Lesson 4

Discussion Board Post
I read an essay about discrimination called 'Free Minds and Hearts at Work' that was written by Jackie Robinson. I like the fact that it is a mere belief that his fight had a chance of being won that motivated Jackie to keep going even when the odds off success were stacked very strongly against him. I find myself likening the struggle for equality to myself as, even though I am a white person and living in a socially freer area, I too have encountered prejudices simply because of who I am and the fact that it differs from the definition of 'normal.' I myself have an invisible disability known as Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, which is similar to Asperger's, but there is not a lot of information about it that is available. The battle between the races has gone on visibly for a very long time, but the battle between what is intellectually normal and different has been somewhat invisible to society until about 20 or 30 years ago. It is sad to admit that the human race still has a long way to go.

While the battle between races was fought in the public eye from early on, people with disabilities were often simply shut away from society because nobody wanted to take the time or patience to love them as they were. After a failed lobotomy, Rosemary Kennedy became one of those people who were shut away simply because they were different. This essay is titled 'Free Minds and Hearts' and yet, people were not always able to show that they had free minds or hearts because it would easily be perceived as abnormal and swiftly dealt with. Jackie Robinson talks about having a belief in a warm heart and yet, how many hearts turned cold because their owners choose to be indifferent? The epidemic of indifference seems to be spreading throughout the world and it seems that nobody wants to do anything to really stop it, as they don't want to bring attention to themselves. If people don't care about expressing their minds or hearts freely, that freedom to do so could someday disappear.

Society as a whole claims to be trying to improve, but people still put barriers in the way of their own success and the success of others. Even though we live in what Jackie Robinson refers to as a free society, it is easier for us to imperfection in each other than it is to find it in ourselves and strive to improve upon it. In order to truly set ourselves free from our own barriers that we put on ourselves and society puts on us, we need to learn to love ourselves as God loves and truly cherishes us. I think humans have difficulty caring for themselves or each other as they should because they have forgotten who they really are and who they can become. People are becoming apathetic about themselves and each other because they have forgotten that they are beloved children of God.

After I completed the initial post, I turned my attention to the grammar lesson, which was again on comma rules! The rules were about placing commas around nonessential words and/or phrases, addressing someone directly, and around dates and places. I also watched a video about commas.

I then took the comma quiz and got two wrong the first time because I forgot the FANBOYS rule and put a comma where it didn't need to be. The second time, however, I got 100% and that registered on my grades, as the tests take the higher of the two marks.