Reflective Tag: My reflective synthesis essay focuses on the good and the bad that came with such a project such as the one I’ve done and connects the lessons learned from this to myself and my future endeavors. Although my Capstone did not fail, it did not turn out the exact way I envisioned but the process of getting through it as well as looking back on it for reflection has allowed me to gain insights into what I can accomplish moving ahead.
Josiah Titus
ERH 481
COL McDonald
December 3, 2020
HR: Referring back my Capstone, notes from you said, Skagg’s comments, Mason’s comments
Reflective Essay
“Understanding is Achievement”
One day hopefully, I will be a successful officer in the Navy. As a well-educated young man with a Bachelor’s degree in English from the Virginia Military Institute my sole dream is to find myself serving in the military with the ambition of not only protecting our country but to become as well-informed, trained, and skilled as I possibly can, not only in my field but just all around in general. That has honestly been my dream for as long as I can remember, to escape ignorance and to contribute to the world through my own code of ethics and values. This Capstone Project for me revealed some insights into what this means for me and where I am with this goal as of now.
This Capstone project stemmed from two sets of reasoning that I have established. Primarily it came from my interest in the gun debate that has been going on in the United States ever since the 2nd Amendment came into existence. Interesting enough, while I have never owned a gun, in the last three to four years I have become very drawn to the discussion on them, their usage, and what they mean to most Americans. The four hundred and seventy dollars saved up specifically for a sidearm that is stored in my room can attest to my fascination with the whole gun prospect as well. The actual root though for this project comes from a desire within me much deeper, one that branches out to many different aspects, the gun debate just being one. This is my avoidance of ignorance and a drive for as much absorbed knowledge as possible. My lack of a gun has plagued me, and this led to my desire for a gun and a desire to know and understand the gun issue. I have always struggled to understand bigger issues like the 2nd Amendment. This has led me to actively seek out ways to comprehend all the aspects and facets related to it so that soon enough I will indeed have a decent grasp on it. From here I could speak knowledgeably about gun control, the 2nd Amendment, and so on. Just to put this in context I have applied this mindset to a myriad of other things including the voting system, following sports, political party beliefs and so on. My project idea came mainly from this in which multiple insights can be drawn on from. There is another part though to how my aspiration to write on the 2nd Amendment came about which must be covered first.
The second part where this idea for my Capstone stemmed from that pertains to myself as an academic and a person are my own values and beliefs that I have instilled within myself. After a lot of research into the gun control and the 2nd Amendment issue in the class Civic Discourse I came to form my own opinions on owning guns, gun control, and guns in America as a whole. These opinions or ‘code of ethics’ as I like to think of them as, were made based on the knowledge I had acquired and the other opinions and assertions I had read up on by credible authors. For me the 2nd Amendment is a sacred document, and it protects our rights as citizens to arm ourselves for protection against any threat, especially the government if need be. I am a huge advocate for owning guns and I believe every law-abiding capable citizen should learn gun handling and own a firearm. This is not me trying to argue my point of view but explaining my own code that I stand by due to what I came to see and learn. Now that I have my own set of beliefs down, I am always seeking out avenues to learn more about those particular areas (this one being gun control/2nd Amendment) in order to keep them cemented, find even more support, or to even be convinced otherwise. Writing my Capstone on an issue as grand as this stemmed from this very much so, because I find it invaluable to have a stance, own that stance but to make sure you have adequate support to back it up. But to also be willing to change your stance if you are proven wrong. The more you seek information on certain topics you want to be versed in the more you learn and you either realize how your viewpoint is skewed or you realize that there is so much out there that continuously sides with what you support. From these two sets of reasoning not only was my Capstone Project idea born, executed, and finished but it revealed a lot about who I am as a person and writer as well as what it means for my future.
Being a Naval Officer in my mind will lead me into a field where I can learn skills others don’t have, be given an opportunity to be proficient in a new area with new people and gain a more well-rounded competent mindset. If given this opportunity to commission I will be receiving a chance for another do over basically. Skills and knowledge that I took from middle school to high school set the standard of who I was and what I was known for and the same went for the transition from high school to college-being VMI. The problem is though that I feel I went in unprepared each time for each of these to some degree. Going into VMI I set an impression that, while better then my high school one, is cemented and will be set in stone there forever. Preparing to be a Naval Officer I do not want to waste that opportunity. I want my base of skill and proficiency going to be as top notch as it can be. If it’s not I will not accomplish what I intended to, which is to contribute to the world and not be ignorant. If unprepared I will once again leave an impression that I am not satisfied with. So how does my Capstone tie into this?
For my Capstone I feel I had the drive, but I lacked the proper structure and organized purpose for it to come out exactly as I intended. In my mind it was simple, find two opposing primary sources, analyze them and see what stands out about their arguments rhetorically that draws in their intended audience. But where is the why? What was the purpose behind all of this? It was not there and now that I look back and reflect on this, I see that I did not devote a whole lot of time to figuring this out. This unfortunately has been a trend in my writing process, for a while now, that has affected me poorly. This was an example of not using all the knowledge and competency I had gained and been given the opportunity to gain to work to the best of my abilities. This is reflective of exactly what I do not want from my potential upcoming Naval career. I have a chance at VMI to gain competency and skills from the ROTC department before commissioning so when I do get to the fleet I can present my best possible self. I have no room or excuses to squander the time and resources being given to me. That is though what I did here to some degree with my Capstone. The final product of “Dealing with Rhetoric on the 2nd Amendment” did not demonstrate the values I uphold as an academic and just as a person being to not be ignorant and to stand on something. Amidst all this, there is a good bit of positive insights I can draw from this worthy of speaking too.
While this wasn’t the exact 2nd Amendment Rhetorical Capstone project I saw as being the final end result, the process did actually tell me a lot about knowledge which I feel can be beautifully applied to me as an academic moving forward and as a Naval Officer. First off, I went into this project with an extremely narrow mindset pretty much not comprehending the underlying massiveness of what I was up against. The 2nd Amendment debate is made up of countless different perspectives in which people have their very own specific stance on it. It is not simply just one side hating guns and the other loving them. Of course, I knew this, but working through this project just revealed it more, putting this fact in the spotlight. To highlight a great example of this we can look at my two primary sources. They were titled “The Second Amendment isn’t the Problem” by Laurence Tribe and “Why It’s Time to Repeal the Second Amendment” by David Cohen. When I first went researching for articles on the 2nd Amendment in an effort to locate and use two opposing ones these titles seemed fitting. Even glancing at the first sentence and paragraph made these appear as winners for my intended purpose. One liked the 2nd Amendment and the other did not, simple right?
Upon further inspection and analysis way further into creating my paper it had become apparent they were not so black and white. In fact, I came to realize both were overall more anti-gun then not. Due to this my paper did not exactly go in the direction I was imagining but I worked with it and it’s a good thing I had made the overall focus their rhetoric and not comparing political sides. Once getting down to their policies I saw that they both were pushing for something to be done about guns with the general direction being to push back gun lobbyists. Cohen and Tribe were just advocating different ways of doing it, one saying getting rid of the 2nd Amendment would end gun activism and the other claiming getting rid of gun activism in the country would not be done by repealing the 2nd. Although this deviated a bit from original thinking on how this paper would look, it did immensely open my eyes and now has expanded my horizon with this gun control issue. I found both authors to make good points and to both be convincing-both with contrary thinking to my own! While once I shut away anti-gun lobbyist voices believing they had no reasonable argument to make besides “guns kill people therefore their bad” now I have had the pleasure of being thoroughly introduced to extensive rhetoric illustrating and outlining why so many guns or such advocation of the 2nd Amendment can be a bad thing. So in fact when in some ways I feel this paper showed a slight lack of understanding from me in terms of no guided ‘why’ or direct purpose behind what I was doing, looking back now I feel even more informed on a lot more angles taken on this issue. So, what else?
On another positive note, this research process has made realize the altogether bigger picture in which I can pull everything together into very positively. The entire premise of my Capstone was coming to understand this problem of the 2nd Amendment. It was seeing how the 2nd Amendment itself is not so clear-at all, and so it has caused much tension and controversy with people in the US for decades upon decades. The foundation for all of this is one of clarity. That is what my paper was on, finding clarity in the midst of a bunch of unclarity. Although my Capstone had good material in it, a driving focus, and credible sources it fell short on delivery due to just that-clarity. I think as an English major, this is something I have to work on. The flowery language combined with decent quotes and relevant analysis is all good and well, but without a solid foundation of a ‘why’ it just can’t be understood or deliver that impact you are looking for. This has greatly humbled me actually and only intensified my drive to buy a gun, get training, and to be responsible. I want clarity on the unknown. Funny enough I know I am going to be on a ship in the Navy. I know I will use Rules of the Road that I learned in Navy Class. I know that I will draw MO boards for navigation. But what exactly is our purpose as lone Destroyer being out on the high seas? Al-Qaeda doesn’t have ships that big to fight us, aren’t the Navy SEALs handling them? The purpose behind it all is missing for me, but it only ratchets up my desire to become informed, to find answers to what is unclear. With the Capstone I took unclarities and tried to work with them instead of solving them. Why does analyzing opposing rhetoric on the 2nd Amendment matter? With this answer the impact may have been different, indefinitely better. But because of this I’m up late now studying, and learning. I turned a slight negative into an utter positive.
Everything I do I relate to who I am as a person and what that means for moving forward, especially regarding my future ambitions. I want to be informed, I want to take a stance and own it, and I want my preparation to make it so that I can be the best version of myself there and present my best material possible. You always need a base, as it all crumbles without this. My base now for the issue of guns has only become enhanced. The deficiencies in my paper have turned out to be catalysts for me striving towards multiple proficiencies. I have indeed escaped ignorance undoubtedly in this endeavor of my Capstone. What would look like not escaping ignorance here is seeing it as a slam dunk with confusion or disagreement of where I went wrong. My own ethics and values as well can be exemplified through this. It did teach me a lot, and I think realizing that the material was not so cut and dry had me come to see that full understanding is a developing process. Forming a stance is a developing process. That is why openness and clarity is vital to success down the line, whether as an English major or a Naval Ensign. These insights have come to light and I believe moving forward they will only help strengthen me as an academic and as an officer.