Blog Entry #2

"An Idea in Which I am Prepared to Die For"

~Nelson Mandela~

On April 20, 1964, in South Africa, all ears would be focused on one man. A man who was trying to make a difference, a man who was trying to find justice. This man who stood up to the white people and gave every black man,women and child a sign of hope that there is justice and equality in the world. This man, who would eventually die for his people was named Nelson Mandela. He was the speaker of Africa, the heart of Africa. He had an ideal a justice, demarcated nation and free society, in which people could come together in harmony. Nelson speech expresses power and hope for life. The way that he talks about his idea of a better place and what the people of Africa needs allows the listener see a different place, a better place. This man speech stood for every life in Africa, the old, the new and the sick. His voice would be heard and people will acted upon it. After this speech, their were changes in Africa. The whites fears of what was about to happen once the people of Africa would start to unite, would soon come true. To this day, I only know of a few people who would  be willing give up their lives for what they believe in order to give their people freedom, like Jesus; being one of the willing. 

The speech Nelson Mandela gives is about the apartheid in South Africa. At this time he created a moving change that would soon become a great moment in history. Nelson Mandela is similar to the historical and political leader like, in America such as Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Susan B. Anthony, Lyndon B. Johnson and of course our founding fathers. They were all people who had an idea.Which they would fight for creating the American idea of equality from race, sex and religion and freedom. Like them Nelson Mandela's voice will be heard forever more in Africa as a Freedom fighter. The foundation of hope and justice for all people all over the world too see. He made people want to see and believe that there could be a better place. South Africa did finally end the battle of white vs. black. The country as a whole still has problems, that one man or women could never fight by themselves. The change needs to be done as a whole and that country can only be done if everyone comes together. And one day their nation will stand for something like America. There will be one of hope and justice. 

 

From Burke's reading, we are able to establish the pentad of Nelson Mandela's speech. The act is Nelson Mandela presenting his speech, the scene is africa, the agent is the Africans (white and black), the agency is the speech and the purpose is for the apartheid to end, that justice is made to create a place of harmony. Each one meaning something different and each one having just as much value as the other. If you were to take one of them away, it would not have the same power and meaning that it gives. All five must act as one or the purpose itself would not be there. The purpose is the start and the end to something. It is what makes people believe and act upon their belief. Burke gives us the principles of the pentad, to allow one to think of these motives on ones own. To allow us to think while we read, listen or see. 

This is the actual written speech: http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/mandela.htm 

This is an audio of some of the speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsUS9-nNf_E

Blog Entry #1

"If you create something, you must be something." Johann Wolgang von Goethe~

A blog by no other definition is a website, that is maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, or other material such as pictures, audio or video. By having a blog, I would be able to creatively express myself, my feelings and my thoughts by using those of pictures, writings, and audio or video. To show others the real me, that people might not see when they first see me or talk to me. Like the great Johann Wolgang von Goethe said "If you create something, you must be something," and that is exactly what I am going to do. I am going to create a blog for everyone and maybe just maybe when I am done with this class, I will be something.

For most of my life I have never really had a person I would called "influential." Their are those who believe that friends, family and religion would be that in which influent them to be who they are today. As for me growing up in a foster care system, those things were never there for me. The lack of knowledge of what a family, friends and religion was worst than not having them. It wasn't until I was at the age of 10 that had the first glance of what those were. To this day I do not believe that they are what I would consider to be that something or someone that is personally "influential." Yes I am very thankful for all of them and of course they have some kind influent over me because that is what they are suppose to do and I will always cherish and hold on too that. I also know they will always be there to support me and help me through the good and bad. They are like the starter blocks to everyones live. It isnt until you truely have that something or someone, can you start to build that block of your life.

But for me, I think that someone or something the personally influents you is the someone who you see as a cherry that you see on top of an sundae. Someone or something that you strive to be like without realizing. They are the something that inspires you to be who you are. Since everyone is different, it is only natural that they have different something or someone. As for me I surround myself in them, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Mohandas Gandhi, Leonardo da Vinci, and Robert Rauschenberg. These are all people that drive me to be who I am today. Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and Mohandas Gandhi are all people that drive me to "see" not what is served to me in baby pictures but what real life is all about. Leonardo da Vinci drives me to "think" not just inside the box but outside of it as well. Robert Rauschenberg drives me to show others how I "feel". I build my own blocks from these people ideas, feelings, and there vision from something more than what is just given to us with sugar coating. Life is not just given to you on a silver plater, you must work to accomplish your dreams and that is why you have someone or something that inspires you to help you achieve that goal or dream in life.

NELSON MANDELA

"After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb."

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

MOTHER TERESA

"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."

"One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody."

MOHANDAS GANDHI

"A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes."

"An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it."

LEONARDO DA VINCI

"Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous."

"In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time."

"Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of that works. If it works, big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else."

"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinion."

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG