William Wallis, a Scotsman in the 13th century is an incredible story of perseverance and leadership. His people of Scotland were being horribly mistreated and oppressed by King Edward of England. William Wallis helped to lead a resistance movement to stand against the evil king of England. He motivated the Scottish people with his actions and his words. One inspirational quote was, “every man dies, but not every man really lives”. The Scottish stood strong against england and defeated them in several battles. It came at great cost and eventually William Wallis was captured and brutally executed. . As shown in the image, Mr. Wallis is being held down and is about to be beheaded.
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Just before his death he says to his people who are all standing and watching his death, “I’m William Wallis, and the rest of you will be spared. go back to England, and tell them… Scotland is free”. This one man's life shows such true bravery and heroism that it has been created into a movie. Recreating this amazing true story of a true fight for freedom. In the movie William wallis’s famous line is just as he is dying he yells out “FREEDOM”. Overall this picture as well as quotations show how one man with pure drive for true freedom for both him and his people can change the course of history forever.
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Further into history these same principles are shown through Abraham Lincoln, and his passion and drive to abolish slavery for all the African American slaves in the United States. The cost this passion and dreams resulted in the entire country being ripped apart and forced into a civil war. The south so badly wanted the continuation of slavery but the north supported Lincoln’s desire to abolish it. Lincoln once said that “those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves”. This quotation clearly shows the great struggle that he had to go through. As much as he loved his country and all the men and women within it, he wanted freedom for every American regardless of color. The civil war had the highest casualty than any other war on US soil. The death was more than 620,00
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men. Despite this horrible battle the
north finally overcame the south
and slavery was abolished. Soon
after the civil war Lincoln was
assassinated. Once again, a man
paid the ultimate price freedom and
betterment of others.
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In the movie Unbroken, Louie Zamperini beats all odds during the second world war. When Mr. Zamperini enrollees into the army he doesn’t know that his plane would crash over the ocean, and soon after be put into a concentration center. Even though all his hardships he continued to find the will to live though his great spiritual relationship with God. This amazing movie is not only a great example of the lengths that man goes for freedom but also an amazing true story. This particular image is from the movie where Louie is being horribly beet, and worked yet continues to drive forward and never give up just because of the hope he holds of freedom.
|  Because of this young man's extreme efforts while surviving 47 days on a small raft in the ocean, and two years in a concentration camp, he was able to finally free himself from this complete torchure in August 1945. |
Finally, the berlin wall is a great example of a group of people being held back from freedom because of oppression by the government. During the 1960s all the way to 1989 the people of east Berlin were literally 3 feet from freedom yet they could not have it and for 28 years these people suffered with minimal food and water as well as a very small amount of electricity and medical supplies. Compared to the people of west Berlin who lived much like you and I do today. Once the wall finally fell these people were finally set free from communism. In this image it shows a young man smashing the wall by hand with a
|  sledgehammer on the day of destruction purely because of his will and thirst for freedom. These men and women suffered through incredible hardship just for the chance at possibly being free. Overall 136 people died trying to escape this wretched place in hope of personal freedom. |
Overall these men and women throughout history have shown great perseverance, dedication, and diligence. Through these great acts of resistance they were able to obtain freedom, even if it did cost them them their lives, for both themselves as well as others. Much like these few examples thousands of men and women around the world sacrifice their lives every day for our freedom both now and in the past. I believe that even though these thousands of people have risked their lives we take our own personal freedom for granted, and in the end should be far more greatfull as an individual and a nation.
Works Cited
.. Shalayne's Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. <https://pulia2.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/
final-project-rationale-on-no-caption-needed/>.
"Freedom in Braveheart." Imgkid. The Image Kid, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. <http://imgkid.com/
braveheart-freedom.shtml>.
"'Unbroken': First trailer for Angelina Jolie's Louis Zamperini biopic." CBS News. CBS News, 10 July
2014. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/
unbroken-first-trailer-for-angelina-jolie-louis-zamperini-biopic/>.
This is a good variety of examples of sacrifices made for freedom. What is a common connection between each of these groups or people who are fighting for freedom? Do you see connections between these ideas and any texts from the course? There are many things that we can take for granted, and the government loves to remind us that freedom often comes with a price, as some of the other blogs have suggested.
ReplyDeleteAs stated by Mrs. Hartholt these examples are very accurate when showing the capabilities of individuals when the struggle of freedom is in place. However, it seems that not every point is connected back to the main point and the overall picture. Can you explain how some of the examples shown, directly relate back to how our community has developed ignorance toward the freedoms we are currently provided with? Also, is the movie you referred to the one with Mel Gibson in it? He's such a cool guy! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Ms. Hartholt for the responce as well as muffinman1337, and you both bring up great points! Ms. Hartholt I would say that the common connection between all four of these examples is the fact that they all were willing to risk their lives for the freedom they so disparately wanted. Also I feel that yes the government does love to do this, but should freedom really come with a price? I believe that it should be something that we should not need to worry about yet still like I said in my blog we should be "greatfull as an individuals and a nation" for the men and women that sadly volunteer to fight for our freedom due to the corrupt and distraught world that we live in.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to your comment Cam, firstly I think Mel is a great guy to! But on a more serious note I think that yes as a nation we aren't grateful for our freedom, but I think that saying we are ignorant towards our freedom is inaccurate. Also I don't believe that the main point I was trying to argue was the fact that as a nation we are not grateful, but more so the courage one may show in order to obtain freedom.
Thank you both for the great comments as they both allowed me the think about this topic on a much deeper level!
First off I love the topic you choose to write about and couldn't agree more with what you said. You also mentioned this statement in your conclusion, "I believe that even though these thousands of people have risked their lives we take our own personal freedom for granted, and in the end should be far more grateful" and wow did this speak to me because I just recently watched the new move American Sniper and read some reviews. What I read amazed me, some Michael Moore accused snipers as being cowards and me being a military man this pissed me off to end. This critic, sitting on his candy ass in a safe home because of snipers (and of course the rest of the men and women serving in the armed forces) thinks he has the right to call them cowards is absurd. I would like hear what you think about this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely and believe that we must fight and make sacrifices to protect our freedom and it is very important to show our respect for those who do. I find in Canada people don't take enough pride in our country and our military. Some Canadians want to be known as peacekeepers rather than respect the sacrifices our armed forces have made to protect our freedoms and freedoms of citizens of other countries. You are write that we take our freedoms for granted and don't realize how much sacrifice has gone into obtaining and protecting them.
ReplyDelete