#14

Number fourteen states that even thought they know they might be hurt, people who stand up against others and defend their beliefs are really admirable. I strongly agree with this statement, and this statement reminded me of a person I personally know, and one person that I don't, who was a huge part of our American history.

One person that I was reminded of from this statement was a boy named Scott from my spanish class freshman year. Everyday, a couple of the kids in the class would make fun of a kid named Paco just because his neck looked a little different than everyone else's. I could tell that many people, including me, felt really bad for him, but none of us did anything about it. Then one day when the kids were making fun of Paco as usual, Scott just got up and told everyone to shut up and stop being such jerks. Then, Scott stated that Paco never did anything wrong to them, so they had no reason to make fun of him. After Scott was done talking and sat down, the kids that made fun of Paco started laughing, and started to make fun of Scott for being a "retard." After seeing this, I've always had a sort of admiration and respect for Scott.

The other person that this statement reminded me of was Martin Luther King Jr. I thought Martin Luther King Jr. perfectly fit this statement, because he knew what a big risk it was having riots, but he still stood up for his beliefs, and now he is admired by hundreds and thousands of people. When the racism towards blacks was at its worst, with separate bathrooms and waterfountains for the colored, Martin Luther King Jr. started giving speeches and persuaded people to reform against racism with him. Doing this, he probably knew that it wouldn't be safe and he could be seriously injured, or even killed. But despite this, Martin Luther King Jr. still had ran riots and continued to give speeches. Because of this, he was almost killed by a bomb at his house, and he had many life-threatening experiences. At the end, Martin Luther King's attempts paid off, and he didn't quite completely stop racism, but stopped a whole lot of it. Now, Martin Luther King is admired by millions of people.

I thought this was a very interesting and meaningful quote, and I completely agreed with it. It got me thinking that the real heroes of the world are not only those who give donations for the poor, but those who stand up to defend their beliefs, although they know they might be hurt.