Serenity Prayer for my Family The famous Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr reads, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” I chose this quote to start off my essay about self-discovery, after brainstorming and writing half an essay I came to a major writer’s block while trying to cope with a family upset this week. My sister delivered her baby at 26 weeks, facing a long road ahead of them. Our family is trying to find a way to comfort them through their dismay. We cannot plan for hard times like these, nor for the emotions felt over the last week, and as quoted above I accept that I can’t change the timing of all of this, but I can change the topic of my essay to something that I feel close to my heart at this time. I believe as we go through trials holding to the Serenity Prayer, accepting what we cannot change, having the courage to change what we can, and the wisdom to know the difference, we will find peace through the storm. Montaigne said, “Fear sometimes arises from want of judgment as well as from want of courage.” Going through life’s challenges some might think ignorance is bliss but to really experience life we must open our eyes. Montaigne continued by saying, “All the dangers I have seen, I have seen with open eyes, with my sight free, sound and entire; besides, it takes courage to be afraid” (368). In order to get through challenging times or new
Instead of being afraid, be courageous and do not let fear affect difficult decisions. Courage is a choice everyone must make to overcome challenges. Though being courageous is hard, it always pays off. Even though it's easy to be scared, true courage is overcoming that fear. One example of overcoming fear is “The Ravine” by Graham Salisbury, in which a young boy named Vinny shows great courage by overcoming his fear of being bullied and standing up to peer pressure from his friends.
Thesis: In Maus, by Art Spiegelman, the message of fear is to overcome fear and not to let fear overcome you.
Nelson Mandela once said “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” This quote explains how we must overcome our fears to become courageous and brave. Joan Bauers realistic fiction short story “The Truth About Sharks” tells us this. One day a girl named Beth a 17 year old girl woke up to what she thought was just going to be an ordinary day. She had to go to the store and grab pants for a party. Sounds like an simple task, but not for Beth. As she was shopping she left all of her belongings in a changing room and was going to look for a shirt. She told a friendly salesperson named Hanne where she was headed. On the way she was
All people should be able to say, “You know I’m not afraid of you at all” (Bradbury 7), and keep going on. Just like Clarisse did, even though other people in her community were scared of fireman, she knew that there was nothing to be afraid of and that’s how she met Montag. That’s how everyone in her community should do the same thing. Be Tough and not matter about what the others have to say. That’s also something that in the real world people should follow especially since there is a lot to fear from, but the fear shouldn’t stop us from doing what we can
The Failures of Fear “A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears”. This quote from philosopher Michel de Montaigne’s The Complete Essays tells that your fear of something, in itself, can cause you pain. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury, embodies this quote through numerous examples in the text.
“It’s not about having the absence of fear, it’s about having dominance over it” (Steve Maraboli). This quote reveals that dominance can provide strength to overcome adversity. Everybody has a fear that is holding them back, but it is the people who overcome those apprehensions who achieve success. For instance, in Beowulf, by anonymous, and The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the characters looking for dominance are constantly dealing with hardships. Dominance is hard to earn, although easy to lose, even when you feel undefeatable.
Most people would be living in fear. They would be limiting themselves to only the things that they think they can do. No one would be trying out new things for adventures and no one would be willing to face their fears. Many people wouldn’t be successful and there would be no one to inspire other people. To me, courage is an essential quality and I think that everyone should have courage. If everyone had courage then a lot more people would be successful in life. The quote about courage by Kelly Kalafatich can be connected to my life, the arts, and the world around me. Courage can be found in my life when I first moved into this country, it can be found in the character Jonas from the movie The Giver, and it can be found in Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman physician. Overall, courage is very important to succeed in life and that the examples given in this essay show the reader that by having courage, a person was able to face his/her fear and succeed in the path they wished to
Fear is one of the most important qualities because is something everyone has and needs. Something that fear gives you is sense of caution and to think two times and there’s also moments where you should be quiet and hope for the best, like in Night, “the old men stayed in their corner, silent motionless, hunted down creatures. Some were praying. One more hour. Then we will now the verdict: death or reprise” (lines 32-36). In those lines, they knew that protesting would not do any good, so they just keep quiet. Being afraid is not bad, it could help you be stronger.
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ The danger lies in refusing to face the fear in not daring to come to grips with it. If you fail anywhere along the line, it will take away your confidence. You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” That was a quote said by Eleanor Roosevelt.
Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. However in this case, Fear is the avoidance or put off of something because one is afraid. Considering modern day society’s oppression, fear is in fact our worst enemy, which is evident through our focuses on success rather than failure and by the inspirational experiences of failure. In order for they’re to be success in ones’ life, there must be backbreaking failures and barriers to overcome.
The author Joelle Charbonneau uses Symbolism in order to reveal what influence fear has on people’s decisions. Fear can cause people to change for better or for
“The best measure of courage is the fear that is overcome” (Norman F. Dixon). Life presents fearful challenges. Bridge:In Robert Mccammon’s Boy’s Life a young boy named Cory Mackinson faces a series of problems forcing him into the reality of a broken world. Cory faithfully endures a perfect storm of disillusionment, deception, and fear to discover a murderer.
The good news is that when you begin to chip away at your ignorance, your levels of fear and hesitancy decline at the same rate. When you become thoroughly knowledgeable about what it is that you want to do, you will find yourself with far more confidence and courage than you have fear and doubt. And from that point on, you can begin to make some real progress.
But what you often don’t want to face is often what you need to face (and the more you do it, the easier it gets).
In “The Certainty of Fear” by Audra Kendall, the author chronicles the fears we have throughout our lifetime. Starting with the fears of childhood and then adolescence, progressing to a mid-life crisis and concluding with the fears of our senior years; I can relate to these fears but I don’t remember much of my younger years. For me, my greatest fears started as an adolescent and continue now into the mid years of my life and further into the future of my senior years.