Skylar Summers
ePortfolio Assignment
Journal four and Course reflection
Using your readings by King, Jr. and Thoreau as a jump off point, please think about what a
“citizen” is. First, define what makes YOU a "good citizen." How would you define a "good citizen" of
the United States? How does Thoreau define a good citizen? Would Martin Luther King, Jr. agree with
your definition, or with Thoreau’s definition? Please explain why. (500 words minimum)
Your Answer:
I believe what makes a good citizen is one who is involved on many aspects of community, state
and national affairs. Be they on a level of church, community, family, politics and career involvement.
Church is one that I have been involved with my entire life and I've been both very involved and very
distant at times. My relationship with my faith is tenuous at best, but it has made me a better person,
and as such I feel has made me a stronger and more complex member society - a better citizen. Thoreau
describes a good citizen as one who avoids apathy in the face of injustices around them. And though I
admit that I haven't been the leader of any revolutions, I do feel like I exercise my rights on a daily basis
to stand up for what I believe in. Be that the rights and justices of my friends who face deportation for
doing nothing wrong. Being born in a different country doesn't mean you're a bad person. There are
certainly worse "citizens" in the US than those who are being kicked out. As far as my definition of what
a good citizen is, I feel that Thoreau would agree with me and my definition because it encompasses
action and forward moving.
Explain your personal philosophy regarding your individual rights, freedoms, morality, values
and responsibilities, especially to the LAWS, your COMMUNITY, and your COUNTRY. What
responsibilities come with being free? Who decides what these responsibilities are? Do these
responsibilities require enforcement? If so, by whom? (500 words minimum)
Your Answer:
These attributes, when cognizant and proactively developed are the makings of a good citizen.
Such as someone who is aware of the laws and how they contribute to both community and country.
My philosophy on rights boils down to humanity and not laws. Basic core principles like right and wrong
is how I view the topic. Freedoms are how these rights are enacted. A means to an end of that principle
but with greater elaboration. To have no obstacles from prohibiting your moral compass of dictating
what will make you happy and you pursuing that which will indeed make you happy. Along with the
freedom, there is a list of choices to be made and each choice has a repercussion either of negative or
positive connotation. This is where the responsibility of proper choice comes into play and it is up to the
agent who is enacting his freedom to dictate the outcome of this choice. It is our responsibility to do the
right thing and obey the laws of right and wrong - otherwise we will be subject to the enforcement of
the laws that regulate us. I do believe laws need to be regulated and enforced by both elected and civic
officials. That a fair trial be represented when applicable.
What should be done with people – preachers, iconoclasts, educators, or anyone else – who
seemingly undermine the values of the society where they live such as Thoreau was doing in New
England, or Martin Luther King, Jr. in the South? What seems to be the proper relation between the
individual and the community, and between the local community and society in the broader sense?
Consider Kay Anderson’s attempt to stop Michael Moore from speaking at UVU a couple of years ago
because “this man does not represent the values of this community.”
Your Answer:
I feel like there needs to be this opposition in force to bring not only diversity but also strength
to a community. Undermining isn't typically a word used to describe strength, but new thoughts and
ideas should always be on the minds of a communities members because it avoids stagnation and
complacency. A community that is completely united but flows contrary to the rest of the entire nation
is now considered the "undermining" or an eroding factor to the bigger picture. Even though in their
mind, everything is just fine. This is why thoughts, ideas and those that are pressing against the
normative of regular society play such a vital role. Someone who sprints a 50 meter dash everyday will
soon come to find out that they have met this task with ease and it presents no difficulty anymore. This
is fine - this accomplishment is good; but what about the 100 meter? The 500 meter? Why not train for
a full marathon? The point I'm trying to make is that we will never know our abilities and
accomplishments unless we challenge the established means existing within our spheres of learning,
religion and even political customary prescriptions. It's less to do with maintaining society standards and
shifting that to enriching the standards by way of improvement by ideas and doing something new.
ePORTFOLIO REFLECTION ON LEARNING: Please reflect on your thoughts with regard to
Freedom and Responsibility, including Individual Responsibility to Society, (look back at Journal 4: your
personal philosophy of freedom and of being a citizen in your country). Reflect on your thoughts about
these definitions before you took the course, and your thoughts about them now, after completing the
course material. You may also refer to the thought process you went through in the Weekly Discussions,
with regard to unjust laws, race, etc. Have any of your assumptions or understandings changed since
taking the Humanities course? Why or Why not? What assignments/activities/readings were most
influential in this process? As a result, how might you approach these topics differently in the future?
Please provide a copy your Reflection below, AND to your ePortfolio, with your Journal 4 assignment.
In reviewing the information that I had submitted on the Journal 4 assignment, I still agree with my original
views that were expressed at that time, but I do believe that thinking more on the topic has given me a
more elaborate understanding on this topic. A quote from my original writing about this topic: “ To have no
obstacles from prohibiting you and [your] moral compass of dictating what will make you happy and the
pursuit of that which will indeed make you happy.” This is still something that I feel is correct – that you
haven’t done something wrong by being a foreigner and coming to this country. This is one topic that
I’ve thought more about since then when in regards to society. In fact, when you consider the benefit of
a higher replacement ratio in our country as an effect of immigrants, this is something that we need to
re-evaluate.