NADIA DOUGLAS
ENG 1121 SECTION E106
PROFESSOR: SCHMERLER
2/28/2019
FINDING FREEDOM
According to the Internet, Freedom is “the power or right to act,
speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.” ” A
state of not being imprisoned or enslaved.”
Coming from one type of life to another life can be phased in
different ways. Life itself is filled with situations. One can face
these situations at any given point of their life. Decisions are
conclusions or resolution someone makes after considering a
matter.
We all have to make a decision in our life that might be tough or
easy. Some people make decisions that can make them or break
them. In other words it can either cause a person to become
important in life, or it can cost a person their life. As I take a look at
the word freedom and study its meaning: self-determination,
independence, self government, liberty,and emancipated, gives me a
clearer understanding of some of our activists that made history.
Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr., both fought for one thing that
was common, and that is “Freedom”. They wanted equal human
rights between races in America. Malcom X had his own way of
fighting for that freedom. He challenged the mainstream civil-rights
movement.which sparked hate between himself and others in a
violence. Martin Luther King used the strategy of non-violence and
boycotts in order to get equality between races.
Going back even further in our history, Frederick Douglass had one
thing in common with Malcom- X which was educating himself
through reading and writing. Motivation is “the reason one has for
acting or behaving in a particular way”. “The general desire or
willingness of someone to do something”. Both Malcom X and
Frederick Douglas had a rough start in the early part of their life.
They did not let that stop them from achieving their goals in life.
Confinement can be both mental and physical because it deals with
the present state a person is in. This state could be mental or
physical. As I read the article on Malcom X, I understood that he was
in a state of confinement mentally and physically. He was physically
locked up behind bars. So this is a state of confinement. No freedom
to do as he might have wanted to do. No freedom to go where he
might have wanted to go. No freedom to maybe speak the way he
might have wanted to speak.
On the other hand, Malcom X found strength in reading. In books,he
found his freedom. In books, he found a new life, In books he learned
so much that a brand new world began to open before his eyes.
While being confined to a jail cell for most of his hours daily, Malcom
X, became fascinated with learning all he could. He kept reading and
educating himself all the time.
I felt encouraged, after reading this article about Malcom X. I was
really motivated by this article. A few years ago I remember reading
a short story about Malcom X, this article covered one of the main
parts of his life. I asked myself, have I self taught myself anything in
my life? The answer to this question is “yes”. The steel pan is a
National instrument of Trinidad and Tobago. This instrument can be
easy for some and difficult for others.
I was taught the basics, I played with some small musical steel-
bands, and even had some private lessons; but little did I know, that
one day I would arrange songs all by myself, and play them at small
functions. I also remember that someone was having a function.
They wanted the steel pan music to be a part of this function. They
wanted me to listen to two songs on the CD and arrange the music
for these two particular songs to play at this function as a tribute to
the person that was being honored.
I listened and listened to the music, over and over and practiced the
sounds over and over, until I got the final product of what I was
working on. I also had to give music notes to another friend that
helped back me up for this event. This made me proud. Looking back,
I did not know that I could of actually accomplished what I did all by
myself. I felt free. This feeling of happiness is freedom.
There are some things in life that seem simple for others while on
the other hand these same things difficult might be difficult for
others. As for me, even if I accomplished playing the steel pan, there
are still many who are much better in arranging music and
distributing music to different sections of a steel band. A full steel
band can have about seven sections. The names of these sections
are: Tenors, Double Tenors, Double Seconds, Guitar, Cello, Tenor
Bass, and Bass. I played the Tenor pan. Playing some of these pans
for some sections can be difficult.
For me, playing a Tenor pan is not difficult, but can become difficult
according to the amount the music that must be learned in a short
space of time. Also, for competitions like Panorama, the steel bands
usually play at a certain speed, and tempo to get the sound the
arranger wants to hear. This can be a difficult thing to do. Trying out
different things is something I enjoy doing. Challenging myself to try
out things even if a task seems difficult is worth giving a try.
