Saturday, November 22, 2014

Kingdom of the Blind

Journal by Amanda Regalado
9/17/14
Kingdom of the Blind

"If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind."
 -Kurt Vonnegut

If a person is willing to make an attempt, to try, even just a little, he or she will already have an advantage in our world.  Kurt Vonnegut once said, "If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind."  Kurt's assertion is a commentary on the amount of effort needed for the average person living in modern day American society to be successful.  By comparing a person who does a half-assed job with a one eyed man, and the rest of society with a blind kingdom, Kurt suggests that even the smallest amount of effort will separate someone from everyone else.  Many modern day Americans are lazy and prefer to use shortcuts, rather than work hard.  Engineers are employed solely to create pieces of technology to fuel America's lazy habits and save America's time.  Instead of cooking the burger, Americans drive through McDonalds.  Instead of going out and meeting others, Americans find mates on Tindr.   Instead of reading the novel, American high schoolers SparkNotes it. But, if the high schooler were to read the novel, even a half assed reading, he or she would already have superior knowledge of the book over the rest of the class.  Effort is what separates the subpar from the good, the good from the great.  If a little effort gives a blind man an eye, imagine how well he would see with a lot of effort.


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