'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.

The Rambling's of a Thoughtful Student

"The floor of the white man's failures is the ceiling of the black man's expectation."

The quote is interesting and can be directly translated that the failures for a white person may very well be the best that a black person can reach. A racist short sighted concept that leaves out the idea that every individual has the power to reach their own level of thought, knowledge and the like. I hate people who judge others by color but sadly I cannot help but find myself doing so at times also. It's hard to not match one's actions and lifestyle to that of their ethnic origin. I remember the first time meeting my friend John and thought many things such as stoner, hippy, rich kid, stuck up, and obnoxious. Turned out that he was none of these things but after years of meeting people we begin to build stereotypes that make us develop these preconceptions of people. Color by default is how humans judge objects. We see color everywhere in every way both physically and mentally. Trees are green and brown. Green on top, brown on the bottom. It most definitely cannot be brown on top and green on the bottom or even red and blue. We tend to categorize things and leave them in their nice neat files ignoring the outliers that do exist. I cannot help but wonder why we do this, and if it really is bad that we do so. Everyone is proud of their own culture and the only way I believe that we can rid ourselves of these prejudice thoughts are to learn and love the cultures of others so that we no longer can judge others of their cultures for their cultures would be our own.

"The floor of the white man's failures is the ceiling of the white man's expectations."

In our society, although it has drastically changed over the years, African Americans and many other people of underrepresented races have been looked upon as being way under the superior "white man." This quote implies that the black men are only able, if lucky, to amount to what a white man's failures are. This is an awful quote and it bothers me in many ways-- especially because I've seen this to be false before my eyes. In high school I was part of a program at Columbia University called SPREP. This program accepted students from underprivileged economic and racial backgrounds. My program was mainly filled with students who were African American. My program made students who were accepted go to college leveled science courses every Saturday morning at 8 AM. Students traveled from as far as Long Island for this program, waking up as early as 5. Many of my friends in high school would wake up around two in the afternoon on Saturdays and by that time I had taken a Into to Neuroscience class and an SAT prep class. This shows quiet the opposite of "The floor of the white man's failures is the ceiling of the white man's expectations." These students worked ten times harder than any white student in my high school ever did.