Mark Twain Dialectical Journal Analysis
Mark Twain Quote Journal
Baker College of Allen Park
5/7/14
Mark Twain said, “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” Twain had the belief that people need to surround themselves with others who will encourage them to be their best. Those who belittle others who are in pursuit of something ambitious are not the kind of people who are pursuing their own passions and desires. Those are people that may never have received words of encouragement to set their feet down and run. Also, those who belittle others ambitions have not had someone to walk alongside them in life and speak greatness to them. They have not been around the great ones themselves. The small are missing something that they cannot see. The influence of people around us can encourage us to greatness or easily help us to believe we are inept at achieving something bigger than what we know. Many cannot relate to someone when they live so differently. It is a foreign concept to do something different than what is known. That is why Twain says, “Keep away from those people”. As a people in general, everyone is easily influenced, whether it is by our …show more content…
culture, our family, or our interests. All of the things that we do, and think and invest in, are valuable to us because of the perceptions we have about what is important. That is why it is so imperative to surround ourselves with “the great”. The people who surround us will make a great impact on every part of us and what decisions and habits we have. Great people, as Mark Twain said, “make you feel that you too, can become great”. Those great ones are contagious to be around. Those great people breathe life into the soul. They help everyone else understand something that is sometimes impossible to see: life is about making decisions and putting work behind them. The successful understand that everyone needs help to have vision for the future. Everyone can be blind to his or her potential, but if there is someone there to help bring sight to what we cannot see ourselves, then greatness can be achieved. This quote directly reflects the influences on my life at this time. I have two fathers. One is my biological father. He belittles me in almost every conversation we have. With the choices I am making in my life at this time, his opinion is negative and confused about why I would devote so much time to my current degree. It is a foreign concept for him to give encouraging words. He has never received them himself; therefore he has no real understanding of how to give them. My father does not believe in praise or encouragement. He belittles the decisions of everyone around him, almost all of the time. My response, at this time in my life, is to spend as little time as possible with him because it feeds a belief in me that I may not be successful in my pursuit. My second father is my boss.
I have known him for 20 years. He has always considered me a part of his family. This person truly is one of “the great ones”. This man is the kind of person that always looks for an opportunity to encourage the best to shine out of people. He puts energy and action into his beliefs and it shows in every area of his life. My life has dramatically changed since I began working with him. He sees the things I cannot see in myself. He sees something great and takes every opportunity to pass on the vision to me. My boss is my friend, peer and a father figure in many ways. How true it is that when people are in the presence of someone great, they will feel great
too. The heart is open where there is goodness around to fill it and influence it. Greatness is contagious. Its influence is powerful. Contradictorily, the general belief of people that they cannot achieve anything above what they know is common and so easy to believe. That is why it is so important to keep distance from those who believe in mediocrity. Keeping an open mind that we can accomplish something that we yearn for. Something beyond what we have believed is possible, is the beginning of greatness. If the hearts of people are not open to greatness they will shrink under the weight of the world and become smaller day-by-day.
Baker College of Allen Park
5/7/14
Mark Twain said, “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” Twain had the belief that people need to surround themselves with others who will encourage them to be their best. Those who belittle others who are in pursuit of something ambitious are not the kind of people who are pursuing their own passions and desires. Those are people that may never have received words of encouragement to set their feet down and run. Also, those who belittle others ambitions have not had someone to walk alongside them in life and speak greatness to them. They have not been around the great ones themselves. The small are missing something that they cannot see. The influence of people around us can encourage us to greatness or easily help us to believe we are inept at achieving something bigger than what we know. Many cannot relate to someone when they live so differently. It is a foreign concept to do something different than what is known. That is why Twain says, “Keep away from those people”. As a people in general, everyone is easily influenced, whether it is by our …show more content…
culture, our family, or our interests. All of the things that we do, and think and invest in, are valuable to us because of the perceptions we have about what is important. That is why it is so imperative to surround ourselves with “the great”. The people who surround us will make a great impact on every part of us and what decisions and habits we have. Great people, as Mark Twain said, “make you feel that you too, can become great”. Those great ones are contagious to be around. Those great people breathe life into the soul. They help everyone else understand something that is sometimes impossible to see: life is about making decisions and putting work behind them. The successful understand that everyone needs help to have vision for the future. Everyone can be blind to his or her potential, but if there is someone there to help bring sight to what we cannot see ourselves, then greatness can be achieved. This quote directly reflects the influences on my life at this time. I have two fathers. One is my biological father. He belittles me in almost every conversation we have. With the choices I am making in my life at this time, his opinion is negative and confused about why I would devote so much time to my current degree. It is a foreign concept for him to give encouraging words. He has never received them himself; therefore he has no real understanding of how to give them. My father does not believe in praise or encouragement. He belittles the decisions of everyone around him, almost all of the time. My response, at this time in my life, is to spend as little time as possible with him because it feeds a belief in me that I may not be successful in my pursuit. My second father is my boss.
I have known him for 20 years. He has always considered me a part of his family. This person truly is one of “the great ones”. This man is the kind of person that always looks for an opportunity to encourage the best to shine out of people. He puts energy and action into his beliefs and it shows in every area of his life. My life has dramatically changed since I began working with him. He sees the things I cannot see in myself. He sees something great and takes every opportunity to pass on the vision to me. My boss is my friend, peer and a father figure in many ways. How true it is that when people are in the presence of someone great, they will feel great
too. The heart is open where there is goodness around to fill it and influence it. Greatness is contagious. Its influence is powerful. Contradictorily, the general belief of people that they cannot achieve anything above what they know is common and so easy to believe. That is why it is so important to keep distance from those who believe in mediocrity. Keeping an open mind that we can accomplish something that we yearn for. Something beyond what we have believed is possible, is the beginning of greatness. If the hearts of people are not open to greatness they will shrink under the weight of the world and become smaller day-by-day.