Taylor
November 28, 2012
1st period
Reaction
Throughout reading “Powerful Peace” by Mr. DuBois I have been able to think about and apply
the material to my life. These are real life problems and solutions that can help us out so much.
I believe that this subject can help the community out so much if we actually apply it. In the
book we see that a powerful peace comes about by sacrifice and willingness to seek middle ground. “it
results from pouring our souls into the efforts of our restraint and considered response, no matter how
much we want to kill back.” – DuBois, page 176. If we went by this more often it would make life so
much more calm and simple. We often jump to conclusions too quickly but if we take the time to think
about the situation first, we could eliminate a lot of confusion and conflict.
“I propose that we apply smart power to the individual level. Let’s open our minds, look for the
value in those unlike ourselves, and discover how alike we are.” –DuBois, page 128. This really changed
my way of thinking about things. There are many ways that we can apply smart power to our daily lives
and one of these is to be more understanding and appreciative of others. This will allow more
friendships to be created eliminate a lot of criticizing. Every day I am surrounded by fellow students that
instead of judging by their appearance I should think about what they may be going through outside of
school and trying to be a friend to them. Like Mr. Dubois says, we never know what these people may
have to offer us later on in life.
This book made me realize that as a human species we need to be able to choose camaraderie. We need
someone that is going to be beside us not only through the good times, but also through the bad. In the
book we see that this is the men that are grouped together. They all consider each other as brothers,
and no matter what they are right there by each other’s side. Having a person in our lives like this gives
us someone to talk to and help us through the hard times and rejoice with us through the good.
Taylor
November 28, 2012
1st period
When we look at all the situations mentioned it is very important to the world because we face
these things daily. If we would take the time to include all of these ideas into our lives then we would be
a lot closer to reaching that powerful peace. In today’s time we are too wrapped up in ourselves that we
don’t consider the thoughts and feelings of others. The things we do don’t have to be huge, we could
start out just by simply trying to understand other’s and find that we are all similar. So often we like to
judge the ones around us by their outside appearance or how they act. Simply being there for someone
and listening to what they have to say can change someone’s life completely.
While reading this book I was very intrigued because it was something that I could go home at
night and when I studied over it I could connect it to decisions that I make daily. We all know that our
service men do so much for us, but prior to reading this book I never actually paid attention to how
much they do. We take a lot for granted that we should be so thankful for. It’s neat when you stop and
think that we are all alike. We all obviously dress differently, talk differently, and have different
personalities, but we all face the same problems and all need support from one another. We need to
come together and stop being so separated. When we start coming together and forming camaraderie
we will see that this is what we have needed all along, support from one another and understanding of
the ones surrounding us.
“Powerful Peace” has opened my eyes to have more respect for these men and what they do for
our country. On page 188 we see the quote, “Send me back in sir, my boys need me!” through this one
quote we see the dedication these men have and their love for one another. I cannot put into words
how thankful I am for the opportunity to read this book and for our service men and all that they do for
our country.