"The Men We Carry In Our Minds"

This is a full analysis of Russel Saunders essay "The Men We Carry In Our Minds". Please leave a comment with your opinion about the essay and suggestions how to improve my writting.

10/29/08

Sanders Essay

Today things have changed a whole lot; both men and women take part in taking care and providing for the family. In the early days “Man” had one destiny, which was to work hard, and to suffer the health related issues with the jobs. A great description of the labor and suffering of man is the narrative “The Men We Carry In Our Minds” by Scott Russel Sanders, Saunders describes how in his childhood men worked and labored for many hours in the day, and how later on in the years they suffered from health related issues with their bodies. Sanders also describe the comments and reactions of women throughout his childhood. Although later on as time progressed his views changed and he realized that women had it harder.

Sanders men had many things in common, their destiny were the same and their hard work as well. All men shared hard work as one of the characteristics. Sanders says “When I was a boy, the men I knew labored with their bodies, they were marginal farmers, just scrapping by, or welders, steelworkers, and carpenters”(pg 788). All of the men Sanders described had one thing in common, all of their jobs were hands on. It required dexterity and the ability to use their hands in order to complete the work. After many years of working in the pastures, near hot metal, near sharp objects the true reality of their figure starts to appear. Saunders says “The bodies of the men I knew were twisted and maimed in ways visible and invisible. The nails of their hands were black and split, the hands tattooed with scars. Some had lost fingers” (pg 788). The men clearly had suffered the consequences of their jobs. But they did not think of it as a consequence, they though of it as “it was part of the job”. Clearly the men in Sanders essay were extreme hard workers and they lived life one day at a time.

By having this mentality about men, that men are the workers and women are the caretakers, Sanders clearly express’s his views about men and women. Sanders had more sympathy towards men. Saunders says “Warrior and toilers: those seemed, in my boyhood” (pg 789). His views on men are clearly shown, that men are what keeps this country up, if it was not for the hard working hands of men, nothing would be functioning. He also believed that men were warriors, superior beings that would give their life for the right thing. It is clearly shown that Sanders is sympathetic towards men and will always be on their side no matter what the situation is.

Saunders also expresses his views on women, he believe that “Now” women have it harder than men, “This must be a hard time for women, they have so many paths to choose from, and so many voices calling them” (pg 787). He means that there are so many different possibility and new decisions that women have to take, and that a lot of them are hard choices. Sanders compare his early views of men and women to his views later on in his life. When he was young, men hard it harder in the world, but as time progressed women were faced with a lot more choices that would require them to make a hard decision. Sanders and I share many ideas about the men in our life’s, I to think that my father is the hardest working person I know.

Since I was a child I would always see my father working around house, fixing all the nooks and crannies. He would wake up early in the morning; fix up the house and the set of to work. All of this after 5 years of age. Before age 5 I would only see him about an hours a day, he would work for 5am to 12 am everyday in order to support the family. This work repeats itself for 5 years, and to him he did not see it as an obstacle, he saw it as a duty and a mean of motivation. He would look at my sister and me and give us a kiss and leave to work. I believe he thought of us as motivation to be a hard worker and a great father. I would never get mad at my father for never being there, because all the times he wasn’t I knew were he was. He was out working doubles everyday so my sister and I would have a good up bringing and a good life. Today I’m happy that I’m at least half the man my father is, because no one can be that hard of a worker. I have never seen my father say no in all aspects of work. If his boss tells him to do an assignment, he stops what he’s doing and does his work right away.

As well for work, my father has always been beside my side, he has always given me support. By being a hard worker and a great supporter makes my work hard everyday to be the man that my father is, and to be the father he is to my to my future children. If I could I would want to shadow this wonderful man I call my father everyday, just top gain knowledge and wisdom through his actions. All in all he is all I want to be, because the man that I carry in my mind is the image of my father.

Another man that I thank myself everyday for his wisdom and support is my video production teacher Dan Devlen. This man is a class act; he’s a great teacher, but most importantly a great friend. This guy taught me all the tools of the trade; Devlen would call me at 12 at night and say that I was anchoring the show next day. I would reply yes because production is my dream job and how can one say no to something that they adore to do. He would show me ways to do editing if time was an issue, he would show me ways to film, technique for light, and graphics for segments. He showed me all, currently today he is the only teacher that is in my cell phone, and the only one that calls me every other day. Till today he calls me up to get my idea of a new segment, to brainstorm ways to broadcast a show, to get my overviews on the new students. One thing that I appreciate about this man was him being annoying. Annoying to the extent that he would make me do my work all on time and fast in order for me to have free time to dedicate for TV. Out of a 6-hour day in high school, 4 hours was always dedicated to TV. I would get the 5:45 am and sometimes leave 8:00pm, just editing, editing, editing. I give thanks to this man for literally pushing me to reach my goal, for yelling at me to complete assignments, for getting mad at me when the work was not done, for calling me at late hours to brainstorm, and especially for donating his time to teach me. All of my views on men where taught to my by my parents, not only men but also women to. I believed every culture has different views on both sexes but most of them are the same.

Being born Brazilian we are taught and we notice that in Brazil, men are usually the ones getting up early, doing all the hard work, and the women usually stay home to provide for the kids. We are brought up knowing that we have a long journey ahead of us with lots and lots of hard work. The mentality of a young Brazilian boy living in Brazil usually tend to support his father more that his mother.

My background is different, because I was born in the United States. At a young age I was taught about equality between men and women. Today I still follow that “Code”. Men and women are both same beings. It is said in the bible “The rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman”. Man and women are the same, made from the same flesh. If these beings are literally the same, they should have the same rights as well. There are many hardworking men in the world but there are many lazy ones as well. The same goes for women as well. My culture does not favor one or the other, we are all the same. We all have same rights.

If I had to compare my views with Sanders views, it is very clear that Sanders supports men more than women when he was younger, but he realizes later on his life that women have it harder.. He thinks of men are “Warriors”, “Great Leaders” that they “Work to Die”. My views are very similar with Saunders’s, men early in time had it harder, but now women have a lot more difficult decisions to make in their lives. Men work hard and women work hard as well. There are no difference between men and women; they all are born to work, and born to have a chance in success. All in all men and women are the same being on this earth, both have equal ability and opportunities to achieve success.