We don't see the world as it is.
We see the world as we are.
~ Anais Nin

Source: Crystalinks -Quotes

Essay Assignment: "What I’ve Done"

Directions: Write a well-organized essay that includes an introduction, several paragraphs, and a conclusion. Use evidence from the document(s) and media in the body of the essay. When writing a DBQ, it is best to devote one paragraph for each document and be sure to identify the document at the beginning of each paragraph. Support your response with relevant facts, examples, and details. Include additional outside information and related concept words.(empathy, environment, choice)

Task: Margaret Mead once said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Read the excerpt below from President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address. Explain the meaning of the excerpt and discuss how it relates to the essay themes of citizenship and change. Also explain the meaning of Walt Whitman’s poem, I Sit and Look Out. and The Legend of the Starfish. Remember to explain how both works are related to the essay themes as well. You must also discuss the meaning of Linkin Park’s song “What I’ve Done”. When explaining the song, be sure to identify an individual who appears in the music video and discuss at least one societal problem that is represented by the images in the music video. Finally, choose a topic that was represented in the music video, or you may write about an environmental, political or social problem that exists in our local community. Either way, you must describe what you have done in the past or what you and others can do now and in the future to remedy the problem.

"…And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth, God's work must truly be our own."

John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address January 20, 1961

I Sit and Look Out

I SIT and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all
oppression and shame;
I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with
themselves, remorseful after deeds done;
I see, in low life, the mother misused by her children, dying,
neglected, gaunt, desperate;
I see the wife misused by her husband--I see the treacherous seducer
of young women;
I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love, attempted to be
hid--I see these sights on the earth;
I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny--I see martyrs and
prisoners;
I observe a famine at sea--I observe the sailors casting lots who
shall be kill'd, to preserve the lives of the rest;
I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon
laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
All these--All the meanness and agony without end, I sitting, look
out upon,
See, hear, and am silent.

Walt Whitman (1819–1892).  Leaves of Grass.  1900.

Legend of The Starfish

A vacationing businessman was walking along a beach when he saw a young boy.  Along the shore were many starfish that had been washed up by the tide and were sure to die before the tide returned.  The boy was walking slowly along the shore and occasionally reached down and tossed a beached starfish back into the ocean.  The businessman, hoping to teach the boy a little lesson in common sense, walked up to the boy and said, "I have been watching what you are doing, son.  You have a good heart, and I know you mean well, but do you realize how many beaches there are around here and how many starfish are dying on every beach every day?  Surely, such an industrious and kindhearted boy such as yourself could find something better to do with your time.  Do you really think that what you are doing is going to make a difference?"  The boy looked up at that man, and then he looked down at a starfish by his feet.  He picked up the starfish, and as he gently tossed it back into the ocean, he said, "It makes a difference to that one."

 ~ Anonymous / Oral Traditional

What I’ve Done

In this farewell,
There is no blood,
There is no alibi,
Cause I’ve drawn regret,
From the truth,
Of a thousands lies,
So let mercy come and wash away…

What I’ve Done,
I’ll face myself,
To cross out what I’ve become,
Erase myself,
And let go of what I’ve done…

Put to rest,
What you thought of me
While, I clean this slate,
With the hands,
Of uncertainty,
So let mercy come,
And wash away…

What I’ve Done,
I’ll face myself,
To cross out what I’ve become,
Erase myself,
And let go of what I’ve done…

For what I’ve done,
I start again,
And whatever pain may come,
Today this ends,
I’m forgiving what I’ve done…

I’ll face myself,
To cross out what I’ve become,
Erase myself,
And let go of what I’ve done…

(Na,Na,Na)

What I’ve Done,
What I’ve Done,
Forgiving what I’ve done…

Linkin Park –Minutes to Midnight ©2007

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