Journal Entry #2

A few years ago I learned the importance of using elevated vocabulary in my daily life. Doing so causes others to have a more respective view on me even before knowing much about me.  Although as an African American this was and still remains a problem in my life and has been for some years now. Loosing a lot of the slang many of my brothers and sisters use cause me feel that I'm loosing a sense of who I am. I didn't know if I should still keep some of the ways of talking to keep that sense of culture alive or totally discard it. I would take a chance at becoming a "sell out" or "white washed", but in all actuality what is really being implied is "why are you different?" or "why have you tried to hide who you really are?"when in fact there is nothing that I'm trying to conceal or pretend to be. There are those who change the way they speak in order to cover up what is presented in their skin. But that's the case for everyone. Personally I try to speak with more heightened vocabulary, but I don't feel I should totally mask my voice to where I don't sound like "me".

Journal Entry #1

Competition: This is something that is considered by many to be a part of human nature. Competition is the reason many people, civilizations, activities, and other creations exist from a scale of life,  or something such as entertainment. On some level, competition has been a plague to humanity as it has lead to a group of people being conquered. Also it causes people to loose individuality since many "compete" for social status or meaningless prestige by them forgetting reason or forgetting themselves all together. Although negative comes out of it, there is always a negative side to everything just as there is a positive. With competition also comes goals and the pursuit of happiness or victory. There's obviously nothing wrong with desiring greatness or achievements in life. To not desire this would seem to make part of living not worth living. To not pursue something in life would be wasteful.