 Can a single act define you as a person? Should it? Give an example of someone in history that was defined by a single act (whether positively or negatively). Did this one act reflect his/her character for the majority of his/her life? How should society act towards people who have made one mistake that could cost them their reputation? *10 sentences for full credit.
12 Comments
Zak Conant
3/4/2014 05:53:13 am
I think that people in general have no right to define another person, because everybody makes mistakes and you have no right to judge another person based on the mistakes they've made. It's sad though, how today people are judged by one single act and are labeled for the rest of their lives. It's not right, but in our society today nothing is going to change. With all the technology advancements & social networking sites word spreads quick and a majority of the time that rumor turns into a lie. The word gets twisted and it's hard to know the different between fantasy and reality. One person that has been judged and hated on a lot recently is Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber is a world-wide known 20 year old singer, who young teens & girls look up to. Recently he has been in trouble with the police for doing stupid things. Or is it him just living life the way he wants to live it and not having other people tell him how to live his life. He got caught for speeding in a lamborghini on a LA freeway. First off, the car is known for traveling at fast speeds so why get a car if your not going to speed in it. Of course it was reckless behavior but if you had the oppurtunity to drive a lamborghini on a almost empty freeway, i think youd be crazy for not doing it in a heartbeat. The kid has been told how to dress, what to say & do for pretty much all his life and now he wants to live it the way he choices and yet his actions have caused out breaks throughout the world saying hes a terrible idol & just causes trouble. When in reality he is just a young adult, living the american dream.
Matt "WINDMILL ON JORDAN" Gramesty
3/4/2014 09:28:34 am
To many people one act can define you the rest of your life. Now should it is the question. I think that it should depend on the severity of the right or wrong doing. One man made a act on history and is know by everyone in the world for it. That man is Jackie Robinson. He decided that he was going to join the MLB with all white players. He was going to be the only white player that was in the league. now that one choice had made a difference throughout history and everyone knows him for that act. Now ll acts don't have to be bad they could be good like in hackies case. this act had allowed black players to play, but also showed that black players are just as good as white players. So one act can define you as a person, but it may not. Like I said, the act is depending on how big or small it is. It could be as small as doing homework to be and adulator like Hester.
Gianna DeAngelis
3/4/2014 10:18:09 am
Yes, a single act of discrepancy and abnormality of behavior can define you as a person, and ostracize you from a community. Something such as just simply standing out on a different idea, or as complex as going to prison can create a new image of you within an instance. Although, this view can be bad, which it is in most cases, sometimes, it can lead in a positive direction. I believe that this is not a proper way to define a person, you must look slightly farther into them to really judge who they are. "A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be." -Albert Einstein. This is an excellent saying to define my point, you should be looking for what the person really is, and not let your judgment be clouded on what you think they should be, one act does not define what a person is inside. A person in history who was defined by a single act on both sides, positively and negatively, was Abraham Lincoln. He had to make a decision which would help in the long run, but would oppress him by the southerners in the meantime, who believed in slavery. His choice to put the Emancipation Proclamation into play, was hard, although the right thing to do. Praise and cheers came from the North, and the colored American citizens, but he was judged by the South, had a large red "X" drawn on his person metaphorically, just for doing what he knew was the right thing. For the remainder of his life, these judgments remained. Society should not act as cruel, and impartial as they do when someone makes a mistake. It is true though, people usually do not go to great strides to change their ways, and as shallow as the judging may be they should change themselves and be more forgiving, and empathetically understanding to this, because who knows, the gossiper may be the next who is gossiped about.
Michael Braley
3/5/2014 11:53:20 pm
A single act can define a person. Either if the act was a negative or positive. For ex. Adolf Hitler is known for the start of WW2. Even though he was on the cover of Times Magazines for the man of the year award. The start of the war and the whole war in general overruled his good act of man of the year. When people hear his name, you instantly think about the millions of people he killed because of his actions. People should act upon their last actions or the most significant. Hitlers actions cancelled out his good one of the man of the year award. People act differently towards him because of his negative actions, not on his good one. People never consider the positive action unless it is the persons most recent action. Like if it was a negative action he did last (which he did) they should act upon that action.
Alyssa Haigh
3/6/2014 06:23:13 am
I do not believe that a single act can define who you are as a person. Some people have made mistakes that have effected how everyone views them, and that isn't fair. Take for example, all the teen mothers in the world. These teens made one careless mistake that haunts them everyday. Every time a young mother goes out with their child they are constantly being dealt the judgement card. People assume that when you have a baby you sleep around. But you never know their situation. These teens have made one mistake that led to a cycle of constant judgement. No matter who you are, I don't believe you have the right to judge someone for one act. You never know their situation, and how much your words can hurt.
Allie DiVincenzo
3/6/2014 08:02:02 am
In today’s world, people are extremely quick to pass judgment on someone they don’t even know. Therefore making it hard for one mistake to not define you, more than always your reputation becomes ruined. In my own opinion it shouldn't be this way because everyone makes mistakes and they shouldn't contribute to the type of person you are labeled as. Everyone can change and turn their lives around no matter what their mistake was, however society is stubborn and wouldn't bother to change their opinion. Justin Bieber for example is someone who everyone used to know and love, no people view him completely different now all because a few mistakes and run ins that average people his age go through every day the fact that his famous makes him more available to be judged upon. His character however wasn't changed by these acts but by his money that gave him the attitude that he can go around and do all these things it what makes him infamous. There are then people in history such as Rosa Parks who committed a single act that at the time was frowned upon, but at that point in time and in the modern world that had a very positive impact and this defined her as a person. She is known know as a great hero from segregation and is an example of how to stand by your own beliefs. Even though it is very unlikely, society needs to be more respective of others and give second chance to people. This world is very judgmental and shouldn't be because no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes.
Jonathan Dinan
3/6/2014 08:21:18 am
I think that single acts cannot define you as a person. It shouldn't define you as a person because I believe that everybody makes mistakes. Kobe Bryant was charged with allegedly sexual assault against a young girl. His jersey number was eight at the moment of his crime. He got out of this case with loads of money. Kobe then had to change his number because the other jersey was dishonorable. The thing is once he came back to the NBA he played extraordinarily good so his crime was practically forgotten. This was a positive thing for Kobe even though he did a negative thing. There are fans in Kobe's department because he is a great basketball player. Others that aren't fans may look past his ability to play basketball well and just see the crime he committed. So its kind of half and half when people are picking sides. Basketball Kobe v. Kreepy Kobe. It seems like basketball Kobe won because his crime was invisible after his number changed and his great ability to play b-ball increased.
Jonathan Guilherme
3/6/2014 09:30:56 am
I believe that a single act can define you as a person. It should be able to define you as a person. This is because if anyone in the world does one amazing thing for the world or area they live in they should be recognized for what they did. On the flip side though a person should also be recognized for a wrongdoing they did to the world or area they live in. I have chosen two people. One to represent the bad side and one for the good. The man i choose that should be defined for the one act he committed is Adolf Hitler. This man was pure evil and should be deemed so by everyone who has ever heard of and learned about him. He killed over 6 million people just because they didn't fit his standards on perfect, which he didn't even fit himself. He should be deemed as one of the most evil men in history because of the one act he committed called the Holocaust. The person I have chosen to represent the good is Rosa Parks. Rosa parks was a women who just wanted to be equal in society. She chose not to give up her seat because she felt the humans were made equal no matter the color of there skin. She was regarding as a great human being because of that one act that she did. Society should look at these people two different ways. They should look at Hitler as a sociopath who just hated different, and Rosa Parks as a hero for the country by starting to fight the war on racism.
Jordan 'Block Big Gram' Ciampi
3/6/2014 09:35:08 am
I don't think that one thing that a person does should follow them around for the rest of there life. If you do something that isn't right society will remember it forever. An example of this is Tiger Woods, he cheated on his wife with a hand full of women. Now when people thing about him the first thing that comes to there mind is that he is an adulterer. I think that he deserves a second chance. The way that everyone knew that Tiger Woods did this is because it was all over ESPN. An other person that I feel deserves a second chance is Richy Incognito, He is known for being racist and using the n word in locker rooms. Incognito will most likely be able to get an other job in the NFL. No team wants him because of one act that he is known for. and to me this isn't right. Both of the people that i brought up are negatively affected on one act that they did. The people only no the bad stuff that they did none of the good.
Zachary Burr
3/6/2014 12:16:31 pm
I believe that people are defined by single acts, and that they should be. It makes it easier to identify who they are and what they have accomplished. Such as Osama bin Laden, everyone recognizes him as the head of the Al-Qaeda. When I began writing this, I honestly could not remember his name, but I was easily able to figure it out just by looking up "Al-Qaeda leaders." Also, if I am conversing with other people and he happens to come up, but for some reason I can't remember his name again, or one of the people I am talking to doesn't remember who he is, I can just say, "The Al-Qaeda leader guy," and everyone will instantly know who I am talking about. Also, his acts of terrorism definitely defined his character throughout the rest of his life. He was always plotting bigger and more sinister plots to be able to deal the most damage to countries like America. I believe that how we should treat people that have made a mistake that has cost them their reputation depends on what that act is. With Osama, we hunted him down and killed him because he repeatedly lead attacks and stole the lives of thousands of innocent people. However, in other cases, such as in some books I was reading, "Sword Art Online 5&6: The Phantom Bullet," one of the main characters killed a robber when he was threatening to hurt her mother. All the other kids at her school, upon finding out about this incident, started to avoid/bully her because they were afraid of her. To her classmates, she was defined as "the girl who murdered someone," but in that instance, she shouldn't have been treated badly because of it due to the fact that she was protecting people, and that the person she shot was attempting to burgle a post office at the time. In brief, people can and should be defined by single acts, but how we treat them because of those depends on what exactly they did. If what they did was "evil" then they probably should be ostracized, like in the case of bin Laden, but sometimes if they did do something that could be considered "wrong" (like murder) but it was "noble" or "moral" reasons, then they should not be treated badly for it, and maybe even be praised depending on the situation, such as in the case of Sinon (the girl from the story).
Evan "keesh mooney" Dewar
3/6/2014 01:07:36 pm
A single act in some ones life should not nessisarly define some ones life. But define some ones character and morals. For example. Kobe Bryant and his rape scandal. There Is speculation that it was true or not. Or that the events may or may not have taken place. But even if they did. I don't think that what he had done should have disregarded what his basketball career had/has been. And I feel that today. He is under hyped just due to the fact that he had this media exposure in such a negative way. He is compared to some of the "greats" but he is not given as much credit as his game deserves. And I also feel that parents that were remembing of what happened with all of that, are susceptible to wanting to support him. For example. I wanted to buy a pair of his shoes. And my mom second guessed the idea just because she knew of the situation that he was involved in. I think that society should understand that people change and mature as they grow. If you look at film of rookie year Kobe. To last year ahaha it's kind of funny. He was so cocky then. And now he is very professional. So I think society should give people the benefit of the doubt.
Anthony "J. Shuttlesworth" D'Amico
3/10/2014 07:28:30 am
A single act in someones life shouldnt define them as a person. I believe this because many people can change for the good, and change for the bad. An example of someone changing for the good is Lebron James, during his senior in high school, Lebron received a Hummer from a booster at a college that wanted him to attend next fall. Lebron accepted the gift and was very boisterous about his new car. The problem in that situation was Lebron accepting the gift is a violation of high school athletics, he was suspended for 3 games. After thinking over his decision of accepting the car, Lebron realized that he was wrong and apologized to the media and gave the car back to the original owner. Therefore, this incident did not affect Lebron James throughout his life. Aaron Hernandez commiting murder is a single act that defined him as a person. Murder is a crime that us punishable by death, meaning this is a very serious offense. In this particular case, a single act DEFINE someone as a person. Committing murder wasnt an accident, he planned to do it and accomplished what he set out to do, therefore a single act can define someone as a person in this case. Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
English 10
Please respond to the question and/or comment on another classmate's response in at least 10 Archives
June 2014
Categories |
RSS Feed
