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Thinking Of One’S Own Life As Having No Meaning Is A Difficult

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Thinking of one’s own life as having no meaning is a difficult prospect for many, however; in his book The Achievement Habit, author Bernard Roth considers it to be paramount to success. Bernard Roth is a highly regarded and decorated professor at the prestigious, Ivy League Stanford University. This declaration goes against the common beliefs of what many like-minded self-help books instruct their readers to do. In the initial line of the beginning paragraph in the first chapter of his book, Roth states: “Your life has no meaning” (Roth 15). While this may seem to be a harsh and insensitive statement, Roth’s intentions in stating this are to the contrary. By utilizing the idea that Aristotle championed in Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle…show more content…
Clearly, stating that which is held in the highest regard is, in fact, meaningless will arouse many emotions such as shock, anger, or sorrow within many readers. However, Roth expands upon his claim by informing the reader that everything which is held in a high regard has such value due to his or her choice to award the object, person, and so on value. Roth uses the example of his colleague, Sheri, who struggled immensely with the emotional impact of stating that her daughter has no meaning. Roth says that her daughter does, in fact, have meaning. Consequently, this meaning is present because Sheri chooses to value her daughter. Roth’s actual point in arguing this declaration is as follows, “the value that Sheri gives to her daughter is not preordained” (19). Roth warrants his claim by stating when she is born, Sheri’s daughter has no meaning, rather; it is Sheri’s love for her daughter that gives her meaning. Roth supports his claim that daughters do not have preordained love by stating that “Some mothers abandon their daughters. Some mothers murder their daughters. Some deride and disdain them…” (19). Roth does not limit this idea to strictly this one example. Moreover, he strives to personalize this example by challenging the reader to try this exercise for his or herself. This further expands the emotional load present within
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