Grit in This Class

     As a part of my learning community, this past week we had our last TED Talk discussion. It was led by my History teacher from first semester. He began by telling us his biography and then related it to the TED Talk after we had all watched the talk. The talk was about this concept called “Grit”. Grit is the ability to be able to keep going and pick ourselves up, and work towards long term goals even when we fail. If we fail we simply need to re-attack and come back strong. Grit is what will eventually separate the marathoners from the sprinters. Every long term goal takes a marathon to achieve. There will be stumbles and you will fall, but having grit is to get back up and keep going.

               While listening to this and then reflecting on it afterwards, I thought of this class. Throughout this semester I have struggled with some of the assignments. At the very beginning I was greatly discouraged after receiving Fs on both of the first two assignments. I realized that in order to make it through this class successfully I was going to need to put everything in for the long haul. I reached for the grit inside of me and made it a goal to pick myself up from where I had fallen so early in the race and keep on going. I have now completed the semester, turned in my final paper, and only have one class left. I accomplished the marathon.

               I also believe that grit is inherent in rhetoric. When joining that boat, that is the vehicle of argument, especially in the middle, one must possess grit in order to keep up and push the conversation forward. Grit is a very important concept and one that everyone should figure out how to find in themselves.