...An epic hero by definition is a brave and noble character admired for great achievements. Epic hero traits are mostly embedded in fictional characters and a known example would be Odysseus who has been admired because of his adventurous stories and accomplishments through his expeditions. Such impressive traits are not recognised in many of the real-life leaders, but Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the few who exhibited it very clearly. Martin Luther King Jr. was recognised by many and had a inspiring journey as he strongly indicated to others, the pain of the segregated lives. MLK with his heroic traits spread awareness about the torture and was able to gain significant civil advances and voting rights for African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. embodies the characteristics of an epic hero...
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...“I Have A Dream!” Doesn’t that sound familiar? Of course, it is Martin Luther King Jr. Martin was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929. He was the middle child of three children. He went to Morehouse College and later met his future wife Coretta Scott. Then, he became a Baptist minister and socialist activist, who led the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S from the mid-1950 until his death. While Martin Luther King Jr. was fighting for equality and peace, the whites fought for slavery, unfairness, and to please their selves. MLK encountered many hardships and difficulties fighting for peace. His quest was very painful and physically torturing. He marched, do speeches, boycotts, did whatever he had to do to fight for the right of the people. “The bus boycott would be 382 days of walking to work, harassment, violence and intimidation for the Montgomery’s African community.” (Montgomery Bus Boycott, 2015 para.5)....
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...In front of thousands of people on the majesty of the Lincoln memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. bellows to the crowd, “‘... I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today’” (www.americanrhetoric.com). He was a relentless and ingenious hero to all of mankind by consistently protesting for the rights of racial equality until the feud was solved. In the adventurous tale of The Odyssey, Homer foretells the heroic deeds of the almighty Odysseus. Reader...
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...Immortalized in History: Defining a Hero Throughout eras, tales of accomplishment and triumph emerge. From Julius Caesar, to Abraham Lincoln, to Martin Luther King Jr, pioneers that take a stand for their ideals inspire generations that define them as heroic. One may ask,”What defines a hero?” Dictionary.com defines the word hero as: “a person who, in the opinion of others, has special achievements, abilities, or personal qualities and is regarded as a role model or ideal, or noted for courageous acts and nobility of character.” The great Bard Shakespeare created two of the most controversial heroes in literature in The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, and The Tragedy of Macbeth. These are controversial due to their modus operandi, as...
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...to Jackson, winning back his grandmother’s regalia from the pawnshop means reconnecting with a heritage (light) that he’s lost to darkness, which in this situation manifests as homelessness and alcoholism. The story recounts Jackson’s struggles of pulling together enough money to buy back the regalia. Despite encountering generous cops and winning lotto tickets, Jackson always finds himself short on change, spending the money on food or “bottles of imagination” (Alexia 99). Darkness acts as an obstacle. Jackson’s alcoholism prevents him from ever getting together enough money to buy back the regalia. Despite this, it is because he is aware of his darkness that he even has the strength to try. Jackson, at one point, says, “I want to be a hero… I want to win it back like a knight” (Alexie 110). Motivated by the need to restore his family’s heritage, or his own enlightenment, Jackson works to move from darkness to light. He wants to be more than a drunk, homeless Indian, and it is this need to move out of the darkness that motivates him to move towards the light. The prejudice Jackson experiences as he is stereotyped into a category of a listless bum, though it serves as an obstacle, also is the main motivation behind seeking his enlightenment. Without the need to move above his stereotype, Jackson would have never worked so hard to restore his heritage. As he actively seeks out his enlightenment by way of repossessing his grandmother’s regalia, darkness both hinders and drives...
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...celebrity that they wanted to grow up to be just like. As we grow and mature, we still find people to look up to and emulate. This craving to admire somebody is a societal trait that has been around since the beginning of time. It is a human archetypal trait to put somebody on a pedestal and to idolize them. This trait is even seen in futile societies. This idea is commonly seen in literature. Works of literature dating back long before even the 1800’s can sometimes best demonstrate this idea. A good example of the human trait of admiration in literature is Beowulf, the Epic Poem translated by Seamus Heaney. In Beowulf, the plebs and soldiers are in constant admiration of the Epic Hero Beowulf. They look at him like a savior, shower him in gifts, and give him a burial that eternalizes his spot on the pedestal. The epic poem Beowulf highlights the human trait of admiration through the...
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...Symbols of Peace: Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas The issue of racism and oppression of one group of people by another or by its leader continues to be a concern around the world. Take for instance the latest events that occurred in Libya, Syria and other countries. For the most part, the oppressed who wanted to free themselves from the rule of a non-fit leader have backlashed with violent protests that have cost thousands of people their lives and have left their homelands in devastation. These political and social injustices affect people worldwide and each group reacts differently to inequalities they may experience. Some react with violence because that is all they know and others take the route of non-violence to make the same point or statement to the opposing side without causing havoc and violence. Two men, both seen as symbols of peace and harmony spent a great part of their lives advocating non-violence and peaceful protests during times of oppression and inequality. The commitment they made to their beliefs was to prove that the oppressed have the ability to change laws and make people realize inequalities. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi’s approach to resolve struggles of inequalities and oppression have changed the way people think through peace, non-violence and peaceful protests. Mohandas Gandhi, born in Western India on October 2nd, 1869, is often seen in images wearing a simple loin cloth and sandals and is well-known and accepted worldwide...
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...Poetry Nursery Rhymes Most children love being told nursery rhymes. Many of the nursery rhymes that we have read to our children have their origins in British history. Rhymes were written for many different reasons. Some rhymes were written to honor a particular local event that has since been forgotten, while others were written to express feelings of love. Rhymes were also used to hide real meanings, such as when someone wanted to express displeasure toward the government or the sovereign without being executed. Another reason for rhymes is that they’re easy to remember, and therefore could be spread by word-of-mouth—an essential feature for a large population of people who could not read or write. So here are some of many nursery rhymes that have been written: Jack be Nimble (aka Jack b Nimble) Jack be nimble Jack be quick Jack jump over The candlestick. Little Tommy Tucker Little Tommy Tucker sings for his supper, What shall we give him? Brown bread and butter. How shall he cut it without a knife? How shall he marry without a wife? The Grand old Duke of York The Grand old Duke of York he had ten thousand men He marched them up to the top of the hill And he marched them down again. When they were up, they were up And when they were down, they were down And when they were only halfway up They were neither up nor down. Diddle Diddle Dumpling Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John, Went to bed with his trousers on; One shoe off, and one shoe...
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...PREFACE Adam Jefferson, a divine manifest of Adam Smith's materialism and Thomas Jefferson's idealism, is our troubled modern day hero. He awoke in the middle of his life - broke and lost. A serial entrepreneur, his life was a never-ending quest for material success. At age 38, as Joseph Campbell forewarned humanity, Adam had "climbed the ladder of success, only to realize it was propped up against the wrong wall." Alone, with nothing else to lose, Adam Jefferson climbed down off of the ladder and searched for the wall of his future. This led him on a 100-day odyssey to start the ascent of his new life, an epic journey which called him across the world discussing today's challenges and opportunities with the great minds of our past - Carl Jung, Mary Parker-Follett, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mohandas Gandhi, Albert Einstein, and many others. An act of their collective genius and magical combustion, a psychological and sociological theory for sustainability and success was formed. Like all heroic quests, Adam ended where he had begun. Prior to his expedition, Adam had an unforgettable encounter with one of the great minds of the 20th century. One freezing, early morning on January 17, 2009, Adam Jefferson met the famed Harvard psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They walked the beach in Winthrop for hours, discussing morality and the questions one ponders in the solitude of despair. They exchange woes - "You tell me yours, and I will tell you mine."...
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...A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO THE SIGNET CLASSIC EDITION OF BOOKER T. WASHINGTON’S UP FROM SLAVERY By VIRGINIA L. SHEPHARD, Ph.D., Florida State University S E R I E S E D I T O R S : W. GEIGER ELLIS, ED.D., ARTHEA J. S. REED, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, EMERITUS and UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, RETIRED A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of Booker T. Washington’s Up from Slavery 2 INTRODUCTION Booker T. Washington’s commanding presence and oratory deeply moved his contemporaries. His writings continue to influence readers today. Although Washington claimed his autobiography was “a simple, straightforward story, with no attempt at embellishment,” readers for nearly a century have found it richly rewarding. Today, Up From Slavery appeals to a wide audience from early adolescence through adulthood. More important, however, is the inspiration his story of hard work and positive goals gives to all readers. His life is an example providing hope to all. The complexity and contradictions of his life make his autobiography intellectually intriguing for advanced readers. To some he was known as the Sage of Tuskegee or the Black Moses. One of his prominent biographers, Louis R. Harlan, called him the “Wizard of the Tuskegee Machine.” Others acknowledged him to be a complicated person and public figure. Students of American social and political history have come to see that Washington lived a double life. Publicly he appeased the white establishment...
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...Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (pronounced [ˈmoːɦənd̪aːs ˈkərəmtʃənd̪ ˈɡaːnd̪ʱi] ( listen); 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India. Employing non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahatma (Sanskrit: "high-souled," "venerable"[2])—applied to him first in 1914 in South Africa,[3]—is now used worldwide. He is also called Bapu (Gujarati: endearment for "father,"[4] "papa."[4][5]) in India. Born and raised in a Hindu, merchant caste, family in coastal Gujarat, western India, and trained in law at the Inner Temple, London, Gandhi first employed non-violent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, in the resident Indian community's struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, but above all for achieving Swaraj or self-rule. Gandhi famously led Indians in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (250 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years, upon many occasions, in both...
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...The Moral Compass Leadership for a Free World Lindsay J Thompson Leadership Ethics Course Manual ~ © 2005 Lindsay J Thompson ~ All rights reserved 2 THE MORAL COMPASS Leadership for a Free World Table of Contents introduction page 5 core learning page 9 the leadership labyrinth page 11 the m oral com pass page 27 values and global value creation page 73 corporate citizenship page 93 bibliography page 109 the case lab page 113 Leadership Ethics Course Manual ~ © 2005 Lindsay J Thompson ~ All rights reserved 3 Leadership Ethics Course Manual ~ © 2005 Lindsay J Thompson ~ All rights reserved 4 introduction Moral Leadership for a Free World If you read a newspaper this morning, you almost surely read something related to morality, leadership, and freedom. From international relations to neighborhood and family life, concerns about leadership ethics and human welfare are the focus of news, political movements, and civic initiatives. Emotionally engaging terms like “moral leadership,” “the free world” and “human freedom” are often used in the media without much explanation or clarification. Momentous decisions are made and life choices established in the name of values attached to these and similar terms. What do we really mean by “moral leadership,” or “freedom?” If two people use these terms in a conversation, do they explicitly share a common understanding of them or just assume common ground? For instance...
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...Essays Essays Part II. 2, 2.] Part II. 2, 2.] Essays The Project Gutenberg EBook of Essays, by Ralph Waldo Emerson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Essays Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson Editor: Edna H. L. Turpin Release Date: September 4, 2005 [EBook #16643] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAYS *** 1 Essays Produced by Curtis A. Weyant , Sankar Viswanathan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net ESSAYS BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON Merrill's English Texts SELECTED AND EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, BY EDNA H.L. TURPIN, AUTHOR OF "STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY," "CLASSIC FABLES," "FAMOUS PAINTERS," ETC. NEW YORK CHARLES E. MERRILL CO. 1907 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION LIFE OF EMERSON CRITICAL OPINIONS CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR COMPENSATION SELF RELIANCE FRIENDSHIP HEROISM MANNERS GIFTS NATURE SHAKESPEARE; OR, THE POET PRUDENCE CIRCLES NOTES PUBLISHERS' NOTE Merrill's English Texts 2 Essays 3 This series of books will include in complete editions those masterpieces of English Literature that are best adapted for the use of schools and colleges. The editors of the several volumes will...
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...Critique of Nonviolent Politics From Mahatma Gandhi to the Anti-Nuclear Movement by Howard Ryan (howard@netwood.net) Preface 2 Part I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Problems of Nonviolent Theory Nonviolent Philosophy 6 Moral View: Violence Itself Is Wrong 9 Practical View: Violence Begets Violence 13 Nonviolent Theory of Power 21 Voluntary Suffering 24 Common Nonviolent Arguments 34 A Class Perspective 49 Part II 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Gandhi: A Critical History Father of Nonviolence 56 Satyagraha in South Africa 59 Textile Strike 66 Noncooperation Movement 1919-22 70 Religious Conflicts 80 Salt Satyagraha 87 Congress Ministries 97 The War Years 101 Independence and Bloodshed 111 Part III 17 18 19 20 Nonviolence in the Anti-Nuclear Movement Nonviolent Direct Action 120 Consensus Decision Making 123 Open, Friendly, and Respectful 136 Civil Disobedience 142 Epilogue 151 Notes 154 ©2002 by Howard Ryan. All rights reserved. Readers have my permission to use and distribute for non-profit and educational purposes. Critique of Nonviolent Politics 2 Preface (2002) Critique of Nonviolent Politics may be the only comprehensive critique of nonviolent theory that has been written. I wrote it between 1980 and 1984, while living in Berkeley, California. Since 1977, I had been active in the movement against nuclear power and weapons which, in California, focused its protests at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant near San Luis Obispo, and at the University of California's Lawrence Livermore Labs where...
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...OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY OUTLINE OF OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY C O N T E N T S CHAPTER 1 Early America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 CHAPTER 2 The Colonial Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 CHAPTER 3 The Road to Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 CHAPTER 4 The Formation of a National Government . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 CHAPTER 5 Westward Expansion and Regional Differences . . . . . . . 110 CHAPTER 6 Sectional Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 CHAPTER 7 The Civil War and Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 CHAPTER 8 Growth and Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 CHAPTER 9 Discontent and Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 CHAPTER 10 War, Prosperity, and Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 CHAPTER 11 The New Deal and World War I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 CHAPTER 12 Postwar America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 CHAPTER 13 Decades of Change: 1960-1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 CHAPTER 14 The New Conservatism and a New World Order . . . . . . 304 CHAPTER 15 Bridge to the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 PICTURE PROFILES Becoming a Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....
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