So classmates, as a consequentialist, it is assumed I have thought out the consequences of my action of posting this post or not. In addition, as a science major I'm intrigued by results.
I'm wondering what will happen to your thoughts upon reading this:
Dear daddy (a reflection)
Looking in the mirror
I see you
I hesitate to say
I see you in me
But to admit
A great many of your traits
Is not to be overlooked
I talk with my hands
I walk with bare feet in grass
It's only safe after May
Or at least that's what I remember
I like the smell of cut grass
Hard work is never underestimated
I have compassion for the underdog
I take the road less traveled
I aspire to be someone great
Yet, like you I have my doubts,
My failures, my inadequacies
My faults, the ones whom I have wronged
I talk too much and do not allow the other person a say
I have my opinions about you and your vixen
Sometimes I overeat and under sleep
Worrying about the next day
I get caught up in the little things and miss the big picture
But like you
I'm graced with an interest in the other man
The other person has so much to offer
As you said every person is a library
An audiobook to be heard
I have my plans of action
My strategy or routine, if you will, which works well for me
As I take another look in the mirror
I see you more clearly
The man you were, the man you left and the man I will be
Your legend will live on in me
Daddy, trust me, I will be someone great
And I will trust that you will provide wings when I need them
I will rely on your ethereal presence to help me get by
One last look in the ever imposing mirror
Daddy, you prove to be a powerful driving force
I hope you don't go disappointed
I love you, and I'll be waiting for you
So I'm testing out this new mindset. I wonder if the anticipated results correspond with actual results.
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI was very intrigued by your posting from very first sentence. I believe that your reflection is an honest representation of a consequentialist. You presented your feelings in a way that you have given great thought to the consequences that you could face from the reflection. I enjoyed reading your reflection and I liked trying to understand your motives behind it.
So Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteIn your opinion, what are my motives?
I don't know what to make of this. I like the creativity of using a poem to connect to utilitarianism, but I'm afraid I didn't understand the purpose. It seemed to deal with unresolved conflicts with a father figure. I just didn't understand the connection to what were currently studying.
ReplyDeleteHey Elizabeth, I didn't understand your reflection really good, but what I did understand is that you want to know what we think about it. According to me, it is about a son looking at his father as his role model. The son wants to be like his father, but he also wants to be more. He wants to keep his father legacy by being himself. Am I right? I hope so. I think that it is a good poem. I identify myself with it; I admire my father, and he is a role model for me. In conclusion, the consequences of your poem were that I liked it even though I didn't understand it so well, also I think that your poem is a perfect relfection of the relation between a dad and his son in actual life.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if this is what you were going for but for me I read this poem as if John Stuart Mill is writing to his father. Under this way of reading it I think that it is a great representation of Mill who was taught the utilitarian view at a young age and the very possible struggle he had with the way that his opinions differed from those of his father and Bentham. I really like the motif of the mirror and how Mill has so much of his father in him but at the same time he is his own man with his own ideas and philosophies. Though at the same time I am not sure that I am right in thinking that you are writing in the perspective of Mill, mostly because of this line: "I get caught up in the little things and miss the big picture." I don't think that Mill would miss the big picture because it is the "big picture", or consequences, in which he is most concerned. In addition, "[his] plans of action. . . [his] strategy or routine" led me to originally see Kant, but after further analysis I can see how it could be pointing more towards his determination of the Utilitarian Calculus. Overall, as an English major, I found your poem and my subsequent analysis of it to be very interesting.
Hello Meghan,
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, you are a stupendous analytic. Originally I wrote it by different inspiration but then I read it over and decided I could use it as my article. The question you ask about the big picture phrase, it could be referring to the mental breakdown he had. I'm not sure of the details of Mill's breakdown but to be thinking of the consequences or little details that have big consequences all the time could be quite stressful.