Our Technical English project today introduced us to the concept of pushing not just our writing skills but our moral, personal and mental envelop as well.
The concept of trying to write a persuasive article, while fiercely disagreeing with what I am "supporting" both fascinates me and makes me ill. Since they are all very opposite to the normal subjects, and guaranteed there will be growth in our skills class-wide, and fascinating results as far as the arguments and points made in the actual documents themselves.
I am in a group with two other gentlemen, and our topic that we were left with out of 7 highly offensive topics, was "The world no longer needs men." Which is based on a few comments of context of where our instructor had gotten this particular "gem". The headline was taken from a commentary that there were "enough sperm donor banks and "samples" to last a few generations of reproduction." Outragious you say?! Absitively, posolutely! This of course is a topic that I detest. I have always loathed the T-shirts that have derogatory comments about men on them that had their hay day of popularity. I believe that it is a very low sense of humor, if any, and really serves no purpose. It does not encourage anyone, nor does it make anyone feel any better about any potential difficulties with a relationship. That level of feminism becomes just as sexist as the traditional commentary that inflamed the feminists from the beginning. But that is a whole other conversation.
I have a huge amount of respect for men of all ages, races and religions. My childhood best friend is in the Canadian Army, I support what he does and what that represents. Not just because we have known each other since we were two, and because I love him like a brother, but because it is what he is passionate about. War is not a pretty thing. War is a form of industry. In our best efforts to save, we can also enslave others. War effects both men and women, so blaming all war on men is not factually balanced, nor accurate.
I was saying to my fellow team mate in the writing process that it really made me sick to my stomach to try to put myself in the position to write this. Being a man, and one with a quick witted sense of humor as well, took this subject quite lightly. He found it humorous how torn up I was inside about working on this. That doesn't bother me at all, since I was more concerned that they would be mildly put off writing an article about how the world no longer needed them. It is funny to think that I, not them, would be the one saying, "I am going to go home and give my Dad a really big hug." as well as " I need to call my bro." Each said with a further pained look on my face.
But in the end, despite my personal hurtles, I do see what my instructor is trying to make us see and do. He is pushing our comfort zones and challenging the norm. If growth and skill came at no cost and did not force us beyond ourselves, it would be no gain.
Today's Musical Selection
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