Assignment # 2

     "In truth it is inequality that is the illusion. The extreme disproportion between men, that we seem to see in life, is a thing of changing lights and lengthening shadows, a twilight full of fancies and distortions. We find a man famous and cannot live long enough to find him forgotten; we see a race dominant and cannot linger to see it decay. It is the experience of men that always returns to the equality of men; it is the average that ultimately justifies the average man. It is when men have seen and suffered much and come at the end of more elaborate experiments, that they see men as men under an equal light of death and daily laughter; and none the less mysterious for being many."

     In this quote the author is talking about inequality and America. As previously mentioned, the very basis and foundation of America stems from the variety and diversity of immigrants who came here from all over the world. Therefore, the idea that one person, race, culture, etc. is more dominant than another is not true. The race and/or people that seem to hold all the power at the present moment does not keep that "power" forever. We as humans are physically incapable of seeing the downfall of everything and everyone. We were not made to live forever. The race or person who seems like they have it all today will not have it all 100 years later as they too will die and/or someone else with more "power" will arise. Inequality is a notion that we as people made up in order to explain the differences between one another. We all suffer the same tragic experiences. We are all human and we are all equal. We all experience death. We all bleed red blood. We all need the same basic necessities to survive in life. Inequality is just an illusion. 

     I chose this quote because growing up in America I often here the terms inequality, racial discrimination, etc. Reading that inequality is an illusion was interesting to me. In my opinion the author is wrong. Inequality is not an illusion. People experience inequality everyday based on their race, gender, sexuality and so forth. Although a person with power will one day lose that power once they die, their legacy will still remain. For example, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has been dead many years, yet we still study his contribution to the Civil Rights Movement and celebrate his legacy. I agree that we are all the same as in we were all born human, however America divides us based on race, gender, sexuality etc. The fact that we are divided is evidence that we are not all equal because if we were there would be no need to categorize us by these different subsets.