The Seven Debtly Sins

This paper explores the novel Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong by David Walsh, who published the novel at the end of 2012. This novel is about Walsh’s journey as he follows Lance Armstrong and his life as a cyclist for 13 years as Lance deals with critics and skepticisms about his correlation with doping. Lance Armstrong was a glorified athlete who won many Tour de France titles after conquering testicular cancer. He was widely appreciated for cycling, but many people were questioning how he was able to make such a comeback after his cancer diagnosis. This book explores what happens from David Walsh’s point of view and the struggles he had to face as a Tour de France sports journalist: whether he should just celebrate Armstrong’s victories or question his usage of drugs. The purpose of this paper is to give a brief summary of the novel, and to reflect on the novel while still linking it to the issues and concepts of drugs and cheating in sports.

The deadly sins that are committed so easily we don't even consider them deadly any longer. Sins such as Pride, lust, and gluttony. The Catholic Church teaches us that there are seven deadly sins, greed, sloth, envy, lust, gluttony, pride, and wrath. According to the satirical newspaper The Onion's short article "All Seven Deadly Sins Committed at Church Bake Sale," these sins are so frequently perpetrated in everyday society that even a holy church function is unable to go without. The author mentions, "In total, 347 individual acts of sin were committed at the bake sale, with nearly every attendee committing at least one of the seven deadly sins...” (201)

I put a high importance on the most important items first such as groceries, dog food, and gas expenses. Although after analyzing my spending habits, I have realized that almost all of my purchases are wants, rather than needs. I always feel like I need more clothes and to eat out, however, in reality I have plenty of clothes and a house full of food. I usually decide what to purchase because it sounds good or looks good in that moment of time; however, after I make the purchase I often feel a little guilty, which is an obvious problem.

In the opinion article "My Year of No Shopping" by Ann Patchett, the main argument is that limiting the amount we buy can help free up your life, save you time, and not wanting as much stuff, which is supported by the rhetorical appeal anecdotes. In the article, Patchett focuses on the topic of her journey from constantly buying things to having a whole year of no shopping besides the basics in her grocery store. She says, “I realized I had too many decisions to make that were actually important,” she said. “There were people to help, things to do. Not shopping frees up a lot of space in your brain” (Patchett).

Many people have tried to glance into the future to find their own worst case scenarios of what might happen, and warn the public to make certain it does not. Novels, movies, short stories, songs and even poems have been written about these dystopian societies. In Fahrenheit 451, books are burned by firemen and people are absorbed in technology. In the video 2081, people are made all completely equal by technology. In both of these, technology is embraced and memory is taken for granted.

In Douglas Adams's novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect traverse an imperfect galaxy plagued by a lack of individuality. In The Seven Deadly Sins Today, Henry Fairlie ventures that this galactic epidemic correlates to the transmission of immorality throughout the world. Douglas Adams utilizes satire and characterization to demonstrate how the human condition is flawed. Furthermore, Henry Fairlie calls upon the archetypal seven deadly sins to criticize human banality. Collectively, Adams's wittiness and Fairlie's bitterness encourage the reader to exercise one's identity. First, Douglas Adams satirizes modern society to delineate the blemishes that chafe the face of humankind. Next, characterization

Psychologist James Hamblin believes that happiness comes from experiences that occur in life rather than the materials life has to offer. In other words, a person will be happier in the long run going on vacation rather than buying a new phone. Hamblin’s article creates an argument in hopes of encouraging people to enjoy the moments in life and not the big or little things. Hamblin argues that ‘if you pay for an experience, like a vacation, it will be over and gone; but if you buy a tangible thing, a couch, at least you 'll have it for a long time” (Hamblin 2014). A person may be able to buy something and have it in possession for a long period of time,

Greed, Sloth, pride, lust, wrath, envy, and gluttony the seven deadly core sins. All of these sins are sadly sometimes a common occurrence in the human population. Day by day these occur all over the world in every corner of this earth these sins reside. This story will go over three things about the whole sinology, and those are how they are used in real life, the damaging effects that they cause, and its possible effects on society as a whole. This story will also be 7 paragraphs long not including this paragraph right here and at the end.

“But the prospect of an end to plenty has uncovered what maybe a pernicious problem, an addiction so out of control that is qualifies as a sickness.” (paragraph 2) In the famous essay “Why Stuff Is Not Salvation” by Anna Quindlen, Quindlen denounces the consumer values of the modern century. She states in paragraph 6: “Now much of the country is made up of people with the acquisition habits of a 7-year-old, desire untethered from need, or the ability to pay.” This quote unveils that a large amount of the United States population spends more money on desired items, that they can’t afford, rather than necessities. This addiction shoves consumers down a rabbit hole of debt and bankruptcy. With this, she expresses her opinion that people would

The author perpetuates his Christian viewpoint that it is not Godly to strive towards riches, or to obtain an abundance of material possessions on earth, but more important to seek the rewards in Heaven (Lines 27-28). Additionally, the Bible teaches, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV). His perception is that every man should be being Christ-like by heading Jesus’ warning, “You, my

In the workplace, people are making money for the family, while in the mall, people are spending money for the family. “When we go out to work, it’s to put bread on the table for the family. When we shop at the mall, it’s often to buy a Christmas, birthday, or house present “for the family” (185). Hochschild identifies the pressure that bring by capitalism and the responsibility of taking care of families becomes a moral issue. The pressure brings by family is “many of us respond to these twin trends, however, not by turning away from family and community, but by actually elevating them in moral importance” (186). In order to take care of families and make them lives in better lives, people have to make money, which is the pressure that brings by Capitalism. “Working long hours and spending a lot of money-instead of spending time together-have increasingly become how we say “I love you” at home” (187). People start to believe that the more money they make and the more money they spend shows the more love to the family, instead of spending more time with the family, which is the way for people to lessen their moral pressure. Hochschild’s suggestions are realistic because in nowadays most people in the society are using the time for their jobs instead of spending time with

Although research shows that adolescent use is harmful to developing brains, Dr. Kevin Hill of McLean Hospital's Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse commented, “The growing body of research that includes this study suggests that medical marijuana laws do not increase adolescent use and future decisions that states make about whether or not to enact medical marijuana laws should be at least partly guided by this evidence” (Borchardt). Other research is showing that pot use is increasing among teens-- ironically though, that increase is not in the states where it is legal. The National Survey on Drug Use points out that marijuana has consistently been the most accessible illicit drug since 1975 when 81% of teens reported they could get it, before

Speaking on the virtual impossibility and implausibility of negation and reversal of karmic reaction triggered by the five gravely sinful acts, discussed in verse thirty-nine of this composition, even through religious rituals and meritorious acts, the composer reminds the faithful that the karmic retribution for these gravely sinful acts, ordained in the spiritual realm, is binding, rigid and immutable.

The two capital sins believe are the biggest problem either in my life or people in general are envy and avarice. I picked envy because a lot of people aren’t pleased with their lives. We look at others who are succeeding in life through hatred and sadness because that isn’t us. We mistreat those who are positive, achieving and etc. because they aren’t us when they don’t deserve to be treated badly. I can relate this to my life because I get jealous easily and tend to cut out the people who are winning in life. The other virtue I picked avarice because everyone experiences this in their everyday lives. We tend to forget that money is the root of all evil. Today in this generation with society watching our every move, we pick the more expensive,

I figuratively carry guilt and regret. I carry these things because I made a promise to my cousin, also my best friend, that I did not end up getting a chance to keep. I promised her that the week of spring break I would come and have a girl’s weekend with her since she had just been cleared from having Leukemia for two years. Although what I carry with me is not visible to the human eye, it's visible to me, I know in my heart and my mind what it is. She begged and pleaded continously for me to spend the weekend with her and I kept postponing it because I felt like I would have more time. The week before spring break of 2017 is the week that I lost my best friend. I never got the chance to say sorry for not keeping my promise.