Jon Daniel
US 101US
Ryan Storment
April 1st, 2010
Courage
In today’s world we have many issues that have complicated solutions that need to be addressed. While most people are completely misplaced on how to even go about tackling an issue of such large proportions such as global warming, animal conservation, poverty, and the world’s financial crisis just to name a few. These problems have massive foundations that intertwine through all geopolitical and economical structures that stretch around the globe. Today we have the largest most massive communications system in place the world has ever seen, but somehow we don’t even know our own neighbors. You are just one person in a world of six billion and your opinion doesn’t matter, your vote doesn’t count and there is nothing you can do that is going to make a difference. Unfortunately, this mentality is found far too often in our country. We use it as a tool for guilt free consumption that will allow us to climb back into our bubble of “safety” and out of the schism. The world needs more Rachel Corrie’s, more people willing to take a stand, more people who surface their courage to step out of the bubble to make a difference and wither they do or not is not the point. The point is the initial stand he or she chose to take. There is a thin line drawn between courage and stupidity, but without one how could the other exist.
The class rules hanging from the ceiling in the second grade classroom Rachel talks about her favorite rule which is “everyone must feel safe” (Corrie5). Safety is a nice piece of mind to have especially for a second grader when there are still so many unknowns in the world. What is safety to you or to the person next to you? Do you have the right to safety more than your neighbor does? Of course not, that would just be a selfish act on your behalf. In this world we are all neighbors and we all have the right to safety so why the fear amongst ourselves? It’s nice to see this...