Give and Face New Opportunities

Victor Ruiz Diaz
Dr. Ellis
EN 101.16
31 October 1013

Give and Face New Opportunities

                In the short story “Thank You Ma’am” by Langston Hughes, the poems “First Practice” by Gary Gildner, and “Directions for Resisting the SAT” by Richard Hague; a weekend service with Best Buddies and a Trick or Treating activity with kids from Soccer Without Boarders focused on themes about giving second opportunities and discovering your true personalities. In Hughes’ story we see how a big and strong woman teaches a series of important lessons to a kid who tried to do something wrong against her. Meanwhile in “First Practice” a group of men are about to face a big challenge in their lives, and although their leader tries to intimidate them but the group of men still want to prove to themselves that they could do it. In Hague’s we see how the speaker wants us to stop following rules that are given by society, but instead we should be unique. With my short services I could relate these messages, because second opportunities were given, challenges were faced, and because I followed my own path.

                 Langston Hughes demonstrates on his short story how Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones gives Roger a second opportunity after trying to steal her heavy purse, but instead of reacting like the majority of the people after a robbery, she decides to take the boy with her to “teach him the right from wrong” (507). Mrs. Jones’ humble actions as giving Roger hot water, food, and money made little Roger realize that the choices he made were not correct; all possible because Mrs. Jones gave him a second opportunity. With Best Buddies I confirmed that you should allow second opportunities to happen, because on the first two events with Best Buddies my buddy could not attend. But last Sunday the Halloween Carnival took place, I was undecided to attend because I thought he did not like me, but I decided to give another try. I was not mistaken because that afternoon we had so much fun in the carnival, all thanks to giving second opportunities.

                Gary Gildner’s poem describes how a group of men encounter a new challenge in their lives; they know that it would not be an easy task because right from the beginning their new leader tries to intimidate the group. The speaker let us realize that the group of men would face this challenge because they are aspiring to win the big one. It will be difficult, but not impossible. My experience with Best Buddies also made me want to encounter a new and difficult challenge, to be a senior’s buddy. The first day that we were meeting with our new buddies our coordinator gave as a sheet of paper with basic conversation starters; also she warned us that there might be people with special disabilities. We faced the challenge, and now we have a really nice relationship with our buddies.

                Finally Richard Hague’s poem “Directions for Resisting the SAT” teaches us a new way of viewing and fallowing pre determines rules. He suggests us to stop following everyone’s path, we should follow our own. He wants us to not let the results of an insignificant test pre describe our life; it does not reflect how good of a person you are. While doing the Trick or Treating with the kids from Soccer Without Borders yesterday I thought about the message of this poem and I took some parts of its message. We were given a schedule and map orientations for walking around the dorms buildings, but instead of going up the stairs every time I decided that it would be faster and less tiring to just go down the stairs. I also tried to be unique with the kids, just be cool with them.

                With all these reading and my experiences with Best Buddies and the afternoon Trick or Treating provided me with some new understanding of people and the ways we should treat one another. The readings made me to be more aware in certain occasions on how to build up relationships with new people; to not be afraid when facing difficult challenges. Also it is good sometimes to be creative and follow your own path, but in a certain way we have to be unique to bring meaning to our lives.