Life Is a Constant Struggle Essay Example

academic success and rapport with my teachers, it was another’s goals to maintain just one means of respect. An example is in the life of Ta-Nehisi Coates, who detailed his life experience as a black man growing up in America in his book Between the World and Me.

In a National Public Radio, Inc. interview with Terry Gross, Coates describes a type of second nature that is learned in a culture of violence and threats, a culture where force and defense are the basic tenants. When asked why he was suspended ninth grade year for threatening a teacher, he responded that he felt that the teacher had verbally disrespected him by yelling at him in front of the class. He went on to say that when faced with a perceived threat, “all you have is your dignity… if you’re, you know, from a place where all you have is, like, the basic, you know, sort of physical respect - you will talk to me in a respectful way - you don’t have anything else to lean on” ('Ta-Nehisi Coates On Police Brutality, The Confederate Flag And Forgiveness”).

The fight described here is not to further oneself in the world, but to maintain respect in the eyes of others so that the walk to school is a little safer, a little less scary. We often place value in things that we have an abundance of, and in Coates’ childhood environment the only abundant thing was the ability of your body. The most value was placed in physical respect. How does your body hold up? Can you take the big man? Can you defend yourself?

There are no easy answers

to these questions for a child growing up in the streets of Baltimore, Maryland. Understand, dear, that here the law offered no protection. In these poorer communities, trust in law enforcement faded when the plight of black folks became commonly considered illegitimate (Desmond, M., Papachristos, A. V., & Kirk, D. S. 2016). Incidents of police beating unarmed citizens increased. The general population grew less inclined to report crime to the same authorities who would perhaps not put forth the investigation the crime deserved, or ignore the issue altogether. Instead, a street code emerged where citizens could “dole out sanctions through violence or other informal means” (Desmond, M., Papachristos, A. V., & Kirk, D. S. 2016). Though the fear of physical pain remained, it was manifested in the form of boys seeking to intimidate or prove themselves. Violence certainly remained, but it existed in a way that could be predicted. It could be avoided if you only knew the right crowd to walk certain streets, at the right time of day.

In a 7/11 parking lot, Coates describes the plight of a young boy who is yelling and pointed at by a group of older boys. His response is to throw up his hands. Almost smiling, “That he was outnumbered, did not matter because the whole world had outnumbered him long ago, and what do numbers matter? This was a war for the possession of his body and that would be the war of his whole life” (Coates 18). This has been just another encounter. Another brief opportunity to survive all on his own.

Though in this instance, his chances of victory were slim, the hope is ever

present in the mind of the young black boy that perhaps one day he will prove himself greater in strength and respect. The sad and beautiful reality is that the fight continues all his life, an unending world of slim chances for him to prove himself. Constantly beaten down, constantly growing in resilience and passion. So you see, daughter, many do not experience fights that are harsh and distinct from each other, but of one long, exhausting fight. And it is the nature of our society where this type of fight more often falls into the laps of colored people and minorities.

The most immediate way you can understand the different fights of different people is to read about them. The first book on your list is Between the World and Me. As you read outside of your own reality, you will become more informed on a variety of people’s situations and their fights. As you are exposed to the hardships people face, you will develop a greater sense of compassion and humility. What memoirs such as Coates’s do is give value to the things undermined or underrepresented in society. Coates gives value to the black person, the black mind, the black body.

While at Howard University he himself discovers the literature and art of other African Americans, “I wanted desperately to communicate this evidence to the world, because I felt - even if I did not completely know - that the larger culture’s erasure of black beauty was intimately connected to the destruction of black bodies” (Coates 44). By releasing works of different cultures into society, we are met with a novel idea about reality -

that ours is not the only one. By absorbing work of different cultures, we develop an understanding of people as they truly are and not as who we assume them to be. You will unearth differences, and a host of similarities that exist between you and your neighbor.

Now, to know who you are, this step is key. You are leading a fight, not just of knowledge gained from books and other forms of cultural representation, but of reality. Reality is a definite concept. Perception is not. Though we may read things, we come with our own ways of viewing the world. Many call these interpretations. I will call them lenses. Recognizing the lenses that are a part of you will help you realize why you view things a certain way. I have a major lens that has been more helpful than anything in my view of the world - I am a Christian who believes in Jesus Christ. I am also white. I am also a female. Both of these lenses have also contributed to the way I view the world, but less so.

Taking apart your viewpoint to see what you have been influenced by being an uncomfortable process. It is not easy or natural. However, the different aspects of who I am are made valuable and purposeful under the work that Jesus did for me when He died on the cross. He is the key to truly knowing yourself. He is powerful indeed. It is because of Him I am confident in living who I truly am. I have come to reconcile the many lenses I have in this: that Jesus has given me

these characteristics. I have been born into situations of being a woman, having white skin color, and in a loving family who from a young age showed me what it means to follow Jesus, all for purposes greater than what I can immediately see. As you have been exposed to these lenses, I hope that you will find this investigation helpful as you navigate your own path and develop your own way of viewing the world.

It is the nature of our world where every person encounters this thing called race. I am white, of German and Swedish descent. And for our particular fair color, this encounter is often in a non-threatening way, though it can be in an alarming way. I know this realization reached you much quicker than it did me. In ninth grade I started out in a high school where inner city kids were bused in each day and white folks were actually the minority. I learned that race does define in some surface, the color level way. It is associated with certain speech and behavior level characteristics. But race does not define me, or you, or the inner city kids whose language I simply could not enter into without making a fool of myself. Believe me, I tried. It is what makes up a person that matters, the type of person you cultivate. Things on this level unite us. However, be sure to understand people’s backgrounds which may be very different than yours because of the situation you were born into.

From the time I was very little, I saw my life moving in a direction ever upwards and forwards. The traversing

has been relatively smooth. I have been dealt with fairly. Some, dear, have not been. For many others with different skin color than us, they ride up to the prospect of a better life and are met with a speed hump. It mountains in front and it is terrifying. Going over it means getting out of a situation where all movement is dictated by fear. Going over it also means facing contempt, incivility, and perhaps physical pain. If you are ever traversing your own path and find someone stuck at a speed hump, here is what we have been known to have done.

We have looked at, we have ignored, and we have pretended that no matter what we do the issue will remain, so why bother? Here is what you do. You look them in the eye, offer a hand, and offer friendship. Their efforts are just as precious as yours. Their goals are just as honest as yours. The path is just not as smooth or neatly laid out. All lives does not move in a direction ever upwards and forwards. It is the unfortunate truth that many lives move in a persistent straight line, caught in a battering rain of unstable jobs, unloving families, and unrelenting streets. The immediate concern is getting out of their rough neighborhoods where teenagers walk with swagger and threaten you with stares. Rough hoods where police are feared because they have wrongly lashed out, wrongly convicted, and wrongly killed.