<p>I wanted to get some practice. I timed myself and I typed instead of writing it out. But just to kind of see where Im at.. would you mind grading my essay on a 2-12 scale?</p>
<p>From June SAT's</p>
<p>ESSAY PROMPT
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below:</p>
<p>Many persons believe that to move up the ladder of success and achievement, they must forget the past, repress it, and relinquish it. But others have just the opposite view. They see old memories as a chance to reckon with the past and integrate past and present.</p>
<p>Adapted from Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, I've Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and Liberation </p>
<p>Assignment: Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.</p>
<p>ESSAY:</p>
<p>The question of nature versus nurture continues today even though scientists have decoded and human genome and continue to uncover the complex mysteries that surround us. Yet, the value of memories is uncontested. Our very being is imbedded in our perception. Most psychologists, including Dr. Phil, agree that our perception defines our individual lives. Essentially, our attitude and viewpoint outline the lives we lead. </p>
<p>Memories play a significant role in our lives. Our goals and aspirations might be so because of a single defining moment in our lives. The words at that moment I knew are hackneyed, but continue to hold true for many people. The power of memories is unlimited, because a mind no limits, allowing us to make that heavenly scent even more so and that first ice cream more delicious than our taste buds could allow. </p>
<p>Many times, our memories are much less perfect than we would like. Traumatic experiences, such as failure, rape, or abuse come to mind. Yet, whether we choose to try to suppress these memories or not, they will never cease to haunt us. They shape us and make us who we are. We can choose, to either dwell in the past, and feel victimized, cheated, angry or depressed. Or, we can choose to move on, to let go, to forgive. We cannot erase our memories as easily as we snap our fingers. It is impossible really, without at least minimal self delusion to forget the past, repress it, and relinquish it. Memories are so powerful in fact, that malevolent memories sometimes take years to cope with and a perfect recalling of a second of bliss allows us to bear through incredible pain.</p>
<p>In similar fashion it is literally impossible to integrate our old memories to the present. Our past remains in the past no matter how hard we may try to bring it back. The world moves on and continues to spin whether we are conscious of it or not. We give our past, or what we know and understand, credit for what we have accomplished because it is such as an integral part of who we are. The past defines us. It shapes us and molds us- at times we are aware, at times we are not. For example, a child of an alcoholic mother might become alcoholic also, allowing subconsciously such abuse simply because the mother did so and wallowing in their own misfortune. Yet, the same child can choose to not drink at all. He or she can vow to do right by not following in an alcoholic parents footsteps and become better for it. The child does not need to put the past behind, but rather to accept it for what it is, without too much self pity or delusion. In the end, our memories do not make us; but our perceptions of significant memories do.</p>