Kofi Annan

One essay that caught my attention is The United Nations in the 21st Century (2001) by Kofi Annan. The most powerful theme in this essay is peace and how leaders and people of different cultutres, religion, and wealth status could all come together for the greater community and pursue peace in the world. In the essay, paragraph fourteen, Annan talked about how in every scripture or all of the faiths that people have encouraged peace and tolerance among each other. One qoute that stood out the most to me in this essay is, “people of different religions and cultures live side by side in almost every part of the world, and most of us have overlapping indentities which uniteus with every different group.” “We can love what we are, without hating what and who were are not.”Another theme that is very important in this essay is the arrogance and thirst for power in certain nations that leads up to the deaths of millions of people which

Listen to Dr. Atul Gawande and Wash Your Hands!

The most powerful and unsettling idea in Atul Gawande’s essay “On Washing Hands” is “…when I stood there looking at the sign on his door, it occurred to me that I might have given him that infection” (212), because this sentence prove the whole essays theme and issue that doctors and hospitals, even though they are meant to be a clean and sanitary environment, do not follow the rules of keeping themselves always sanitary before coming in contact with patients. This essay describe the problem that medical physicians, nurses, even doctors fail to accommodate the rule that is to wash their hands. Even the author of the essay, Gawande, informs the reader that he has been careless himself as a doctor and forgotten to clean his hands while dealing with patients. “…and I completely forget to about getting a squirt of that gel into my palms, no matter how many laminated reminder signs have been hung on the walls” (211).
This is incredibly hard to think about since I volunteer at a hospital every Friday. I know that I am just a volunteer, but I cannot even count the number of times I put my hands under a gel dispenser, not only for the patient’s sake, but also mine! A hospital is meant to be a safe place to get well, but this essay informs the public otherwise explaining how infections due to unsanitary objects, tools, and hands are in contact with these patients. Some infected that are spread are most likely Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, MRSA, and VRE. There are many other bacterial infections that can be spread but these are rather serious do the fact that they are resistant to any type of treatment making it harder to get rid of the devastating effects.
Another scary thing to think about, are the numbers of deaths caused by these infections back when doctors did not even realize that cleanliness mattered. “Out of 3,000 mothers who delivered babies…600 or more died…” (207). this happened back in 1847 when Childbed Fever was a huge cause of birth fatalities. Even though the obstetrician Ignac Semmelweis seemed slightly crazy, without his theory about keeping clean while dealing with patients, the number of deaths in hospitals never would have decreased. Unsanitary business would still continue today. Although doctors and those who work in hospitals today do keep much cleaner than 100 years ago, they still forget that simple rule that is so incredibly important yet so easy to forget: washing hands.
Another important thing to remember is that doctors are just human. It is not easy to believe that they would put their patients in harm’s way, or that the one place where a person can actually get well after surviving surgery or an illness, is actually at risk for getting an infection. But it is easy to remember that they try, and they now actually do keep clean, and that sometimes, people are just unlucky.
Dr. Atul Gawande finished his essay with a very important sentence to inform those to remember it is necessary to wash our hands especially in a hospital—it is their job. “…when I stood there looking at the sign on his door, it occurred to me that I might have given him that infection” (212).

Dr. Atul Gawande

The Declaration of Independence

As far as a piece of writing that defines Freedom goes, The Declaration of Independence is by far the best example out there. As many of us know, the Declaration of Independence was a point in history in which The United States finally broke away from England’s rule and became known as independent. The entire essay boasts the necessity for freedom and how important it is in making a step forward in history. Jefferson constantly attacks his readers by starting sentences with words such as, “He.” A line however, that I feel describes the entire piece is, “They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.” This I found to be a very powerful statement as it describes how we have been crying out to England to release us, and now that the time has finally come, we will indeed make our separation by any means necessary. We realize that we will still be enemies in many issues to come, but we will never be anything other than humans who all seek the same justice. As far as a piece of writing that defines Freedom goes, The Declaration of Independence is by far the best example out there.

Frederik Willem de Klerk, Reformation and Reconciliation in South Africa

The most powerful and unsetting idea in de Klerk’s speech about the Noble Peace Prize is the struggle that de Klerk and Mr. Mandela will go through to help bring peace and stability to South Africa. In this speech de Klerk is accepting the Noble Peace Prize award with Nelson Mandela. He talks about how him and Mandela will fight in the election campaign against one another. He talks about his goals to change South Africa. “It will not be about apartheid or armed struggle. It will be about future peace and stability, about progress and prosperity, about nation building.” This shows how strong of a person that de Klerk is and how he will stop at nothing until his nation of South Africa is changed for the better. The most powerful and unsetting idea in de Klerk’s speech on the Noble Peace Prize is the struggle that de Klerk and Mr. Mandela will go through to help bring peace and stability to South Africa.

The Decleration of Independence

While reading “The Decleration of Independence” the most powerful themes are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This reason being is because they are the right of every human being and it is the governments job to secure these rights for the people. It’s a powerful peace because when this was written it included every human not just the ones writing it. They wanted to make every one happy and wanted everyone to be equal which is stated in the first few paragraphs. In paragraph 2 it states, “That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government.” The great thing about America is everyone can have a dream and live it, there is no one that can hold you back from accomplishing it. Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are the 3 greatest things a person can have in America, and with those things you are able to achieve anything.

The Truth About Beauty

In Virginia Postrel’s essay, “The Truth About Beauty,” the most important theme is the understanding that beauty should be accepted for what it is as opposed to how it is perceived, with some people having more of it than others. Postrel speaks of the Dove beauty commercials and how they are working to make every woman feel beautiful just the way she is, but understands that some people are just more appeasing to look at than others. The author says it must be understood that there is nothing wrong with how, “our eyes and our brains pretty consistently like some human forms better than others. She instead says people should understand their own shortcomings and strengths rather than being so worried about making everyone feel beautiful. The idea of beauty is purely physiological and, “features we see as beautiful…have been rewarded through countless generations of competition for mates.”

If beauty is simply what human instincts dictate will help continue the human race, then Postrel is correct in saying that not everyone has to worry about being beautiful. It would be impossible to do for some people, because some of the features that define beauty are unable to be fixed, such as symmetry and age. Postrel understands that, “like the rest of the genetic lottery, beauty is unfair. Everyone falls short of perfection, but some are luckier than others”. With a push toward understanding strengths and weaknesses, humans can better understand beauty and perhaps not place as much importance in it. The most important theme is accepting beauty as it is, not as the media portrays it.

- The Declaration of Independence -

The most powerful and meaningful statement in the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, is “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

This remains as one of the most power quotes to our nation’s history in the sense that it lists the rights that are given to everyone, those being, Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Life meaning that everyone has the chance to live and make something for themselves. Liberty meaning that everyone would be granted freedom. The pursuit of happiness meaning that everyone has the chances, opportunities, to make things better and always strive for the best.

To show how important they are, notice how certain words are capitalized, showing its’ distinct importance. We should always remember that these remain as our God-given rights, and are different as opposed to “privileges” that can be promised.

Its context has been interpreted throughout history, and sometimes its full meaning called into question. Considering the historical context, it remains questionable as to who exactly these rights have applied to. Its’ meaning is still important today, and it remains as a powerful message to American history.

To reiterate, the most powerful and meaningful statement in the Declaration of Independence is where the civil liberties are directly stated, those being Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.