“The hitter can never be the judge. Only the receiver of the blow can tell you how hard it was"

Brendan Ransom

Writing II - Spring, 2014 (In class, short-response)

Professor Mitchell Jackson

25 February 2014

“The hitter can never be the judge. Only the receiver of the blow can tell you how hard it was, whether it would kill a man or make a baby just yawn.” -- Edward Jones

In this quote, Mr. Jones is expressing, I think, how all things are relative to the eye of the beholder. I wouldn't agree with his assertion that the "hitter" can't ever be the judge, as I think this both implies absolved guilt and ignores the existence of the calculating, cogent brand of malevolence that is the most devastating. Furthermore, the "receiver" is equally as likely as the attacker to be incapable of judging the situation objectively. The receiver's perception of the attack, like all human perceptions, does not necessarily correspond to reality.

Judgement of the Hitter vs. Judgement of the Reciever

I disagree with the quote because I don't think the receiver could be a fair judge, and instead, they would be biased. The hitter would be too soft as a judge while the receiver would be too hard as a judge. Thus, I think a third party should be involved. The third party could assess how hard the hitter was without any bias because they are not at either extremes. They have a middle view point and although it may not be completely accurate, it is closer to the truth than the receiver or hitter. 

“When no one has had a good father, one must create one.” - Freidrich Nietzche

The Father figure is a restless conundrum in the psyche of humankind. It is by no means a happy, welcome figure- from birth, children are in competition with the father for attention from their life giving mother. But even at more conscious ages, father- child relations are often strained under many different circumstances. Nietzche's idea that if noone has had a good father, one must be created, goes deeper than the idea of a literal father figure- he's talking about the need for guidance when there is none. I believe this quote is at least partially about God, and how people can look at religion for guidance in life. But in the modern age, with the already established understanding of religion, it is more than that too. When someone is unhappy with a situation, of any kind, they'll look to change it- filling the void of so often an unhappy father- child relationship is the same as any of these other changes.

- Dominic Curran

Happiness May Be Rare

Happiness overall seems to be one of the rarest things anyone knows these days. Everyday I hear people complaining about the littlest things. I don't remember the last day I haven't heard someone, even myself, not complain once. It seems like being truly happy is a hard thing to do for people. We all know so much about society these days that we pick our own lives apart. It is almost as if even people who make it so far in life still end up unhappy. There are people that are famous and intelligent and have or can have anything in the world that they want, but they still end up unhappy; some committing suicide and some overdosing. Maybe the more we know, the unhappier we are. People who do not have as much in life seem to be happier than those who do. I was complaining to my roommates tonight about how much school is stressing me out and I caught myself and said "I shouldn't be complaining, I could be dying and I'm not." The more people think the unhappier they get. Have you ever woken up one day with nothing to do and no where to be and felt care-free and happy? Then there are days you think about life and get unhappy or stressed out again. It is the care-free, not the smartest, not the most rich people who are actually the most happy. Seeing someone who has everything in the world happy is actually rare if you think about it, which is just bizarre.

"Ambition is the last refuge of failure" - Oscar Wide

In order to succeed one must fail, but failure cannot become a barrier against success. Learning to overcome failure is important because ot shows determination and that you are willing to try whatever it takes to achieve your goal. Ambition is a part of failing because when you are at the bottom you have nowehere to go but up and it can lead you to success. Being ambitious means that you will sacrifice what you can towards accomplishing something and it is present during failures because it is the drive that keeps you going even among your failures. Ambition is not present during success because if you succeed you will have nothing to look forward to. 

'Ambition is the last refuge of failure'- Oscar Wilde

To be ambitious, is essentially to have not achieved something. Wilde is famous for his exuberant confidence; any man that, when asked at the U.S. Customs border if he had anything to declare, and responds, 'Nothing but my genius!', had better have achieved a lot. And he certainly did; known for his novels, poetry and flamboyant quotes like this one, it's impossible to fault Wilde as a failure. However, on the issue of failure residing in ambition, I cannot agree with him. One would certainly think that ambition would be the refuge of success; no one ever made it in to the history books without a passionate ambition to succeed for one reason or another. I can see his point, in that ambition is the unfulfillment of success, but this is a temporary measure apparently not experienced by Wilde, the self proclaimed genius who never failed; but for the rest of us, ambition is necessary.

Will Mixter

“Ambition is the last refuge of failure.”

Ambition is an attribute often affiliated with “dream chasers.” It is an attribute that most people believe everyone has regardless of your pursuits and dreams. However, imagine living in a world where everything is structured to minimize your ability to achieve your goals and pursue your dreams. For blacks in America, that was the world they lived in for decades. In the case of Half Man, he had ambition; yet, unfortunately was confined to simple tasks and basic jobs that did not allow him to achieve, let alone explore his potential. Growing up as a white kid from Manhattan I cannot relate much to the struggles and prejudice that different ethnic groups deal with daily. I can sympathize for them, and I can try to imagine myself in that situation but what does that really achieve. I would rather be respectful of their past, understand it, appreciate it, and make sure not to contribute to any future troubles. 

"It's never the changes we want that change everything"

    Everyone wishes for things that they do not have. They usually ask for quite the opposite. The girl with porcelain skin wants a dark olive tan. The girl with beautiful curly dark hair stays up until two in the morning straightening her hair so that maybe, if she's lucky, the boy she's been obsessing over for the last year will think that she's pretty. But what exactly would her hair change about her? She would still be the girl who stays out way passed curfew; the girl whose parent's were divorced and whose father was an alcoholic. Still the girl who could school any guy in math any day. I know this because I always had short hair and ever since Sophomore year I'd been wearing extensions. I wore them because I thought that with them I'd look "prettier" although when I walked around I was still treated the same way I had prior, although it made me feel pretty. I don't agree, "It's never the changes we want that change everything." I don't believe this because sometimes-- it is. Sometimes all a person needs is is a little self confidence in order to go out and do the things they always wanted to do but never had the guts to. To me-- I think that does change everything. It lets a girl who was always afraid to walk into a room full of strangers by herself --do so-- and show what an outspoken person she really is on the inside.Yeah, maybe in the scheme of things the change didn't drastically change the world, but it allowed one person to finally start living.

What A Black/Brown Man Gains From A White Man's Fault

Prompt 1: "The floor of the white man's failures is the ceiling of the black/brown man's expectations."
M. Mendiolaza

In the past it was evident that white men felt superior to blacks because of their skin color and high level of education. The white men would usually degrade the blacks in hopes that the suppression would discourage the blacks from rising up against them. In today's society, whites and blacks are equal, however, the superior complex of the typical white man still very much exists. It is typical to see a white president, CEO of a company, and wealthy entrepreneur, however, to see a black man bring himself up to become of those high-ranked occupations is definitely a milestone. The quote above makes sense because if a white man fails to meet his goals or does not get the position he wants at his job, the black man has the opportunity to prove that he can do so by working diligently and just as hard. Again, since we are so used to seeing white men hold the top-ranking position in the workforce and on an academic level, it would seem somewhat out of the ordinary if he would fail to be the best at either, allowing another man to surpass him. When a white man does not accomplish what he wants this may enlighten the black man and prove to the brown man that whites are not superior beings (as they may have been recognized in the past). A black/brown man can overcome the white man when he is given the opportunity, or when the white man falls. 

On Wealth Disparity Between Races in America

Brendan Ransom

Writing II - Spring, 2014 (In class, short-response)

Professor Mitchell Jackson

3 February 2014

"The floor of the white man's failures is the ceiling of the black/brown man's expectations"

Racial inequality is a problem that's plagued America since its inception as a country. It would be naive to think that it ended with the abolition of slavery. Though the above statement is clearly hyperbolic, there is certainly a vast amount of evidence that suggests that employers are much more reluctant to hire minority applicants over white applicants, even in cases where the minority possesses equal or better credentials (A 2009 study conducted by Harvard's Devah Pager indicates that a white applicant is twice as likely to receive an interview offer or call-back as an equally qualified black applicant). The disparity between the success rates of whites and minorities, though related to longstanding racial discrimination, is in my opinion primarily attributable to economic inequality today. High-income neighborhoods are largely inhabited by white families -- the benefits afforded by the upbringing that comes with high income are myriad (though certainly not guaranteed or universal): familial stability, low crime, and heightened quality of education are among the first that come to mind. Alternatively, low income neighborhoods suffer from high crime, hellacious percentages of single-parent households, and laughable education systems. These are neighborhoods that are largely inhabited by minorities. The racial wealth disparity emerged out of racism so blatant that it was reflected in official government policy, but its longevity is a rather predictable result of a vicious cycle that has yet to be addressed with any real competence by the American government. The wealth disparity isn't a "black problem" or a "brown problem" or a "minority problem", per sé, as it fundamentally has nothing to do with race whatsoever. How can we be surprised by unequal success rates between those who grow up with the opportunities (strong education, safe streets, etc.) that should, without any exception, be provided by the government, and those that don't? While I'm sure sheer, irrational, reflexive, pigmentation-based racism exists in some dark corners of America, I believe some employer reluctance to hire minorities stems from a misguided bias that is at least steeped to an extent in statistical fact. But if business owners in this country are looking to the ethnicity box as a tiebreaker in application deliberations, well, we haven't come a long way from the 1960's at all.