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Reaction Paper Ethical Ambition Ethical Ambition was written by Derrick Bell. Ethical Ambition is a series of meditations that not only challenges us as readers to face some of the most difficult questions that life presents. This was an inspiration because it makes you think and meditate if you are really doing what you want. This book was meant to be an outline for teaching us the potential for success, without betraying our own beliefs or morals. This was very interesting because it makes you think and wonder if all the thing you have done in the past were made with passion, like working hard to get were you are in school.
For me it was a wake up call because before I would not even have the passion in my school work, I might have passion in other things, but what you should have passion is in your academics because without it you would not be successful. In this first chapter it talks about the power in passion. I believe that we all have the power to do anything that what we want, but sometimes we forget to have that passion. We forget because we live in a world that everything you do will be criticized and we are afraid to put it out there.
I liked a sentence in this chapter that really stood out “passion is not an event but an energy; and it’s an energy that exists in all of us, all the time. ” This energy inside of us might be sleeping, but you can wake it up if you want, if you wake it up it’s because you won’t let it be a big heavy load. Passion for me is the feeling that you get when you are excited to do something. There are people that lack passion in what they fight for and want. I am jealous of those people that work hard and are not afraid to stand for what they believe, for example, Martin Luther King Jr. he had the passion to fight for what he thought was right, the way he defended all the African Americans and how he never gave up. That is a man that even if it took away his life he fought and fought and now all those African Americans are free because of that passionate person. His soul was full of passion and that is how we have to be, we have the choice to have passion in our school work and not only on school work but also in ourselves and our hearts then this will give us a step more close for success in the future.
The next chapter was very interesting because it talks about courage. Courage has many meanings and people interpret it different than others. Some people ask themselves what is courage, do I have the courage within my self to do what I want, or to stand up for what I believe. I think that we all have courage but in some persons it is hidden. I feel that true courage is doing whatever needs to be done regardless of how you feel. For instance, if you run into a burning building to safe a baby from burning is it a courageous thing you did?
Some people might think that this was an instinct rather than being courageous. I believe you have to have courage to succeed in just about everything you do cause without the courage to do something you’d be just sitting in a corner sucking your thumb. In life, one must have the courage to stand up for what they believe in, courage to be oneself and the courage to go out and experience new things. Risk taking is essential in ones life because the decisions you make might be wrong or right but it helps you grow and mature as a human being.
We have to take risks in this life in order to keep on going even if it means falling and it makes you stronger. I think that is why we are here in this life to make mistake and learn from them. Like people say what makes you fall makes you stronger. I think risk taking is a variation of things. Is about doing the things you want to do before you die. I believe that risk taking keeps you young in a positive way. It keeps your mind alert, goals present, physical nature active, and personality adjusting. I can’t imagine myself without taking risk.
Every decision you make and everything you do is a risk, whether it is life threatening, career threatening, or relationship threatening, life would be pretty boring without risks. Faith is what moves us in this world without faith there is no hope for better things. I think we all process the ability to have faith but as we rely on God in difficult times our faith is strengthened. We start by having a little and it grows as we grow in our relationship with God. “Now faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ” (Hebrews 11:1).
There is a lot to learn and probably a lot of concepts that aren’t so easy to understand and accept. I think this is a test to see who is willing and able to do what it takes and be able to handle higher truths and knowledge. If we are the kind of people that can have faith in God in the simplest concepts of why we are here and if we can’t do the work and effort it takes to gain that knowledge, then we probably don’t deserve it and can’t handle the more complicated knowledge God has to teach us. Gaining the knowledge that God absolutely exists is not an easy process. I think it was set up that way on purpose.
If we can’t understand basic addition or do the effort to learn it then we will never understand calculus. Faith can move mountains. Relationships are also vital to satisfy our emotional, physical, security, social and educational needs. The family is the primary source of support for individuals when they are dealing with problems in their everyday lives. Some people see the family as the basis for our human growth and development as well as for giving support. They engage people as partners in the helping process. The family must be supported and strengthened because it contributes to our well being.
Most importantly, relationships help us learn from each other, develop, grow, and live more productive and meaningful lives. Another personal value that places the highest ethical standard in our society is integrity. These are the standards of right and wrong, what each of us ought to do usually in terms of rights and obligations, benefits, common good, least harm, and social justice for all individuals. Us as human beings must adhere to the ethical principles of integrity on maintaining a high code of behavior, honesty, trust, being respected, and having a sense of justice and fairness.
Being honest and having integrity can be a guide for everything that one does. Knowing what to do when no one is watching, knowing the difference between doing the right thing and wrong thing, and keeping your word are all examples of integrity. Having integrity is respected both in personal and professional relationships. There are many people that have had an impact on my life and influenced me in many different ways. My mother, however, has had the biggest impact on my life, and influenced me more than anyone else. She is the rock in mi life because she is a strong person.
She never complains even if she works fourteen hours a day and has three jobs. She has always told us that we need to work hard for what we want. I admire her because even if she is sick, she will go to work knowing that when she comes home from a long day she will be tired. She has always worked hard to get us what we needed. Now that I am older I help her out, I work help her pay some bills or help her with my little sister in providing the way that she did. My dad is another source of inspiration because he work twelve hours a day and never complains.
He has work hard since a very young age to provide for his parents and sisters and now for us. Like mi mom even if he is sick he will go to work. He is willing to help anyone in need. My parents were immigrants and have worked hard, they have always told us to work hard to get what we want. My parents have told us that in order to succeed we need to go to school and have a career because without it you are not someone. This is because they have struggled to get what they have, working long hours in the field.
They said that they don’t want for us to be working in the fields like they have because is hard and that is why we need to work hard. Sometimes we need to hang on to each other hands for inspiration and keep going. Sometimes we need to take a moment and appreciate all the things our parents have done for us in order to be where we are now. Without them, who knows, where you would be. Your parents are the most important value in life, not your friends nor your best friends and certainly not money. Your parents will always be there, whatever life throws at you; you know you can always depend on your parents.
So sometimes we need to stop what we are doing and take a moment and say thanks to your parents for all the things they have done because without them you wouldn’t have anything. Sometimes people take the things for granted and in a matter of seconds everything is gone. They are my greatest inspiration. What is humility? Humility takes an honest recognition of your worth as God sees you and recognizing your faults and knowing God loves and values us is so important to our well being. Doesn’t this promote a healthy view of us? Pride is wrong because it elevates you above others, and often above God.
Humility doesn’t always come naturally for some people. There are people who are stubborn nature and were brought up very confident and elevating themselves due to experiences and upbringing. I believe the reason why they fell like this is because they are suffering inside with jealousy, insecurity and are a result of their “ego” or self or pride, sense of entitlement, or the desire to be the “best” at whatever. People need to be humble sometimes so they can be in place where their life is better. I think that humility comes first than honor.
What matters if you have honor if you don’t have humility you can’t go through life and stepping all over people because when you get older and have kids they would do that to you. We live in a society that is like a chain reaction if you do something other people follow but we need to break that mold and make this a better place to live. There are people walking who don’t care if they hurt people because they were never thought the meaning of humility. I consider myself as a humble person, I am the kind of person that if hit in one cheek would put the other cheek, like they say is better that there is one crazy person that two.
I don’t like people who are like that. For example, I have an aunt that is good economically stable and when one of her sisters husband died she provided some stuff for the funeral and gave my aunt some money, she had her pride very high and was telling everyone what she had done. When I heard I had this feeling inside of me that I can’t explain, I hated the fact that she was telling everyone, you don’t have to tell anyone what you did; you should keep it to yourself and be humble. Sometimes I think she needs to reassure herself and look beyond the material things that life has to offer.
God knows all the good and bad things you do. We need to look in the mirror and see what kind of the person we are. In this book it teaches you life lesson, sometimes we need to do an inner exam of ourselves and bring to the table all the good things you have to offer. In every thing you do there is a process that helps you grow and mature in life and in our personal self. It is a reflection of conscience and it gives you the richness of knowing that if you do the best in everything you do, you are going to be able to help other people.