Mathabane Quote

This quote is significant to Mathabane because is shows how you can have hope even in the darkest times of your life. Mathabane wint through some really hard things throughout his life, but he never gave up. This quote is a reminder of that hope, and how no matter what the situation is, there is always a silver lining.

Mathabane quote

This quote is significant to Mark's time period because the seperated groups of people were always trying to find someone to blame. But before you can look at others, you have to first make sure your hands are clean too. While whites did segregate themselves from blacks, the blacks also held a grudge against them and refused to accept the ones that tried to accept them. It was equal judgement and refusal that did no help to end apartheid at all. If you aren't willing to change the way you see others, how can you expect the same from them? So while the dreams of ending segregation and apartheid were just seas away, no one was looking at the little things they could do to make it a reality for themselves. This happens today in our society all the time. We're more than happy to point out issues such a global warming and pollution, yet some people can't even bother to recycle at their homes. Your actions can positively or negatively affect any situation.

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The quote is signifigant to Mathabane because he can relate to it. As he was a child he was always wanting to rid his life of oppressing forces like his father and apartheid. But what he realized in the end, was that to change all of the factors in his life, he would need to change himself first. And that's exactly what he did! He first became very succesful in school, english, and later on tennis and then he was able to make a difference in the lives of those closest to him. This can be connected to the world today in a sense of environmental preservation. Everyone is worrying about preserving the environment, some more extreme than others. But many of them think that the answer is to stop doing what they are currently doing. Instead of doing that, just alter what you are doing. In your free time instead of sitting down watching televison, go out and plant a garden or tree. Every little thing helps out in the end, they must start out small before they can get big.

Quote Significance

The quote is significant to Mathabane's life in the story because he was one of the few people who decided that he would change himself rather than just wishing they could chance their surrondings. Mathabane worked hard to better himself and rise above the rest. He put forth the effort that few bother to and stuck with it even when it was difficult. The quote relates to the world today in that everyone wants to make the world a better place, but few want to change their lifestyle in order to accomplish this.

I think this famous quote is important because it really describes the author and his struggles. His lack of power over his surroundings required him to take charge of his life and future. This later on gave him a better outlook on life and caused him to be more successful.

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This quote is significant to Mathabane's life story because as he grew up in Apartheid Africa, Mathabane as well as almost everyone he knew needed a change. But, as human nature goes, everyone thought that it wasn't them to blame, but someone else. So really no one did anything about it. But Mathabane was one of the few that realized that it wasn't only the world he needed to change, but he needed to change himself, so he did things like promise to go to school for an education. Today if everyone found something about themselves that they could change, instead of finding things wrong with the world, maybe the world could become a better place.

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This quote was important to Mathabane because he spent a good portion of his childhood in Alexandria blaming the white people for all of his problems and his misery, but then soon realized that it's not them that are the problem but him, and for the problem to actually be solved he needs to step up to the plate and make a difference himself. This directly relates to the world today. Any time mthere is a huge natural disaster, like Hurricane Katrina or the earthquake in Hati, the victims always rely on the governments help to get them up and running again, when really all they need to do is just pitch in a little bit of thier own time to fix the unfortunate catastrophy.

Mathabane Quote

This quote is quite significant to Mathabane's life story because a lot of his life revolved around this quote. He was constantly surrounded by people who just blamed others for their struggles which eventually affected him. Mathabane knew that he couldn't live that way and had to take matters into his own hands. He learns to make himself a better person in hope that people would follow his lead and change alongside of him. From the terrible things he encountered in his life he knows that the world is not going to change just because you want it to change. If everyone in the world today lived by the fact that you must change in order to create a change in others, the world would be a much different place. Marissa Pruitt

Mathabane Quote

This famous quote relates to Mark's life in the sense that he feels as if every white person that was against the harsh treatment of African Americans during the time period of the book always said things related to blaming the world for the chaos. They should really be looking in the mirror for a problem, because problems are solved by one person doing their part and that act of morality branching off to the rest of society. This is true for today as well, because for each problem going on in the world from the BP oil spill, to natural resources not being conserved everyone is just blaming society as a whole rather than acting and doing their part to help us live in a better world.

Many of the things in this world occur mainly due to the agency of man. Apartheid, for instance, was set up by the white people of South Africa to keep the black people under their control. They had made the choice to create strict laws and it is by their hand in which the blacks of South Africa have suffered so. Mathabane lived a life subject to white men. He could not control the things they did and force them to see life as he did. He eventually was able to see that his only way to gain oppurtunity was to keep himself pushing and deal with life as it was instead of calling on his oppressors to stop their persecutions. Every person has their agency. With that they can decide whether to be happy or to be sad, to keep fighting or to give up. If a man has the oppurtunity to, he may be able to choose to enslave another man under his will. The world is made up of all the actions and choices that people make. One man may change the way he sees life, but he cannot make the billions of others out there change their views. That is only up to them. However, that does not mean we cannot influence one another. That is what can bring change to the world, thus it first takes someone to change to be an example to others.

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I think this quote is important to Mark because it was basically the story of his life when he was young. Being poor, hungry, and un-educated, Mark really had no power at all to change anything. He couldn't change his dad, he couldn't change the evil white people, he couldn't change the police, but what he could change was himself. This quote illustrates Mark's struggle to change his own attitude on life so that he couold be successful. And as a result of him focusing on changing his own attitude, he could then move on to changing bigger things.

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This quote is significant to Mark's life becuase he grew up experiencing some really terrible things, but in the midst of those things there is determination to not be stuck on that but make a life of his own. What I mean is that there is nothing he could have done to change apartheid in South Africa. That just was. But in order to change that and correct the injustices being done, he had to first change what is going on in him. I think if all 6.8 billion people in the world were to make the decision to first change themselves for the better, the world would be a beautiful and wonderful place to live.

Changing Yourself

This quote is probably signifigant to Mathabane because he wanted to change the world, but he ended up changing himself first. He changed from the servant child to one who chased after his own dreams his own way. This quote is true to him because he was trying to change the world and, though he didn't think about it, he ended up changing himself. This is also a connection to the revolutionary people of Libya and Egypt. They wanted to change their local "world" but they didn't think about changing the way they look at the situation first. They just wanted the world to bend around their finger.

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Throughout the whole story of Mathabane's life, he focuses on bettering himself, rather than the whole world. He tries to get a good education, he develops a sense of independence, he decides to discontinue being a gang member, and he gets jobs to help himself and his family. Although he wonders why the world is the way it is and why nobody changes it, he tries to change his own world to benefit himself. This quote can relate to many issues in the world. For example, pollution and be applied to the quote. Only one person can't change the issue of pollution. It takes many people to help improve the problem. If one person changes and decides to recycle, use less bottled water, or even pick up trash, then that's a starting point. It takes many individuals to change and make a difference.

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This quote is significant to Mathabane because he grew up in hard times. When life gets tough, it is human nature to blame the world for our problems. Mathabane grew up thinking his struggles were white people and apartheid's fault, then he realized that he didn't have to stay there and deal with it. He could come to America and live a better life. That is a change he made in his life rather than changing the way of the world around him. This relates to everyone because everyone wants to blame their problems on someone else rather than making a change in themselves.

Quote Significance

This quote is significant to Mathabane because he personally witnessed several people, including himself, wish that someone would change South Africa and end apartheid. He was one of the few people that realized to bring about change, he must change himself. Most of his neighbors waited for someone else to do the changing. This relates to today whenever anyone blames America's problems on a president alone, such as evironmental decisions. Few people put the task upon themself to make the environment better, most just blame the president and say he needs to fix America.

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This quote is significant to Marks story, because it defines how he got to where he is today, he knew that before he cold change the world or make a difference he had to change himself to. He couldn't change apartheid but he could change the way he lived to make life better. If people in this world today could do such a thing, our world would be a very different place.

Quote Explanation...

I believe that this quote is significant to Mark's life story because it expresses his thoughts about society and the world. I feel that Mark believes that people are too busy waiting for the world to change that they don't do anything by themselves. For example, many people wanted to stop the injustice towards the African Americans but not many people took a stand. People just waited and nothing happened. I think that with this quote he not only blames whites, but also Africans Americans for the injustice. He feels that everyone is to blame for the injustice. This quote is true to him because he witnessed it as he was growing up. He saw it everyday of his life. He saw people wanting change in the world, but not doing anything to achieve that change. They just waited for the world to "magically" change. I also believe that this quote relates to the world today. Many people want to see change in the environment but not many people are doing things to help. People are expecting the environment conditions to just fix by themself, which is not the truth. People need to start helping the environment and then they will see the change they are looking for. Change comes from society.

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Mark couldn't follow tribal traditions and escape apartheid at the same time. In order to leave, let alone change the system, he would have to shed his ancestry. This quote explains what happened inside him as he grew up from the little Venda boy in Alexandra to Mark Mathabane, a free man who escaped to America.

For a worldly connection, this quote reminded me of a few lines from the song "Shine" by Carbon Leaf.

"And I'd like to change the world/
It's easier than changing me."

The rest of the song is essentially saying how it's time to shine, despite various complications.

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I believe this quote explains that so many people are so optomistic about change in thought, but when it comes to action, only the few step forward and actually make a change in the world for the better. This relates to mark because I believe he realized that even changing himself to become sucessful after his unpromising childhood leads him to choosing this quote because he did change himself and in that saved the world just a little bit.

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This quote is significant to him because it is very hard to change the world but you can change yourself and still make a difference. He could not change the aprtheid growing up but he had control over himself. Today, if we can just change something about ourselves it could make a difference in the world's problems. If the world decides to change for the better it will make more difference than one person trying to change the world on their own.

Mathabane's Favorite Quotes

One of Mathabane's favorite quotes....

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."  --Leo Tolstoy

In this blog post, explain why this quotation is significant to Mathabane's life story.  Why is this true for him?  Also, explain a personal or worldly connection to this quotation to today.  This post is due by Monday, March 28th at 11:59 p.m.