not shunned. It is an effective learning process as it teaches you what was flawed and what was correct. To fail means to learn. It means that you have taken risks to improve your education, health, or athletic ability. It signifies a growth and a hopeful venture into progress. But to take risks and to learn from failure, you must ignore your fear of failure. You must overcome your fear