Persuasive Essay

In 1983, Raymond Carver introduced his short story “Cathedral” to the public. The first-person narrative takes place within the narrator’s home, where his wife is waiting upon the arrival of her blind friend Robert. The narrator, however, becomes more concerned about how Robert’s visit will affect him rather than enjoy the situation. Once Robert arrives, the narrator tries to understand the blind man, but he is unaware of what tasks Robert is capable of performing due to the narrator’s inability to “see”. In time, Robert shows the narrator the difference between looking and seeing through illustrations of a cathedral, drawn by the narrator with his eyes closed. “Cathedral’s” narrator exposes readers to anti-heroic views

Being an athletes is one of the best-paid jobs on Earth. Being that they are paid so much the cost for the consumer is very high. The prices of tickets and sports memorabilia have been steadily rising over the years. The average ticket prices for the NHL, MLB, NBA and NFL all rose 5% to 10% this year, according to Jon Greenberg, executive editor of Team Marketing Report. (Mihoces).

The cost of college tuition is continually on the rise and has placed many burdens on high school students as well as their families. Some of the burdens that are placed are a result of parents putting pressure on their children to earn scholarships. Some of the burden is a result of students putting pressure on themselves to earn scholarships. Then, there is the burden of high college debt once the student graduates. Is this pressure really helping our students or is it hurting them? The bottom line is college tuition is skyrocketing out of control and something must be done before it destroys our families and our children.

In the novel, Speaker For The Dead by Orson Card, regret plays a substantial role by helping progress the plot and introduce many themes those of which are identifiable in each character. The themes portrayed assist in showing the reasoning for regret, as well as different ways that it can be handled. Regret is strongly present all throughout the book and different characters experience differing levels of regret. Each character handled it in their own unique way, specifically because of their circumstances and how their mindset was changed. In Ender, there is definite regret for killing off an entire species.

Since the dawn of man, the past has played some part in one’s future. Not all memories and experiences in the past are good, some bring deep depression, others violent thoughts and behavior, whatever the case maybe, the past has potential to alter who a person becomes. A person should not let their actions and experiences in the past shape your future, because if one is focused on their past, they cannot develop their true potential in life.

Counterfactual thinking is the cognitive process in which individuals can simulate alternative realities, to think about how things could have turned out differently, with statements such as ‘what if’ and ‘if only’. Counterfactuals can be either upward, in which alternative realities are improved, or downward, in which alternative realities are worsened. Reflecting on previous outcomes can make individuals experience regret and this review will focus on the effects of counterfactual thinking and feelings of regret, which has been referred to as a ‘counterfactual emotion’.

Why do people spend time worrying about things in the past, when they have so much future ahead of them? In the award winning novel, Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, a letter is dropped off on the Winterbottom’s front porch from an anonymous person: “In the course of a lifetime, what does it matter?” Using this metaphor, Creech tries to show us that some things in life matter, and some things don’t. It’s such a short life, and it is important not to waste it worrying about events that occurred in the past and do not matter. However, some things such as losing a loved one will affect a person in the long run, and will most certainly matter. Ultimately, this theme has a significant relation to several characters in the novel and the world at

Unfortunately, all people are human and are not perfect; they are meant to make mistakes. A person can make a huge mistake and may have to live with the feelings of guilt and regret. In some cases, these feelings remain on a conscience and cause a person to give up hoping for relief. However, no matter how much time has passed, a person can usually find a way to make up for the wrongdoing. In the novel, The Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini effectively expresses the theme that it is never too late for reparation when Amir saves his step-nephew Sohrab. The rescue was courageous and transformed him from a selfish child to a mature adult.

A really good song called “A Teardrop in the Ocean” by Ron Pope reminds me of this everytime I listen to it. Ron mentions “I don’t want to waste the weekend,” (Pope 2009). What I take from this is that he doesn’t want to live a boring life full of regrets. He wants to live his life to best of his ability. Another quote I like from his song is “never counting regrets,”(Pope 2009). Regrets are things that happened in the past. We should let them go and enjoy the future. This reminds me of a time over the summer. My grandparents wanted me to go to the beach with them. I wanted to go but not without my friend ashley, so I told them no. I ended up not going and I regret it now. It would have been really fun just to sit on the beach and relax. From now on I am going to live my life to the fullest no matter what. My life doesn’t have room for regrets. With this I am sure I will be able to have a positive

At some point in time, we have all experienced regret. As rational human beings, we often make decisions that cause ripple effects that may change our lives in considerable or insignificant ways. When we make regrettable decisions that have negative outcomes, we often dwell on “what might have been” and wonder about the possible results of having made an alternative choice; we call this process counterfactual thinking (Sanna & Chang, 2006). This paper aims to examine how this type of thinking can affect the ways in which we process causation when confronted with unfavorable outcomes. In order to gauge how counterfactual thinking can be affected, we will focus on the factors of gender and mutability of a situation.

Source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Health, United States, 2002. Flegal et. al. JAMA. 2002;288:1723-7. NIH, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, 1998.

“Your assignment is to write a persuasive essay and present it to the class in a week. You will be graded based on how convincing it is. Today we will be choosing topics,” announced Mr. Bowerbank, my 7th grade English teacher and ruler of classroom 110. My class simultaneously groaned at the prospect of work. I simply lifted my head with intrigue as it was already May and about time we had our first essay. He then proceeded to give examples of topics we could choose and gave us some time to think before we had to tell him our topic. My classmates were already rushing to tell the teacher their idea lest someone else steal it. That meant the usual abortion, death penalty, or drug use topics were out. I really couldn't think of anything and the teacher was slowly making his way through the remaining students like an executioner beheading criminals in a line. I have always thought that he would make a marvelous supervillain if he had a curly mustache, a tophat, and a cape. Eventually my name was called. I slowly dragged myself over to his desk. Even sitting down, he still seemed to tower over me. “What is your topic Cindy?” As usual in such desperate times, my mind turned to food. “Waffles are better than pancakes.” I figured that a waffle was just a differently shaped pancake with a nicer texture. “Hmm. Excellent topic. I look forward to your essay!” I survived to live yet another day.

Everyone’s past can have some bumps in the road that can result in misery, regret but also happiness. But it can also play an important role

Why spend money that is really needed for other things? Why live uncomfortably? Why be trapped in this hole called a home that belongs to another person? Why not live free and peacefully? When a person rents he or she usually throws away money that could be used to purchase something that belongs to them. Money is not easy to come by so why pay out hundreds toward something that is not benefit to the person paying it out. There is no good explanation for making a decision like this. The best option in a situation like this is to buy a house. Buying a house is a better option than renting an apartment.

Having escaped rule from a tyrannical British government, the United States was founded on ideals of freedom and equality for all people. These fantasies of universal egalitarianism turned out to be merely that: fantasies. American history is full of stories of the oppressed struggling to get the rights they deserve and of the controversy over these issues that consequently ensues. “The Hypocrisy of American Slavery” by Frederick Douglass and “We Shall Overcome” by Lyndon B. Johnson are two speeches made confronting two of these issues. Douglass’s speech, delivered in 1852, condemns the institution of slavery and maintains that slaves are men and are therefore entitled to freedom. Johnson’s speech, on the other hand, was written in 1965 and discussed the civil rights movement. In it, he implored local governments to allow all American citizens, regardless of race, to vote. Despite the significant gap in time between these two addresses, both speakers use similar persuasive techniques, including ethos, pathos, and parallelism, to convince their audience that change needs to be implemented in America.