While walking down the street you witness a young man snatching a perce from a helpless edlerly woman. Do you chase after the young bandiat or do you merly observe? Personally I would persue the man diligantly until I retrieve the perce. Taking riskes are nessary to achieve personal aparations in life. Chasing dreams, achieving goals, taking riskes, is what Fredrick Douglas did to teach himself how to read and write while being an American slave. From chapter 7 of “ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave” by Fredrick Douglas I learned how he learned to read and write while being a slave.
Douglas learned the alphabet from his mistress until she started treating him like less of a human being due to her husband’s influence. Fredrick was determined to educate himself so he made friends with the poor white boys and offer them bread if they would help him learn to read. He learned to read and he read all the time. As he became more literate, he realized what he was too the slave-masters and he foreshadowed that he would someday be physically and emotionally free. Fredrick Douglas wanted to be educated and he couldn’t have done so if he didn’t step out of his comfort zone and took risks to better his life. This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge. ” Says Douglas. He put himself out there in order to achieve his goal and he had to risk his hunger in order to obtain the more valuable bread of knowledge. As a Senior in high school I wanted to play college baseball and I couldnt have achieved my goal without taking the riskes I took. To play baseball in college you have to get reconized and make a name for yourself so college teams are interested in you coming to thier school.
To maximized my chances of being descovered I went to the granddaddy of all prospect baseball camps and tryouts in Surprise Arizona at the New York Yankee’s spring training facilities. In this tryout they tested my batting, fielding, and athlectic ablility while hunreds of clipboarded scouts studdied every move. The pressure of these situations induced a fear of failure and mistakes. I had to teach myself how to relax and control my emotions while coping with the senerio around me, just like Fredrick Douglas taught himself how to read and write.
Fredrick also had to learn to keep his emotions in check because insted of scouts watching his every move he had a slave master to do so. The fear of failure and humilition didnt go away but I merly learned how to cope with it and if I did miss a groundball or I swag and missed its was okay because no human is perfect. Before my experience in Arizona I would think about how if I make a mistake now would it affect my whole future. After being exposed to a large amount of presure I can see how the importance of letting this go and not worrying about things I can’t control anymore.
Taking the risk of going to Arizona and playing in front of hundreds of scouts has made my life better and more complete. I risked my humiliation for the posibility of achieving my dream to play college baseball and the outcome was one hundred percent worth the risk. I now play for the Mt. Hood Community College Saints and we are on track to win the NWACC title in may. I love the school and the team but I couldn’t have achieved my goal without sticking my neck out there and taking risks. I can relate to Fredrick Douglas and how he took nessary risks to make his life better.
I risked failure and humiliation by going to prospect baseball camps and by trying to get my name out there. I was afriad of failure but I knew that the risk would be worth the outcome in the end. The story of Fredrick Douglas and how he risked his life to become educated has inspired me to take more risks to better my life. Imagine what the world could achieve if everyone had the drive and determination that he had to learn to read and write. Would you put your life on the line for something you are passionate about?
