Final Essay From the curriculum that we have studied in this course, we were faced with the pros and cons of aging and with dying. There is no doubt always the desire for longevity but we can see that, that drive to live longer may not be such a promising one. As we continue to talk about these topics we should know what are the ones we need to be asking. The questions that we are posed with can be answered from many avenues, films like Harold and Maude, Cocoon, and books such as Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (Or Die Trying), or even from essays in the Mercury Reader. These films and texts allow the students to indulge in the answers and questions that we struggle with when it comes to aging and death with more poise and perspective.
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This question would cause them to look deep into themselves to decide what is important and what is not, what should they be worried about and what they should be looking forward to in their lives. Looking at this question and trying to answer it critically I think will keep the students alert and aware of their own ideas when engaging in the reading or the other materials from other sources. I think that once you understand your own thoughts and ideas of a subject you can fully embrace and incorporate your ideas into others. We are faced with many hardships in our lives, such as the ones that we are given in the Mercury Reader. We can see the pressures we have in our lives as students as William Zinsser points out in “College Pressures”. We also have the basic pressures and crisis that we face in all stages of our lives that is diagramed for us in Gail Sheehy’s “Predictable Crisis of Adulthood”. After looking and exploring how we are during life, I think we are able to make a more educated answer about why we would want to live longer if we were given the chance, it also allows students to say why they wouldn’t want to live longer than they didn’t have too. Zinsser makes a claim in his essay stating “They [students] ought to take chances. Not taking chances will lead to a life of colorless mediocrity. They’ll be comfortable. But something in the spirit will be missing” (Zinsser 19). In making this comment Zinsser shows that society today is afraid to live life out of the comfort zone. To many people they just want to succeed in life and get it over with. His essay continues to explain that when we live life comfortably we are missing the beauty that we can find in the world and ourselves. We have the ability to choose what we want in our lives and how we can address aging and death, should we face it comfortably as Zinsser would put it our
This question would cause them to look deep into themselves to decide what is important and what is not, what should they be worried about and what they should be looking forward to in their lives. Looking at this question and trying to answer it critically I think will keep the students alert and aware of their own ideas when engaging in the reading or the other materials from other sources. I think that once you understand your own thoughts and ideas of a subject you can fully embrace and incorporate your ideas into others. We are faced with many hardships in our lives, such as the ones that we are given in the Mercury Reader. We can see the pressures we have in our lives as students as William Zinsser points out in “College Pressures”. We also have the basic pressures and crisis that we face in all stages of our lives that is diagramed for us in Gail Sheehy’s “Predictable Crisis of Adulthood”. After looking and exploring how we are during life, I think we are able to make a more educated answer about why we would want to live longer if we were given the chance, it also allows students to say why they wouldn’t want to live longer than they didn’t have too. Zinsser makes a claim in his essay stating “They [students] ought to take chances. Not taking chances will lead to a life of colorless mediocrity. They’ll be comfortable. But something in the spirit will be missing” (Zinsser 19). In making this comment Zinsser shows that society today is afraid to live life out of the comfort zone. To many people they just want to succeed in life and get it over with. His essay continues to explain that when we live life comfortably we are missing the beauty that we can find in the world and ourselves. We have the ability to choose what we want in our lives and how we can address aging and death, should we face it comfortably as Zinsser would put it our