Thread: Learning and Friendship - A short Essay. A short KICK ASS es

Results 1 to 7 of 7

  1. #1
    Join Date Nov 2002
    Location Ontario
    Posts 3,654
    Rep Power 19

    Default

    IN NEED OF A TITLE

    The journey of humanity has been a struggle with the past. Constantly new relics are dug up and studied. Socrates is coincidently one who enjoyed reading the writings of the ancients, as well as one of the jewels of the past. In Xenophon’s Memorabilia, I, vi, 14 he gives his contemporaries, as well as present day scholars, a lesson on how to learn from earlier times, and how to make education a bonding experience.

    Friends are essential to a man’s life. Nothing in nature can compare to what a fellow human being is able to contribute to one’s being. Socrates is “pleased to an even higher degree by good friends,” than he is of animals. Although pets keep good company with the old and young alike, without active interaction of a human companion the individual’s mind goes to waste. While walking through a forest together, they explore the depths of each other’s mind, probing the essence of humanity with discussion. As new questions arise, new answers are formed and expressed creating an atmosphere of trust and amiability, allowing a floodgate of knowledge to open. The person who takes the walk in the woods with a pet does not have this level of interaction. How can a dog respond to philosophical or personal questions? An unquestioned mind is an uncultivated one, as there is no push for discovery with an inattentive comrade.

    Yet one cannot inquire without first having a base of knowledge. That is why “the treasures of wise humans of old which they left behind by writing them in books” are priceless. The first place to turn in education is back; the past is all process leading up to the product, which is today. Throughout history many things have been tried, and many things have failed. How can society learn from the mistakes of its predecessors if it ignores their legacy of failure? One cannot look to the future for the answers of his questions, that is the land of rhetoric, yet the past is seen as a shining example of both what to and what not to do. In The Prince, Machiavelli justifies his stance by citing examples from ancient Rome and Greece. Moving into the present day, the writings of even a century ago are used to learn how far society has progressed, as well as the distance it still has to travel to reach its utopia. Dead men teach the modern scholar the route not to take if he wishes to reach his destination.

    Learning from each other and the past is beneficial to a society, and allows new thoughts to be developed. This is the ultimate benefit of both education and friendship. While studying the accounts of history, if a group can “unfold and go through them together…and if [they] see something good, [they] pick it out and regard it as a great gain if [they] thus become useful to one another.” Working with one’s peers enhances both friendship and insight. When a member of the group stumbles upon a gem, he can share it with the others, and they can then add it to their conversations. Since the group is seeking knowledge, the act of distributing it benefits each person socially and intellectually. While working alone, often times one will make a discovery and have no one to share it with, letting a great deal of knowledge go to waste. The act of intellectual osmosis, from the text to the individual to the group, strengthens the bonds of friendship inside a scholarly community.

    Socrates, and Xenophon have passed forward what they learned from their precursors for modern society to learn from. The records of history and the companionship of friends are essential in conceiving imaginations and new concepts. Looking back one realizes that the path trod by humanity has been long, but it stretches endlessly forward into the reaches of the future.
  2. #2
    Join Date May 2002
    Location London, SE
    Posts 436
    Rep Power 0

    Default

    you call that short!?!?!?!

    heey! i like it.

    i like everything, don't i?
  3. #3
    Join Date Feb 2003
    Posts 151
    Rep Power 16

    Default

    "passed forward what they learned from their precursors for
    modern society to learn from."
    That´s the good thing, now we can learn from their mistakes, and make it a better society to live in.
    CVC
    En la lucha por la igualdad...
  4. #4
    Join Date Nov 2002
    Location Occupied Ireland, Capitalist Hell
    Posts 924
    Rep Power 16

    Default

    An ass kicking essay indeed. I liked it very much CrazyPete, you are a talented writer.
    <span style=\'color:red\'>&quot;I&#39;m going to brutalize you so forcibly, Buddha will explode&#33;&#33;&quot;</span>
  5. #5
    Join Date Nov 2002
    Location Ontario
    Posts 3,654
    Rep Power 19

    Default

    I'm hoping it gets me into the College of the Humanities. I wrote it for my portfolio. I love writing essays if I am interesting in the subject and am not limited to strict form!
  6. #6
    Join Date Feb 2003
    Location Dayton, OH, USA
    Posts 237
    Rep Power 16

    Default

    Awesome essay. If that can't get you in, I don't know what could.
    CheViveToday
  7. #7
    Join Date Nov 2002
    Location Ontario
    Posts 3,654
    Rep Power 19

    Default

    *Must increase average*
    My portfolio included:
    -1 personal resumee (community and school things with a bit of work...they want you to focus on you not your jobs)
    -1 why you want to be there (i said 'this is me' and 'this is what i like' and 'this is what you offer' equalling 'it fits together perfectly
    -3 poems, and my 'hope' thread (the first post I did)
    -this essay.


    COME ON GUYS COMMENT ON IT...LETS DISCUSS IT

Similar Threads

  1. My Short Story
    By robob8706 in forum Cultural
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 16th January 2005, 02:32
  2. Trotsky - A short essay on his influence
    By MikeyBoy in forum History
    Replies: 15
    Last Post: 2nd August 2003, 07:06
  3. A Short Essay About Zionism
    By Blasphemy in forum Theory
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 7th April 2003, 08:06
  4. Hitler was a socialist - A good short essay.
    By Anonymous in forum Opposing Ideologies
    Replies: 42
    Last Post: 25th February 2003, 23:28
  5. Short, brief biography.
    By PYROMANIAC in forum Ernesto "Che" Guevara
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 19th January 2002, 23:29

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts

Tags for this Thread