The Road Not Taken, By Robert Frost

Empowerment is the “authority or power given to someone to do something, or the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights,”(Google). Based on all 7 of the texts we have read in class, It is more effective to empower yourself. This is because self-empowerment gives people confidence in themselves and gives them the feeling of importance, teaches the fact that you will have to make tough decisions in your life, and shows that everyone should appreciate what they have and not focus on what they want. All of these qualities are important, and the best way to teach it is through self-empowerment. Therefore, self-empowerment is the best way to empower yourself.
In the poem, “Still
I Rise” Maya Angelou uses self-empowerment. Maya Angelou tries to show people that she is not giving up hope in what she believes. Since Angelou was empowering herself, it gave her confidence to say what she believes. The sentences she uses to show her confidence in herself from the text are, “Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room,”(Angelou). This is important because Angelou is empowering herself for the sake of ending slavery. She knows that if she doesn’t stand up for what it right the same pattern that her parents experienced through slavery will happen to her. Angelou is empowering herself because she has the confidence to compare herself to something as valuable as oil wells in her own backyard because she knows the importance of ending slavery. Also, in the story “Raymond’s Run”, there is a disabled boy named Raymond who is not capable of doing everything by himself. So, his sister Squeaky is in charge of taking care of him. From taking care of Raymond, Squeaky learned how to have confidence in herself. Also, Squeaky grew up in New York City, so the environment was not the best for a child. So, she had to learn to defend for herself and Raymond with no help from her parents since they didn’t care about her as much as they should. Squeaky empowered herself everyday to stand up for Raymond when he is being bullied. An example from the text states, “But now, if anybody has anything to say to Raymond, anything to say about his big head, they have to come by me. And I don’t play the dozens or believe in standing around with somebody in my face doing a lot of talking. I much rather just knock you down and take my chances even if I am a little girl with skinny arms and a squeaky voice, which is how I got the name Squeaky,”(Bambara). Thus, both Maya Angelou and Squeaky know how important it is to have confidence in yourself to push what you believe no matter how much you are at risk.
In the poem, “The Road Not Taken” Robert Frost uses self-empowerment to learn a valuable lesson.
In this poem Frost learns that there are tough decisions in his life and choosing one path in his life was one of those difficult decisions. It is as if the two roads are two people in his life that he cares about deeply, but can only choose one. “I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference,”(Frost). Frost empowered himself to make an important decision between two things that mattered to him, and ended up having to choose one no matter what the turnout was. Also, the article “Are You a Loser?” talks about how there are so many famous people today, that struggled at one point in their life to get to where they are today. For example, Jeremy Lin, who now plays for the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA was not always on top. Before anyone had ever heard of him, he was known as the weakest player on his team. So Jeremy had to make a choice. Was he going to work harder to get the chance to play, or was he going to let the people around him bring him down. So, Jeremy empowered to work harder because he knew the outcome would be victoriuos. “Lin spent hundreds of hours with coaches and trainers. He arrived at practice hours before any of his teammates to do extra drills. He relied on good old fashioned hard work and perseverance. As you can see, Both Jeremy Lin and
Frost had to make a tough decision in their life. For Frost it was a mental choice, and for Lin it was a physical choice. But both men were capable to make those choices because they empowered themselves to do just that.
In the documentary, “Living on a Dollar a Day” four men who are in college wanted to experience what the life of a person who lived in Guatemala was really like.
So, Zack, Chris, Sean and Ryan decided to travel there and record everything they were experiencing. Chris was able to empower himself throughout his journey. He was able to learn that he has to appreciate everything he has, and not focus on what he doesn’t have. This is because while in Guatemala, Chris was battling through a sickness while on the trip. He was able to experience what the native people from Guatemala would have to do if they got sick. He first learned that to get to where doctors would treat him he would have to take a long trip that costed money. Then, once the doctor checked Chris out they realized that they could not afford the medication that would have helped him. Luckily, Chris was not seriously ill and did not need the medication. But, what if this same thing had happened to someone else, but it was an emergency? So, without the experience Chris went through, he would not be that same today. This same pattern also occurred in the story of “The Scarlet Ibis”. In this story, a boy named Doodle is an embarrassment to his brother because he has a disability. But the brother doesn’t appreciate Doodle as much as he should have. For example, “Doodle was frightened of being left. ““Don’t leave me, Brother,”” he cried, and leaned toward the coffin. His hand, trembling, reached out, and when he touched
the casket, he screamed. A screech owl flapped out of the box into our faces, scaring us and covering us with Paris green. Doodle was paralyzed, so I put him on my shoulder and carried him down the ladder, and even when we were outside in the bright sunshine, he clung to me, crying, “"Don't leave me. Don't leave me,"”(Hurst). No matter how scared Doodle was, his brother was so cruel that he made him do something he didn’t want to do in fear that his brother would leave him. But, in the end Doodle's brother overworked him causing him to die. Doodle empowered himself to do whatever he could to make his brother happy because he loved him and even though he could be harsh to Doodle, he loved Doodle too. He was willing to push beyond his limits just so he can achieve something that would make both him and his brother happy. So, empowering yourself is more effective than empowering others.
Some people may say that empowering others is more effective than empowering yourself because it makes the person that is helping another person feel good about themselves. It also helps build up their resilience. However, If you are constantly being empowered by others, you may not have the confidence to take charge of your own life and make tough decisions on your own. For example in the article, “Are you a Loser?” a young girl is pushed by her father continue doing tae kwon do even though she wanted to give it up. ““It was devastating,” Miranda says, Dejected, she decided to quit. But at her father’s urging, she reluctantly agreed to give it one more try,”(Scholastic). Miranda had been urged by her father to do something that she no longer had interest in. Although he is her father and has the right to tell her what to do, he does not have the right to continue her in an activity the she no longer likes. Therefore, it is better to empower yourself because you are the one making the decision for yourself.
So, it is more effective to empower yourself rather than empowering others because it gives you confidence and allows you to control your own life. The most effective way to be empowered is when you are empowering yourself. Empowering yourself matters because it gives you the ability to have strength, perseverance and the chance to live your life the way you want to. Also, when you are being empowered by others, it is very common that they can take over your life and make decisions for you. So, when being empowered, the most effective way is to empower yourself.