Brian Kelly
Dr. Ellis
EN 101
24th January 2013
Event and Poem Analysis
We, as humans,
must learn to overcome certain obstacles and boundaries that life places before
us as seen by the works of Robert Frost in his poem Mending Wall, Jill McDonough in Accident,
Mass. Ave, Learning to Read by Frances E.WW Harper, or The Service of Faith and Promotion of Justice in Jesuit Higher
Education by Peter-Hans Kolvenbach. Every day we will face challenges that
strive to put us down, but it is those very challenges that we must overcome in
order to become better humans. If we do not take the time to address our
personal problems, or simply give up whenever life becomes difficult then we
would never progress as individuals or as a society.
Robert
Frost’s Mending Wall is the story of
neighbors separated by a wall; the speaker sees no need for the wall but his
neighbor believes it is what makes for good neighbors. This poem addresses the
issue of boundaries established between human beings; sometimes for no apparent
reason. In order for humans to truly become “good neighbors”, we must break
down these boundaries and interact with one another. The second poem, titled Accident, Mass Ave. written by Jill
McDonough recalls a confrontation between two women in Boston who get involved
in what appears to be a semi-serious car accident, yelling and screaming at
each other until in the midst of their screaming, realize there was no damage
done to either car and there was no reason for them to be angry. This poem demo5nstrates
how quick human beings jump to rash conclusions without stopping to think and
analyze the matter at hand. The third poem, titled Learning to Read by Frances E. W. Harper, is written through the
point of view of a Slave in the South and discusses their desire to learn to
read and become educated from the Yankee teachers in school. Their masters,
however, would hide any books from them. The Slaves were motivated to overcome
their oppression and become educated. This poem can serve as a source of
inspiration to follow your dreams and ambitions and not to let any obstacle
stop you in your path.
The final reading was by Peter-Hans Kolvenbach titled The Service of Faith and Promotion of
Justice in Jesuit Higher Education concerns the matter of faith and justice
held within the Jesuit institutions today, namely the “service of faith, and
the promotion of justice”. The main message I received from this reading was
the need to better the human race by first bettering ourselves which I believe
serves as the central theme I have gathered from all four readings as well as
from my meditation session on Tuesday, January 22nd. Zen Meditation
was something new to me so I was not sure what to expect walking in to Fava
Chapel. There was a truly unmistakable level of sacredness and respect towards
tradition that overwhelmed me throughout the hour and a half long session.
Emphasizing the power that becoming at peace with our body, our emotions, and
our spirit can have on our lives and lead us towards inner peace and happiness.
Sitting still in our proper meditation poses for fifteen minutes, in thought,
seemed very easy; but in actuality was much more difficult and challenging than
I expected. Sitting in complete stillness and silence letting our minds focus
on nothing more than our breathing made it seem as if nothing existed in the
world besides the number of breaths we were taking. By practicing meditation,
we are able to experience true relaxation of the mind, body, spirit, and
emotions.
All four readings
concerned problems within the human race; whether it be the boundaries between
us as seen in Mending Wall, our
overreactions and quickness to form conclusions as addressed in Accident, Mass. Ave, or the obstacles we
have to overcome notably shown in Learning
to Read. The importance of self-evaluation in times of conflict with
another cannot be addressed lightly. We must learn to overcome our conflicts in
a wise manner and from there become better human beings in the process.
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