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David Story Ms. Gardner Honors English 0 Period October 30th, 2013 The Tyranny of Violence Upon the hands of humans throughout the course of history the ability to choose their own path has been merely at their fingertips. The fate of mankind, having been chosen by the individual, is tainted by the human lust of its nature; the need to solve its dilemmas through acts of violence. From malicious roots of man, violence has rained its terror upon the weak and oppressed, not choosing those to which it will save from its wrathful swells but to sweep all those who enter its path. Violence sees no distinction to those who fall victim to it: workers, mothers, fathers, friends, and children. In the more recent years man's violent rage has led to the deaths of hundreds of millions of souls at the hands of cowardly politicians, vile criminals, and even contentious partners. With each passing day, man creates greater devices of destruction and with each passing day more and more unlikely victims lives are affected by violence. What we all must ask ourselves is how far must we go before we end this violence, and how far must this violence go before we must end it? Ironically, those who are say they are the instillers of peace and justice oppose it, themselves being the instillers of violence. The task is monumental, to rid the world of all forms of tyrannical violence. As the late President Kennedy spoke on the task of landing a man on the Moon, " We choose to go to the moon in

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this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard," To human nature we must ask, what is easy and what is hard? We must ask ourselves if peace is an option, if violence is our only escape, and if it is really harder to obtain peace than to pioneer the stars or to create massive weapons of destruction. Is it really that difficult? Today, we must begin to rethink our future, by finding alternate routes to violence, by promoting good will and kindness, and by putting aside all differences to figure out what is to truly be part of humankind. The roots of violence are spread deep in our own morals, hidden from view by notions of pride and power, too spineless to show its face to the light of reason. We must, at all costs, end what we have started or face the end of all that we love. Fellow peers, we are the beginning of a new generation of pioneersa new kind of pioneer that has yet to wake up and see its own light. We as one people will pioneer our way to a new beginning, where violence will be a thing of the past, an old scar in mankind's ever changing history, a problem which we shall solve that will never see the light of day again. The spirit of our dream however will not go unopposed, as we may be thinking to ourselves, the impossibility of such a massive goal which cannot be achieved since it is a root that has and may possibly be stuck in the essence of mankind until its inevitable destruction. However, it is common belief that all humans share very similar ideas and carry unalienable rights, and working as a society with the dream taking a hold in our hearts it can be accomplish. If someone were to say one hundred years ago that today we have put men on the moon, formulating medicines to cure diseases that were once thought

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of as incurable, developed devices where we can communicate almost instantly with people across the globe, they would have labeled us tyrants and lunatics at such "impossibilities". If we could travel a hundred years into the future, what would we want to find waiting for us? A desolate hate consumed madhouse reeking of resentment and violence, or a passive sanctuary for all? We must ask this question. We must ask this question before it is too late to ask it. We must ask this question and find the courage to cope with whatever answer we receive. From the bloodiest of plays comes the question, "To be, or not to be, that is the question." Will we allow ourselves to overcome ourselves with violenceto not be? We invite each other to all step into the dark shadow of the future together, pave the path to peace together; We will conquer violence together as we hope to find the fruits our efforts, for they will not go in vain.

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Rhetorical Devices in Order of Appearance: 1. Alliteration 2. Parallel Structure: Words 3. Parallel Structure: Phrases 4. Chiasmus 5. Antithesis 6. Allusion 7. Parallel Structure: Clauses 8. Rhetorical Question 9. Imperative Sentence 10. Direct Address 11. Metaphor 12. Short Sentence Speech Word Count: 774