Author: mouhamadou bah (Page 2 of 3)

The Quote

Mouhamadou bah

11/17/22

ENG2200

Prof:Noonan

                                                                                       Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Don’t be pushed by your problems, be led by your dreams” (Ralph Waldo Emerson).

This quote from the reading Self-reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke to me very deeply because it tells us to focus more on our dreams and goals, not just the problems we encounter while following our dreams.

This quote made me realize that recently I have been focusing more on the problems and pressure I have been facing in my goal to be a doctor and the uncertainty of my future. For example, the problems I have been facing in school, keeping my grades up, the pressure I feel at home from not being able to deliver good results, and the uncertainty I feel in my field of study. I felt terrible that I might not achieve my dream and I have been trying to solve it by doing more extra credit stuff in classes and stressing even more.

This kind of negative emotion made me wonder if I should follow my dreams and keep going or give up on them and choose something else instead. But after I read the quote, it me realize that I love my dream and achieving is not/and will not be easy so instead of feeling bad about myself and my dream, I should work harder, do better, and hopefully achieve my goal.

 

 

 

the declaration of independence

Mouhamadou bah

Eng2200

Prof: Noonan

10/7/23

The Constitution of the United States.

In reading the constitution of the United States, talks about the declaration of U.S. independence and cutting ties with the British monarchy. I found the article beautifully written; it gave me shivers. The article states everything they want and hopes the United States could be such as principles of liberty, equality, and justice for all. This tells me that the Constitution was created for the people and the country’s freedom and equality, it is fundamental for its rules and laws to be followed. But even though this Constitution was established, people still had slaves back then, and those slaves did not consider themselves free or equal to their slaves. For example, Thomas Jefferson one of the people who helped create this constitution was a slaveholder himself and according to records he had many children with his enslaved women this great irony tells me that even though he helped create the constitution, he did not believe in it yet. later set the women and children free of servitude, but he still kept some slaves even when he was out there spreading the word about equality and fairness, I think that he should have seen the errors he was making because it makes his words very worthless.

Another fact women did not feel that they were equal to men until around the 1990s and they had to work extremely hard for it and they still do to this day.

Phylis Wheatley: she was one of the greatest poets of her time and has inspired many people to this day. But before that, she was a slave who was taken by slaves in her home country Gambia from a very young age and had been one for as long as she can remember. She always talked about freedom in her many published poems as if she were recording a dream diary, which means everything she wants most in life is to be free.

In the Declaration of Independence, freedom and equality are written and talked about in the whole article, but people like Phillys Wheatley did not experience that, even though white people like Thomas Jeffrey were screaming it at the top of their lungs for the whole world to hear, and I think that it’s kind of sad that not a lot of people paid attention to it during those times.

Abigail Adams: was the wife of Jones Adams, who was part of writing the Declaration of Independence. Abigail Adams believed that women should be equal to men and that her husband should instill the law that both men and women are equal. But to her surprise, the declaration was not written for men and not women. This led her to fight for women’s rights and her devotion inspired a lot of people mostly women to do the same it has achieved great goals because today women are held as strongly as men and there are women in the workforce, as police officers, doctors, nurses, pilots, CEOs, and there are even women in the white house.

There is still a lot of work to do but for now, let us enjoy this moment.

 

 

 

 

 

the Autobiographies

Mouhamadou bah

ENG2200

Proof: Noonan

9/25/23

The life of Benjamin Franklin.

In reading Franklin’s autobiography, I found many things that were very interesting. Before I read this autobiography all I knew about Benjamin Franklin was that he was successful and that he was a face on a $$ bill, but I did not know how successful he was.

In his autobiography I learned so much about him, like he was the one who invented the lightning rod, and that he was the only one who agreed to the independence of the United States. Also, he was the one who was sent away to Paris to secure help from the French royal family to fight for their independence. Franklin was a scientist, and politician, and many other things to put it simply a genius of his time. In The autobiography, it also says that before he became so successful, he was just an ordinary poor person just like any other, but with a lot of questions he wanted answered. I think it’s really inspiring that he followed his dreams of being a great scientist.

But I also started thinking that since he was so smart and successful and wanted humans to live better by doing everything in his power to help establish the independence of U.S. then why did he not question or try to solve slavery?

I once read this article about Frederick Douglas a black man who was invited to give a speech during an Independence Day celebration and what he said shook the crowd because he found it offensive when he was asked to give a speech about what independence meant to him even though he was enslaved for many years and his kind is still being enslaved in some states to this day. So why didn’t Franklin help abolish slavery after he established independence in the U.S.?

Something that I found interesting in the second reading, A Narrative of a native Africa, is that both characters were similar and different in a few ways. For example, smith and Franklin both lived in the Americas, but their upbringing was very different. Smith was an African noble who got enslaved and brought to the Americas, whilst Franklin was born and raised here and had all the resources, he needed to continue his studies.

in his biography, smith talks about how he was enslaved, how he gained his freedom, and how he fought against slavery. Franklin’s biography was about his life, how he made the breakthroughs he did, his successes, and how he helped establish U.S. independence.

They clearly both lived different lives.

 

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