Dorothy Day: An Advocate for The Poor Essay

“It’s not easy to be a hero. You do it because of what you believe, not because of what other people deserve.” Anyone can face a challenge or a hardship. But what makes a true hero is how the person takes on the challenge. Often, heroes show feats of ingenuity and acts of bravery. Two heroes that acted during the American Civil Rights Movement, were Martin Luther King Jr, and Rosa Parks. A hero is a person who has demonstrated behaviors to ethically receive our appreciation and respect. A hero is an ordinary person who finds the strength within themselves to persevere and undergo hardships and calamity.

Heroes are selfless and put others before themselves in dangerous situations. Such as on 9/11, when a call was given out for boats to come rescue people off the island of Manhattan, where the terror attacks happened, as pictured in “Boatlift” Vincent Ardillo after hearing the news told his wife, “I gotta do something.” This represents heroism because Ardillo is not thinking of how he will be impacted, but rather of the people who need help, as many other people with access to a boat did as well. Also, Ardillo could have stayed home and been safe, but chose to sacrifice his well being and comfort for others. Another hero would be Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross, as Barton declared in a Civil War speech “I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them.” Barton distinguishes she could be hurt while helping the soldiers, however she does not dwell on the fact, deciding instead to carry on and make a difference despite the threat to health. This is heroic because Barton is putting others who cannot care for themselves and acknowledges she could be hurt, but does not let that get in the way of her reaching her goals. To sum up, heroes are everyday people who go out of their way to help others in need without the thought of payment.

Being a hero does not always mean wearing capes and fighting villains during the dark hours of the night, it means so much more as Susanna Barlow, in the article “Understanding the Hero Archetype”, explains. In the novel Sleeping Freshman Never Lie by David Lubar and in the movie The Wizard of Oz, Scott and Dorothy fall upon two incredible journeys to becoming true heroes. Throughout their remarkable journeys, Scott Hudson and Dorothy Gale experience similar difficulties, obstacles, lessons, and characteristics. These experiences demonstrate how the obstacles and lessons they suffer through teach both characters very important lessons in becoming a hero. Being a true hero requires kindness, generosity, strength,

In this chapter, Dorothy Lee’s reading gave us a good view of different types of cultures and the personal autonomy of the people .Lee believes that “the principle of personal autonomy is supported by the cultural framework" (lee,5) She explores this by comparing our Western society to several north American aboriginal societies. When we think of our society we are only free to do things to a limit. Whether that limit may be good or bad, otherwise our individual autonomy is restricted in this society. The key problem that Dorothy Lee is addressing in this reading is the conflict between individual autonomy and social structure. Lee presents different material from a number of different societies to show “how the principle of personal

Dorothy Day was born on November 8, 1897 to her mother, Grace, and father, John, in Brooklyn, New York. Because her father was a sports journalist, the family often moved, which made it hard for Day to make and keep friendships in school. She often kept to herself as a child even though she had two brothers and a

Imagine if normal people today flew around wearing capes and all had an S on their chest. You might think of them as the superheroes you see in comic books or television shows. But there is more to a hero than their appearance. A Hero. One word, thousands of meanings. What is a hero to you? A hero is someone who is brave, takes initiative for others and stands up for what they believe in. There is one hero who lived during the 1900s, Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a strong, independent woman who worked for equality and human rights. Not only did Eleanor Roosevelt make a huge impact on America, she made a huge impact on the world. Because of Eleanor Roosevelt’s diligent personality and persistency, she transformed the role of the First Lady for people today, changed women’s rights, and improved worldwide injustices, which makes her the greatest hero we have read about.

Heros do not always have to be the biggest and strongest, they can just be brave and caring. Dorothy shows her heroic characteristics in many different ways. First off, Dorothy does not want to hurt anyone. When she realized that her

As people in society, we are constantly categorizing people as heroes. But what really makes a person a hero? Do they have to rescue a damsel in distress? Do they have to have superhuman strength? No. Well not to mean at least. To me a hero is someone who makes a difference in a person's life. Someone who changed the lives of others for the better. In the book A Lesson Before Dying, a story about a wrongfully accused black man seeking redemption, Tante Lou, Grant Wiggins aunt, can be deemed as a hero or more of an unsung hero because if it were not for her, Grant would have never gone up to see Jefferson, Grant would have never been changed, and then Jefferson would have never been changed as well.

Dorothy Day was born in Brooklyn in November 8th, 1897. Her entire family all took the writing field besides one of her three children. Day describes her young childhood at home as not very loving, especially coming from her father. Anytime she was standing in the presence of her father while she was at home, she remarks, “There was never a close embrace.” (Forest 4). However, it seemed that Day’s mother shared great affection and love for her children unlike her husband. Forest explains, “John, referring to Day’s father, seems to have found it easier to be with horses than with children.” In many books that discuss the life of Dorthy Day, Day’s father seemed to quote at times sayings from the Bible because he seemed to carry the book around

Dorothy Day was a women began a movement that lasted to this day. During the roaring 20’s she served as a reporter in the New York area where she eventually became pregnant due to her promiscuous life style. After her lover left her after her abortion, she left her life in New York City and went to live on Staten Island. It is their she met Forrester her future significant other. They had a marvelous time, maybe a little to much and Dorothy became pregnant once again. During her time on the island, she became involved with a local church where she began to feel a call. Eventually she moved to the city again to pursue a job, and a place to live. She meets a man named Peter Maurin who changes her life. She begins to have a calling to helping others. She then forms the Catholic Worker new paper where she brings to light social issues. She eventually starts a soup kitchen, and a place for people to stay. Even though she may have died in 1981, her legacy will live on for ever and serve as an inspiration for all

Dorothy Day is a strong woman who knows what she wants to accomplish. Her beliefs changed throughout her life but she ended up converting to Catholicism. Dorothy Day was actively involved with worldly issues and problems. To help get attention to these issues Dorothy created the Catholic Worker movement. On August 6, 1976 she was asked to speak at the World Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia (Ellsberg). Her speach was addressing the Feast of Transfiguration and the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. Evidently the Congress scheduled a mass for appreciating the armed forces, how ironic. This threefold event called for a protest. It is said that Dorothy did not like public speaking because it gave her anxiety, this caused her a great amount of stress (Ellsberg). She began her speech by her story of the Catholic Worker and her conversion. She started giving service to the poor and then decided to convert after. She continued to say that the Church taught her the necessity of Penance. She concluded by giving attention to

I admire the way Dorothy took the negative situations in her life and allowed so much goodness to come forth. Seeing the poverty prevalent in the world and losing a spouse is enough to discourage anyone, but Dorothy remained faithful to God despite the loss of her marriage, and she used her heartbreaking images of the poor as a motivator to do all that she could to assist them. As much as I believe the poor deserve more in life and need help, I have not taken the same hands-on approach that Dorothy had. While I donate money, food, and clothes whenever possible, I have not done anything directly related to those in need, such as volunteering in a soup kitchen. With that in mind, Dorothy’s dedication and hands-on approach to the poor is deeply inspiring to me, and it has called on me to reflect on my own life. Prior to my research, I had heard of Dorothy Day and I knew of her work with the poor; however, I was not aware of Dorothy’s personal story and the extent to which she worked to assist those in need. Dorothy has encouraged me to realize how important it is to help wherever we can for those who need

How can one live an ethical life? Most humans strive to live in a good and kind way; however, deciding right from wrong depends on the person's own moral and ethical code. Ethics, as described by a team at Santa Clara University, ¨refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues.¨ However living an ethical life can mean different things to different people, one ultimate ethical code can not fit every person. James Pasztor writes how ¨we often speak about ethics as if we know what it is, as if it is black and white . . .

American writer, mythologist and lecturer Joseph Campbell’s definition of a hero is “someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself”. Growing up, children are most often taught that heroes are typically people who have superpowers and who save people as well as the world by fighting monsters and dragons. As children grow older, heroes transform towards modern heroes, such as Marvel figures like Superman, Batman or Spider-Man. Furthering even more from classics such as the well-known Marvel figures, a hero does not actually in fact have to have any superpower, be well-known, or even known at all. These heroes often times work in the background and are not given the luxury of being respected and admired.

How does one become a hero? Does one need to save the world to be one or fight villains to be considered as one? When people hear the word hero, they would immediately think of superheroes, such as Superman or anyone who fights crime. However a hero is one who caused an impact not only based on fighting, but they are known for their achievements and accomplishments in assisting others who were in need. Owning to the fact that the smallest things heroes do count, even if it's not saving the town from a villain. Based on the definition, someone who is a perfect example is Malala. She exhibits the greatest amount of heroism in comparison to Beowulf and Roberto Clemente. To get a better understanding looking back at Malala she exemplifies what