Hello--
I am sorry this is not finding you sooner, but I hope that it finds you well.
In class, I told you that Mr. Fletcher was not only a smart man--but a wise man as well. I hope that you listened closely to the words he spoke today when he gave Adam Kane an award. Thinking about that talk, our class today, and our class I general--I thought about the Shorris' essay and his reference to Plato's "Allegory of the Cave."
So let me say this--literature makes us rich. And for me the written word is both sacred and holy--it is my church: reading gives me the laws I live by and writing allows me the chance to articulate what laws I have broken and a chance to confess these transgressions; I think that this statement also 'holds' true for Holden. Early this year, I shared a story with you about Pope John Paul and Father Tony--the punch line of that story reads: "The church is not a mausoleum for saints; it is a hospital for sinners. And we are both sinners."
On page 188 it reads--"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." Thus--here is what I would like you to consider tonight: because of this year--and what we have read and what we have discussed--what is a cause you want to live humbly for, and how will you make sure get to this goal?
Your responses can take any form--but the should be around 300 words. More importantly, remember that the best words are true words--and true words only come from the heart.
Good luck.
Best,
AK
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A cause I want to live humbly for is the disease Cystic Fibrosis. C.F. runs in my family and has taken one member from it, and left another crippled in the body and the mind. My namesake, my dads brother Nate, died at the age of twenty- six because of Cystic Fibrosis. Luckily, when my dad was born he didn’t have the active gene in his body, but he is still a carrier. Meaning that I have a twenty-five percent chance of being a carrier too. Being a carrier of a disease does not mean I have it, you cannot get Cystic Fibrosis unless both parents are carriers. But what a carrier means is that I may have a disease inside my body, that I cant get rid of, and have a chance of passing down to my kids. My uncle Seth almost died from Cystic Fibrosis as well. He was lucky enough to get a lung transplant that saved his life. He has lived for sixteen years with his new lungs which is a long time for somebody’s body to live with a foreign object inside of it. Cystic Fibrosis has humbled my uncle. He now lives his life to the fullest, knowing that any day his body could reject his new lungs. Cystic Fibrosis has also humbled me. I know that there is no cure for this disease, so I need to get tested to see if I carry it. But what is so humbling about it is how so many people have died very young from this disease, and how lucky I am not to have it. My dad frequently tells me about people who he knows that have this disease, and like Holden Caulfield says on page 214, “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” I miss my uncle Nate even though I have never seen or even spoke to him. I feel that since he is part of my family, I can miss him before I can meet him.
Humble is a confusing word for me to understand and especially write about, I feel like it has different meanings, but as I look at the definition, I see it is to make someone understand that they are not important or special as they thought they were—but this doesn’t help much either.
I have dealt with the pain that summer softball brings, and I dealt with it alone. It was nowhere near refreshing. But now that I have gone through the suffering and keeping all of my anger and misery inside, I am more than aware now of the people that care for my improvement, which first starts with making mistakes.
Catie Wheeler is the cause I live humbly for. I am humbled by Catie’s leadership and passion towards my team and especially me. Those adjectives define her as a person. It is not the seventeen strikeouts she can make as a player, but the way she reacts when her teammates make a play, whether or it be right or wrong.
I start becoming confused by the part of the definition that states “to make someone understand that they are not important or special.” I have always realized I am not that special. And I have always realized I am not special when it comes to a field. I know I have a long way to go, not living up and exceeding the definitions of the players before me, but just working on creating and filling in my own. But anyway, I still look at her as a goal because I have always lacked confidence. It’s nice when I have someone not particularly boosting my confidence, but reassuring me that it’s “all good” to make mistakes. I feel like I have lived in a world that it is forbidden to make mistakes, and I still feel that way when I am on the field with one of my coaches, but not with Catie.
Catie works harder than I do in games, physically, so when the ball does get by her and the people behind her do make an error, especially me, being a freshman and all, she would never and will never hold a grudge. She always accepts those mistakes. In Middle School I pitched and I did have a hard time accepting that the people behind me were supposed to make mistakes. That’s the reason I am humbled by Catie’s mentality. She reminds that people behind me are human, and nothing more.
So many times in life I feel like I am working harder than the people behind me, but they still could be “fighting a great battle,” which is only harder, especially when it is inside. People on my summer softball team must have commented on the way I played, but I only played that way because I was tiring myself out trying to bring comfort and reassurance to myself. I have been to the place where it is physically and mentally impossible to work together, solely because some other people and I have not ‘met’ or unified. No one can be doing all of the work in life, mentally or physically. So, that is the reason why I am so humbled by Catie’s mindset and spirit. She has helped put an end to my “great battle” by teaching me self-pride and courage, and helping me stick with what defines me.
Chase Rosa
5-6-10
Catcher in the Rye post 3
In our lives, we each have a cause worth fighting for. We are each given with the choice of whether to “ die nobly for a cause or live humbly for one.” Sometimes we all can’t die for a noble cause. Rather, we should all start at the beginning of our childhood to live for a humble one. Those little things that you do for a cause will make a big difference. Whether that cause is helping out a huge charity or a small food pantry, the things you do for it will help it immensely. No matter what the cause is, or the way you fight for it, your character can be defined by it.
The cause I want to live humbly for is saving the Earth. The Earth is why we are here today. Without the earth, there would be no life. It would just be a giant jejune like wasteland. We must protect it. The air is constantly becoming polluted by carbon dioxide. Endangered species are now becoming extinct. Our nation does not see that the world is crumbling at the center of what is important! We need to savor what we have today and not take it for granted. I’m sure all of us do not want to just dissapear. This is why we must save the world.
People are given the decision to take care of our planet. They think they can’t afford to help the planet because it is too insignificant. If we choose to fight humbly for it, and realize even if you are not apart of a charity, you can make a difference. We can team up to help each other. Recycling, for example is one little thing I do that will help save the Earth. It helps to lower the usage of coal and oil, and decelerate the emissions of greenhouse gases that corrupt the atmosphere. I encouraged my mom to not get an SUV as to save fuel costs, and help stop the spread of carbon dioxide. I am proud of the stuff I am doing. I live everyday to help fight for it. Because it is the fight, that measures humbleness.
A cause that is worth being humble for is the rest of my high school career. Right now, my freshman year is almost over and I have already had my fair share of ups and downs but there are still many to come and I know that. Being at the bottom of the ranks has taught me so much. I have gained so much respect for some upperclassmen but have also lost some amongst my peers. You come into high school thinking about all the stereotypes and in a broad view it looks pretty scary and dangerous. These stereotypes turned out to be not so true. During this year I have become close friends with a lot of the upperclassmen through sports and just seeing them in the hallways all the time. Even though they give me a hard time most of the time I know it’s out of affection. One of the cool parts this year was on the JV boys hockey team, where I got my new nickname that will probably stick with me for the rest of my years here. Being around such great people all the time is just something that I want to stay the same forever. I have not done anything to jeopardize my position and I hope to keep it that way, and I hope I will be able to save a couple of my friends along the long journey that we still have left. The living humble part to me stands for little random acts of kindness and strong friendship bonds. And after doing something extremely nice for somebody, why do you need to tell everybody? You know what you did was either right or respectful; there is no need to tell the world how awesome you are.
I find it hard to choose just one thing to live humbly for. In fact this isn't the first time I have sat down and tried to put my thoughts into words. I believe that there are many things each of us want, and as you may know that changes with age, the people we hang out with and the time. So I think we should just try to live life to the fullest. We never know when something bad...or good will happen. Every moment leads up to the next and we can't control the outcome.
When I turned on the news this afternoon it was all circulating around the bomb scare in Portsmouth. I can imagine that after that scare the only thing the people on the bus were concerned about was getting home and going to their families. I know that if an experience like that happened to me I wouldn't spend my evening as cautiously as I had before. So what i have chosen to live humbly for is life. It may be tough at moments but what makes it worthwhile and exciting is not knowing what will come next. Sometimes the best things are the hardest to obtain, but that doesn't mean we should take the easy way.
I think that a cause worth living humbly for is open-mindedness. We read several essays this year about racial, sexual, and social discriminations and how to overcome them. By living with an open mind and accepting others you can improve your own life and the lives of people around you. In one of the essays we read it talked about poverty in America and how through teaching and learning people can remove themselves from it. This would work, according to Niecie, by teaching kids a “moral alternative to the streets”. I think that by this she means that by showing kids that there is an alternative to the lives they are living now and how to reach it their eyes will be opened to their own potential. The only thing they need is someone who they can trust to show it to them. When Earl Shorris talks to Neicie I think that she also opens his mind to this possibility and he realizes that he could be the one to make a difference. A lot of people walk around and ignore the imperfections, like poverty, and when Earl Shorris chooses to examine that, he finds the causes and possible solutions for the problem. By looking at the situation and talking to Niecie and others in it he realizes that he is the person who can do something about it. Instead of doing what most people would do and thinking that someone else will take care of it he stepped up and tried to help. When you have a closed mind you are not only hurting others but you are hurting yourself as well. When Shorris began his class in an effort to educate, he also ended up broadening himself and learning just as much if not more than his students.
A cause I would like to live humbly for is helping those who are making their way through the Labyrinth, which is the Rye, which is also the Darkness. This is not an easy path, and those who choose it are either fools or wise men, and sometimes even both. The most difficult thing about helping those who are lost within the Labyrinth is the fact that no one really knows the way out. This is not an insurmountable challenge, however. The individual has the written word to guide them. But sometimes that is not enough. True words are the most difficult to interpret, and it often takes more than one person to understand them. That is how you help those who are making their way through the Rye. You meet them and build a fire, and relax with them in front of the blaze. You discuss with them the words which they are having a difficult time understanding. You explain to the initiate the words’ meaning through sharing your stories with them. It is never alright to fear their judgment. That is the worst excuse possible. I suppose it is worthwhile mentioning that even if I did not want to help these people, I would be compelled to do so anyway. When a man or a woman is traveling the path, it is their sacred duty to help those whom they meet in the forest. To abandon someone in their time of need is a sin. I have decided to accept this responsibility rather than fight it. Actually, I have already begun to help another initiate, even as he begins to help me. He is a good friend of mine and, despite the fact that he lives far away, we share quotes often and even draw on each other’s strength when necessary. Because this is a difficult task, it is quite worthy enough for me to live humbly in its name.
As a fourteen year old, living, and breathing human being, it is hard for me to just say one thing that I would live humbly for. I haven’t been alive for very long and I haven’t exactly discovered what I want to do with my life. So right now I live humbly because I have a life and I do want to make the most out of it. I live humbly for the other people who may be lost or have complete control over their lives, but still accept what they are no matter what. The only one who can hold you back from living humbly is yourself. In class we discussed the idea of living humbly vs. dying nobly. What I took from the conversation was that if you die nobly, you’re afraid that you can no longer help and are useless, so you die making yourself look like you went to extremes for your cause, when really you had just given up on yourself. If you live humbly you continue to help your cause and never give up because you know that one way or another you can help. You know you live humbly when you’re always trying to find a way to help someone or something. Sometimes that someone could even just be you. I will admit that sometimes I slip. I let a negative thought go through my mind. I start to give up on myself. A couple of times in a row I did badly on physics assignments. I started to give up and just not care. But then I realized that that’s just not the type of person that I am. I wasn’t living humbly. I wasn’t helping my own cause and trying harder. Right when I realized that I immediately started working harder and doing better on quizzes and tests. I live humbly knowing that I can help in one way or another.
A cause I want to live humbly for is to live with/for other people. Our whole lives we have been surrounded by people. Often we take company for granted, whither it is a good friend, or just someone you strike up a conversation with in some odd place. I myself love to be with people and all my best moments that I have enjoyed the most have included at least one other person. I have always loved team sports, where victory relies on how well you work with others to achieve a certain goal. I believe that none of us could function without anyone else. And a cause would be just to be there for others when they need it. For me, this is the most humble cause I can think of.
In Catcher in the Rye we see Holden perform a lot of bad actions. Drinking, smoking, hiring a prostitute. And we know that Holden is looking for someone to 'catch' him so he can become a different person than he is. When someone needs to be caught though, it is immensely hard to catch yourself. You need another person to successfully save yourself from a horrible fall. We see Holden want to live for the humble cause of being there for others when he states to Phoebe that he wants to be the "Catcher in the Rye". But the trouble is that Holden first needs someone else to be there for him. The cause of being there for someone when they truly need it is a cause that is present and humble in literature and real life as well.
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