C. David Jones
January 7, 2008
Second Quarter Essay: What Did I Learn?
I learned some very important lessons from the material learned in Junior Faith. When we covered the “Challenges of Faith” Course, we learned about the effects of advertising of marketing in society. Watching the video “Merchants of Cool,” I discovered that media companies exploit teenagers in order to sell their product. After watching the report, I realized how influenced I am in someone else’s opinion. From the time I wake up in the morning to the time I go to sleep, the media bombards me with images and products designed for my attention. Even when I am in the fitness center or on the football field, I still experience media messages and slogans. In the film “Friday Night Lights,” running back Boobie Miles lashes at another player for not wearing black Nikes; the other player instead had on white Adidas. Boobie chastised the player saying, “Black is beautiful, and Boobie is going to look beautiful wearing Black Nikes.” On Facebook, the social networking site where I can talk to my friends, advertisements are on the side of the virtual walls at every click. When I play “Madden NFL Football” on my video game system, I see virtual billboards in the stadium during the game and hear advertisements for different companies. Learning about the different marketing tools companies use, I am becoming aware of the strain that society sews into our brain to look beautiful, wear the finest apparel, eat the finest food, and live the “fabulous” life.
Another important lesson that I am going to take out of this course is the idea of wonder and awe. After my presentation on St. Louis University High, I looked around at all of the things I take for granite around me. During the Fall Sports Season, SLUH had one of the top programs in the state with a: State-Championship Cross Country Team, State-Runner-Up Soccer Team, State Quarterfinalist Football Team, and State Finalist Swimming Team. Around our halls, we have some of the most gifted and intelligent boys in the nation with over 50 National-Merit Scholars a year and four perfect scores on the ACT in the past two years. When you bump into someone in the hall, you could be bumping an all-state athlete, all-district singer, Muny performer, or academic achiever. With the section of wonder and awe, I became aware of my classmates’ accomplishments and learned to appreciate the value of SLUH as an educational institute.
One more thing I learned from this course is about having faith in people. During the “What is Faith?” section, videos introduced us to several persons of faith throughout the world; a particular person comes to mind for me. Aaron Feuerstein, owner of the Malden Mills Textile Plant in Lawrence, Massachusetts, gave up over $300 million dollars of his insurance money from when the plant burned down to pay the out-of-work employees for over three months and to rebuild the plant in the Lawrence, MA. He did not do this for fame, but he did it because, “it was the right thing to do.” Feuerstein had faith in the city of Lawrence, MA to rebuild his plant there instead of exporting the business off American shores. He also felt a sense of faith and responsibility to the employees of the plant because he paid them for over three months, even though they were out of a job. As a proud owner of Polartec, the textile made at Malden Mills, it makes me feel comfortable knowing that my product was made by a company that is compassionate and loving towards its employees and the communities surrounding them. This section helps me to know that despite all of the greedy and money-hungry companies in our society, there are still people who care about their community and employees.
