<p>Do people need to "unlearn," or reject, many of their assumptions and ideas?</p>
<pre><code>Thomas Paine once famously remarked in 1775, on the eve of the American Revolution, that the ability to reject already formed ideas is mans greatest ability. Indeed, his famous quote still holds immense truth even today the rejection of assumptions that people have already taken for granted is often necessary and, quite frankly, conducive to success. Shirley Jacksons short story The Lottery and the German State of Bavaria pay testament to the undeniable truism that rejection of ideas and assumptions is often necessary.
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<p>In Shirley Jacksons short story The Lottery, the villagers of a sunny and bright rural town practice a gruesome tradition every June 27th. On this date, they randomly pick slips of paper from a box, and the person who picks the paper with a big black dot in the center is forced into the center of the village square and stoned to death by everyone, even children. On this particular occasion, a woman named Tessie Hutchinson manages to win the lottery. Indeed, Tessie speaks out against the unfairness of this before being attacked. If the villagers had stopped to think about the tradition for a moment, undoubtedly they would have realized its immorality. Despite being sunk in tradition for the past hundred or so years, the villagers still needed to reject this idea of the lottery. After all, failure to do so resulted in the deaths of countless innocent people through the ages the people did nothing wrong except to be lucky enough to choose a particular slip of paper. Their assumption that the lottery was only justified by its being tradition was outright flawed, and the villagers needed the reconsider their unfair position.</p>
<p>In the Gaul state of Bavaria during the early years of the first millennia, King Ogleman was one of the first kings to stop the long held tradition of murdering the first baby every year. Such a tradition had also been going on for many, many years, based on the flawed assumption that if the first baby was not killed, all of the other babies born that year would soon die. Indeed, King Oglemans insistence that doing such was unjust was met with fierce resistance from tribal leaders who all firmly believed that this tradition should continue indefinitely. King Ogleman rejected even the most strident complaints and tested his belief in the year 12 by allowing that baby to live. Incidently, the other babies that year did not all die. This annual ritual of killing the first baby was discontinued the next year. By rejecting some of his own ideas and assumptions regarding tradition, the King of Bavaria succeeded in saving the lives of hundreds of children across the centuries, discontinuing old assumptions and ideas and force his countrymen to unlearn their firmly held beliefs.</p>
<p>In conclusion, many assumptions and ideas are flawed and, in some cases, even downright wrong. Old assumptions and ideas from Shirley Jacksons The Lottery and the German state of Bavaria were rejected, and consequently countless lives were saved. Is it not a shame even in the world today that people are so polemical, refusing to reconsider even the most extreme of viewpoints?</p>
<p>Do we benefit from learning about the flaws of people we admire and respect?</p>
<pre><code>On the eve of the American Revolution over two hundred and fifty years ago in 1775, the famous American writer Thomas Paint remarked, man only learns from the errors of his brother. Indeed, his famous words ring true even today; we benefit from learning about the flaws and errors that our heroes that we admire and respect make. The German State of Bavaria and the book Savage World by Kristen Marquis pay testament to this universal truth.
The German State of Bavaria was prosperous during the early 1800s in part due to the reforms of the king, Martin Grosse. His father before him, Alexander Grosse, was a model for a king judicious, bold but not temerous, demanding but not tyrannical. Martin Grosse looked up to him as a child his father was his hero, he later wrote in his autobiography, someone to admire and love. Despite his strengths, he was also fairly weak in some areas for example, he had a penchant for profligatory spending and lavish parties. As a result, the country of Bavaria fell into debt. Martin Grosse modeled his kingship after his father. His reforms bolstered Bavaria and made it a preeminent state among all others in the Holy Roman Empire. However, Martin was unlike his father in one important way Martin was extremely frugal. He surely did not match the description of a king; he reduced the size of his palace, sold tons of artwork and jewelry, and even wore regular clothes that any regular craftsman would wear. In fact, in all his life he drank only twice and refused to go to lavish parties. In this situation, Martin surely benefitted from learning from Alexanders only apparent weakness. By learning from Alexanders flaw of being a prodigal, Martin built a much better kingship and had money for projects to improve his kingdom.
Furthermore, the protagonist from Kristen Marquiss 1985 novel Savage World also learns from the mistakes of his hero. Mary Johnson is a black housekeeper from Montgomery, Alabama. She works for Mrs. Morrison, a wealthy bank executive whose rags-to-riches tale was quite extraordinary. Mrs. Morrison was born in an impoverished neighborhood in New York. Her first job was, too, that of a housekeeper. Through extraordinary, uncommon diligence and heroism, she founded her own company, the Morrison Bank. Mary is fired as a housekeeper because Mrs. Morrison was no longer able to afford her; Mrs. Morrisons greatest flaw was her addiction to cocaine, which had only recently consumed her life and forced her to close down her company. Mary is determined to, like Mrs. Morrison, found a company of her very own. Achieving great success through imitating and following Mrs. Morrisons wise words, Mary also becomes a bank executive. However, as the markets slump and the stocks plunge, Mary is under enormous pressure. She, too, sees solace in drugs and alcohol. Undoubtedly, the immense pressure would have also caused her to turn to cocaine for a respite. Just as she almost begins taking the drug, she sees her hero, Mrs. Morrison, begging on the street. Immediately, Mary has an epiphany and dashes the drug under her feet. By looking at her heros greatest flaw, Mary saved her company and perhaps even her life. Had she only realized Morrisons strengths, cocaine would have had the same effect on Mary and ruined her.
In conclusion, we do benefit from learning from our heroes flaws. Both the king of Bavaria and Mary Johnson exemplify this undeniable fact.
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