Four Essays That Prove I Suck: The Arguments of a Pacifist

Many people tend to think war is a part of life that mankind will never be able to rid itself of. This comes from the assumption that war is one of the basic needs of mankind. However, Margaret Mead does not make this assumption. In fact, she denies its credibility in her essay “Warfare is Only an Invention – Not a Biological Necessity.” In this essay, Margaret Mead combines a great deal of logos and ethos with limited pathos to support her pacifist claim that warfare is merely an invention of man, and not a need found in the very nature of man. While Mead’s claim does not agree with the most common beliefs about warfare, its mixture of logos and ethos is as strong as the bricks and mortar of a

English had been a breeze previous years before. I never put in the extra effort like I would have for a math class. I was used to getting A’s or B’s in English. So when my first narrative essay came back as an F, my stress levels rose tremendously. What I didn’t know was that an F would bring me to greater things.

Pacifism is the belief that violence is not the way to resolve differences. They believe that war can be avoided and that there are better and longer lasting solutions to disputes.

The dreaded English 102. Could this be my final English course in my career as a student? I don’t know for sure. I still need to decide what my major will be in. There is something that I know for sure, that is, needing to take this class to move on. I am not certain how my time in this class will go, but I plan to work hard to get the best grade that I can. Hence, I have decided to get this out of the way now, I look to fine-tune my writing skills, and I expect this course to help me understand my writing style.

After a century of peace, Gandhi is declaring war on me again. Indian tanks roll into my capital and begin massacring my militia. As I struggle to force him out of my capital, a nuclear warhead decimates not only my city, but also the last remnants my army. I slam my keyboard and sigh in frustration as I watch him salting the earth of my empire. After a bloody eight hours of dealing with land hungry warmongers and barbarian invasions, my honor has been stripped; my morale has evaporated; my empire has finally fallen… The sun has set, but my empire will rise again. I click the play again button once more. I load up another game of Civilization V and return to the endeavor of leading a civilization.

Pacifists believe that war is always an unnecessary evil for two reasons: First, is that they are immoral and don’t achieve the goals of the country, even if the goals are legitimate. Second, is that wars are ultimately ineffective and they don’t solve any disagreements. Sometimes they can make them worse ( Barcalow 303-304).

Joseph Campbell, a well know mythologist states in “the Power of Myth” that “a hero is someone who has given his or her life to something greater than oneself” (Campbell 151). Campbell also indicates that there are two types of hero deeds. One type is a physical deed, “in which the hero performs a courageous act in battle or saves a life” (Campbell 151). The second is a spiritual deed, “in which the hero learns to experience the supernatural range of human spiritual life and then comes back with a message” (Campbell 152). In his story “The way of the peaceful Warrior”, Dan Millman tells us about his experience with a white bearded man known as Socrates who takes him on many adventures and gives him knowledge on life. Although

Violence is inherently flawed. In the immortal words of Gandhi, "Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary." Therefore the most successful strategy for long-lasting peace and independence is nonviolence. This concept is crucial to understand the history of this time period. Violence and the lack of it, nonviolence plays a major role in the play of this chapter. Many question the practicality of nonviolence: “How can it work?” “Why can't armed and powerful opponents simply kill everyone that doesn't agree with them?” The answer couldn't be simpler: because the people will revolt. A few thousand oppressors wielding violence simply cannot control several million determined people. This lack of control is

I was terrified walking into my third attempt at Engl 1010 this semester. I attempted and failed this class twice already so I was worried about what was to come, more failing grades, more difficult papers to write, and more confusion. I wrote about this concern in my Literacy Narrative assignment. " I realized for the first time my "easy high school years" had hurt me academically, and that as a college freshman, my reading and writing skills were at an eighth grade level. I tried, but was unable to keep up with the other students. I was a homeschooled, seventeen year old, lost in this world of learning, surrounded mainly by students who came from private schools all over the country." (Literacy Narrative 7?) I had no writing skills beyond the eighth grade and college level writing was foreign to me. In my previous classes, It was assumed everyone knew the basics, but I didn 't. This English course has taught me so much about myself, my writing abilities, and that I can overcome obstacles and excel. The assigned readings helped me understand what was expected, my professor went out of her way to make sure I understood the assignment, and I am leaving this class with literacy skills I thought I would never have.

The question of whether or not going to war is appropriate is a pragmatic question that causes controversial answers. A great range of opinions exists to answer this question. The idea that war is never appropriate is called pacifism. Although pacifists have several beliefs in common, different varieties and different variations exist. "Pacifism is not a single unitary theory about war and peace but rather a collection of related theories… there are different varieties of pacifism" (Teichman 1). Pacifists portray a general rejection to the violence that takes place during war.

There are several different sorts of pacifism, but they all include the idea that war and violence are unforgiveable, and that conflicts should be established in a peaceful way. People are pacifists for various reasons including religiousness, for conscientious reasons, for presumably pragmatic reasons, such as the believe that war is careless and unsuccessful. Many believe that pacifism is more than opposition to war. They debate that it must include action to encourage justice and human rights. Listed below are some of the definitive categorization of pacifism:

I’ve learned a lot of useful tips from this semester in ENG 201. English has never been my strong suit nor has it been my favorite class. However this college course has changed my point of view of the subject. Prior coming into college I viewed English as a useless class because I’ve already knew the basics: how to talk, read and write essays. Today I view English as an important class. It helped me in other courses that involved writing, such as World Civilization and Communications, because it allowed me to practice my skills. In my world civilization exams I had to write essays. This course helped me write an impactful essay. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that almost all of my exam scores were in the 90s, usually I do poorly in the

For my book project I read the book Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman. Set in Berkeley California, Dan Millman a college student struggles to find the part of himself that has always been missing. One night while out walking from his dorm, Dan comes across a gas station and a strange man that is soon to turn his life upside down. This man, known as Socrates, shows Dan a side of existence that only few people had ever seen. To become a warrior like Socrates and have the mind to not allow the regular struggles of life to control a single part of you. Socrates takes Dan in and tries to create a warrior from a young star athlete with the ignorance of every other human on this earth. Through his

People have been going to war and attacking each other for years. War is a messy thing, and no one likes to go to war, even the people who advocate for going to war do not enjoy it they just see value in it. Regardless, people have been going to war for a variety of reasons for all of history. A brief look at recent US history would show us that we have gone to war in the case of protecting people internationally such as World War One, retaliation such as in world war two, and even stopping the spread of ideas as in the Vietnam war. People go to war because they get something out of it. This view is crucial in understanding that there should be a desired outcome to war. Even so cold “just wars” not only limit violence by stopping oppressors, but they also perpetuate violence by requiring any country that enters into armed conflict to be inherently violent.

As the long figure shadow appears beside me, my essay floated down from her hand. Immediately I saw my paper covered in red lines. I turned the pages to the last one where Mrs. Bradley left the grade. For some reason, the shock of receiving another C- got to me. This essay wasn’t like the rest, the ideas and arguments made in the essay were strong. How could this essay not get at least a B. Next to the grade she left a comment, “Please see me about your paper.” Other days I would have ignored it and just left after class but today my name was on the board. There was no escaping Mrs. Bradley.