Essay/Term paper: "muddle in a puddle": comparison of essay to my life

Essay, term paper, research paper:  College Essays

"Muddle In A Puddle": Comparison of Essay To My Life


While reading the essay "Muddle in a Puddle," some very colorful images
came to my mind about what I have done in my life that compare to this
particular piece. Of all the times I have embarrassed myself by sticking my
foot in my mouth, or by making a fool of myself by playing with a strange toy
in the toy department, only to my surprise, everyone in the toy department was
laughing at me. As Robert Herrick mentions in his poem "_O how that glittering
taketh me!" (100 Best Loved Poems, 12) That's how I felt at that time. All
of us have experienced things like this in our lives, and it is strange what
makes it so interesting to watch people make fools of themselves, as mentioned
by Baker in this quote, "...and any one could could have spoken out as one
human might speak to another....not one had said that." (156)
Yet another piece really spoke to me about the ways people communicate
on a daily basis. "I led the Pigeons to the Flag" was very exact to the
feelings I have of miscommunications and mishearings. I can remember times in
which I have done the very same things that were mentioned in this essay, like
singing a tune over and over out loud, then looking over the lyrics later. Only
to my knowledge, my version of "Cannonball" was actually "Panama." The way we
hear and say things is also very influential in the way others hold us in their
standings. If someone catches us slipping up, they might think we are weird, or
stupid. It could also be a good ice-breaker for a good friendly relationship.
Sometimes not. It just depends where the people are from, and what the
situations are at the time of the incident.
I can remember a time, while at work at the funeral home, I was
discussing school with a bereaving individual. I was trying to comfort this
person, as I noticed she was very disturbed over the loss of a friend. It was
around the time of finals, and she asked how they were going. I said "they're
killing me!" Immediately I realized that I had said the right thing the wrong
way. A million thoughts passed through my mind at that moment, as Baker had
also mentioned. What was I to say to recover from this terrible thing. Change
the subject? Repeat the phrase replacing killing with another mourning-friendly
verb?
Its hard to know what you can say around certain groups of people, or in
certain areas of the country. Thats where we get to the misccommunications and
mishearings.
As discussed by Safire, the most important pledge in the United States,
the Pledge of Allegiance, is probably the most misunderstood and
miscommunicated pledge known to Americans. Most Americans love to watch major
league sports, but the most embarrasing thing to me is to sit and listen to
someone sing the National Anthem. And the truth is, 5 out of 10 people don't
know the words to it. They just plug in their own words and sing right on
along, not even caring if they're right or not. Americans are just plain sloppy
and lazy.
These two pieces,'I led the Peigeons to the Flag," and "A Muddle in a
Puddle" are both tightly coorelated, yet both are different in some ways.
"Muddle" focuses on the ways people communicate, or for that matter, lack of
communication between people. He mentions how none of the people sitting around
the seat with the puddle of beer in it, even bother telling him before he sits
down. There was a lack of communication between these people. The setting of
this situation, seems to me, to be within a large city, where the saying goes,
"What's their's is their's, and what's your's is their's." Of course noone will
speak up when something is wrong. Noone cares about anyone else. The
"Peigeons" essay focuses on the different ways people mishear things in every
day living. this could be very dangerous in some circumstances. Some types of
language could be taken as racial slurrs, and that could be a big problem if not
handled properly. It could also mean death for the unsuspecting individual.
These are some of the differences between these two essays.
It is totally up to us the way in which we us language. There are
always ways to improve the ways in which we communicate, whether publically or
on a more private level. If used properly, it could benefit the user for
eternity, if not, it could be suddenly cut short by the people that take offense
to it.