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Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson was a pioneer of his time, changing the game of baseball, politics in the U.S., and racial segregation in America at the time. Born in 1919, Jackie Robinson had to struggle for everything he had, and has truly earned the reputation he is given today in the United States and elsewhere. Robinson was able to leave his mark in a game and in a country that did not want him at the time. He was able to create and perfect both himself, and his craft in the game of baseball at a very turbulent time for all African Americans, especially Jackie himself. Creating and perfecting yourself is something many people struggle to do, myself included, whether it be back in Robinson’s time or in our modern world. Being able to do this under the constant pressure and judgement of others shows Jackie Robinson’s true greatness and gives a perfect blueprint of how a person should be.

Jackie Robinson knew better than anyone that he had to be conscious and aware of his surroundings at all times. Breaking his way into the game of baseball, Robinson had to face the constant judgement and discrimination from his various caucasian teammates or opposing players. Being the only African American in a sport full of white people was a difficult task, and one that required Jackie Robinson to be aware of his situation and his surrounding environment. Robinson says, “I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world. In 1972, in 1947, at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it made.” In this quote Jackie explains his outlook on the world, knowing that the segregation and racial discrimination that he had faced in his life and in the game of baseball has been around since he was born. He is clearly fully aware of the world he is living in and his surrounding environment, saying that he is a black man in a world owned by white people. He is aware that nothing was ever given to him and that he never had it made, constantly feeling the pressure from his awareness of white people’s judgements. Personally, I do not know what this feels like as much as others in the world today and especially Jackie Robinson. Growing up in a middle class white family, I was always sheltered and protected from the judgements and discrimination that black people during Robinson’s time and today have to face. Because of this, I have always been given a free pass on being aware of my surrounding environment. I have never had to worry about constant judgment from others even by simply walking down the street. I was able to be ignorant of the people in my environment and live my life as I wanted to. This is something that Jackie and several other African Americans have to face, even today. They must live everyday knowing that the world is working against them, and being aware that they are seen as the outsider by many. Jackie Robinson faced this both in his personal life, and within the game of baseball. This illustrates his grit and toughness to be able to excel in what he does while carrying a burden that white people in the same sport did not have to carry.

Jackie Robinson did not follow the herd in terms of being a sheep. He made a tremendous impact on politics in America and was definitely a leader of a civil rights movement for African Americans, fighting for equality and inclusion throughout all assets of life. Jackie shows that he is most certainly not a sheep when he says, “Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life.” Robinson shows here that he does not just sit back and watch the bad things that happen in the world like most do; instead he takes a stand and betters his life as well as others’. This goes back to Nietzsche’s philosophies about creating yourself instead of being a follower. Instead of following others and watching, create who you are and what you stand for as a person. I feel in my own life that while I have opinions on things, I often become a follower and do not do anything about those opinions. I usually do not take a stand and support a cause or movement; I become a sheep and watch while others to take the initiative. I experienced this recently with the marches and school walkouts for various school shootings that have happened across the country. While I do support this movement, I never backed this up by actually doing something and participating in any of the protests. Being from a big city like New York, I have always just anticipated that these movements and protests would be carried out and put into action by others in the eight million person population. This is something I have noticed myself falling victim to before, with New York City often having various protests recently about Trump, feminist movements, etc. Looking at Jackie Robinson’s life, it’s clear that the way a person should live is with action. Taking action and in turn realizing who you are and the causes you support is a vital component of how a person should be.

Jackie Robinson did not care about the opinions of others; he knew that in time, he would be able to prove his worth to everyone. This is clear about Robinson’s personalities in many ways, as he had to deal with various people around the country and in the game of baseball’s opinions. Living through this, Jackie was able to realize a lot about himself when he says, “I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” This quote is a concept that has been discussed in class several times. We have seen that the way to live and be as a person is to get rid of the idea of something or someone being likeable. Jackie Robinson clearly does not care about his likeability in the world. He simply just wants the respect and to be seen as equal in the world, regardless of what people think about him or his baseball prowess. This is one way how Robinson was able to stay composed and relaxed in the game of baseball, even with the constant pressure of others on his shoulders. This goes back to Robert Farris Thompson readings that we have had, in which he says that the way to be as a person is to complete difficult tasks while maintaining composure and being relaxed in all situations. Jackie Robinson is able to do this because he is able to throw his ideas of likeability out of the window and instead just play the game and conduct his civil rights movements in a way that he wanted, not a way that would be likeable and ‘good’ to others around him. This is a difficult idea to grasp at my age. I live a life in which the things I do must be good and likeable in some way for me to achieve the goals I want to. Myself and many of my classmates must deal with the day-to-day judgements and opinions of teachers, parents, or other family. The things we do for these people have to be good, otherwise they are not recognized, and consequently you are not recognized in the world. The question I find myself asking recently is how I can take the idea of likeability out of my head and instead try new things and create new ideas. This is clearly something Jackie Robinson was able to do and it is how he was able to make such an impact in various aspects of the world.

Jackie Robinson knew how a person should be much better than I do in my early life. He understood and had the ability to be aware of his surroundings and the people around him, he was a leader and never allowed himself to become a sheep, and he knew how to stay composed and calm in his work by getting rid of the idea of being likeable. These are all tasks that take many their whole lives to realize and accomplish, Robinson being able to figure these ideas out in his short yet impactful 53 year life. With much of his sport, his country, and the world against him, Robinson was still able to make his own legacy, regardless of what his opposers wanted it to be.

(Quotes from BrainyQuote - https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/jackie_robinson )

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My Uncool Life at College

Coming to college has been both a life changing and eye opening experience for me thus far, especially in terms of what being cool is. Entering my first year of college at UM, I expected to have a great time. I expected to meet great new people that would join me in my future endeavors, while also holding onto the ones closest to me back at home. My girlfriend was one of these people. Coming to college with a girlfriend from high school was a daunting task ahead of me in the weeks before college. I repeatedly thought of the reputation that long distance relationships are given from the start, and how difficult this situation could be in the future. Not knowing what would be ahead of me, I put my faith and trust in the relationship and promised do my absolute best to keep it intact. As I stepped foot into my future I couldn't help but be nervous in the situation I was in, and the possibility of losing the girl I love.

Through the lens of cool and the eyes of authors that have studied it, I would most certainly not be cool for going through this. As written by Robert Farris Thompson in An Aesthetic of the Cool, to be cool is to have the, “Ability to be nonchalant at the right moment… to do difficult tasks with an air of ease and silent disdain.” To be cool is to be mellow and collected in times of stress and in situations you are least comfortable in. For me coming to college I was not this. I was focused on trying to balance a long distance relationship and experiencing college and having my own life as well. Doing this made me feel very stressed at times and often still does. It makes it very difficult to be calm and relaxed when you must manage and balance two things that mean the world to you. It is a situation that makes you feel as if you do not have control over something you really care about, constantly being so far away from the thing or person you want most. Someone like Robert Farris Thompson or Lester Young would believe I was not cool for being like this, as Thompson believed that cool was composure and control. Lester Young exhibited this in both his attitude and performances on stage, being comfortable and relaxed in the situation he was in instead of being nervous and feeling out of control.

Someone like Nietzsche would have stopped me way before my description of my long distance relationship. Nietzsche would have questioned why I was even going to college in the first place, let alone why I would commit myself to a relationship. He would ask why I choose to stay sheltered and safe from the harsh realities of the world at an expensive university, instead of going out and taking risks and rebelling. Friedrich Nietzsche’s view on cool was that you must create yourself and not be a follower. He argued that to be “cool” was to be an “ubermensch,” or in other words a god. He believed that god was dead and that you must not follow him or the views and beliefs of others, you must create your own beliefs and follow yourself to achieve success and greatness and to ultimately be “cool.” Reading about Nietzsche’s thoughts on this topic opened my eyes to things I had never seen. I had never asked myself the question of why I do the things I do or why I think the things that I think. It has become very obvious that most of the things I do would be considered uncool through the lens of Nietzsche, as they are often fairly unoriginal and have been done before. I had never asked myself or my parents why I had to do what they said when I was a child, but I did it anyway. I had never asked myself or my teachers why I had to go to school and do homework for most of my early life. These were all things that I just did, never in the slightest thinking of what benefits to my life it would bring. I experience this still in college. Living by myself and having to be fully responsible of my own actions was something that took time to adjust to. As the days of the year and semester go on I find myself repeating a very similar routine, and more and more have I started to question it. I go to class because I am “supposed to” and I do work for my classes to please my teachers. In a way by doing this, I am losing my free will and ability to make my own decisions. I am making myself go to class everyday and complete work for class so that I can please others, but never am I pleasing or bettering myself or my time on earth. Nietzsche mentions this when he says, “Cast not away the hero inside your soul.” Nietzsche is saying that he does not want you to lose the ability to make your own decisions and form your own ideas and opinions. He doesn’t want you to lose the god you can create yourself into and consequently result to being a sheep in a herd, following your peers and the rest of society.

I myself have fallen victim to this at college. I have decided to participate in Greek life despite the several stereotypes of fraternities across America, and the reputation that they have among our society today. Through the lens of cool and specifically W.E.B. Dubois, I would once again be considered extremely uncool. Dubois touches on some of the same arguments that Nietzsche states when he writes, “to attain his place in the world, he must be himself, and not another.” While Dubois is speaking on the struggles of African Americans in society, this is very similar to Nietzsche's views on cool and his negative opinions on being a follower. Joining a frat has become, in my head, a follower’s thing to do. Thinking about why I decided to join and participate in Greek life from a different perspective, It becomes clear of the real reasons why being in a fraternity was appealing to me. All through high school I envisioned a college experience for myself. I had heard the amount of fun and amazing experiences Greek life provided throughout high school from friends and family members, and often saw older graduates of my high school joining fraternities and sororities at their respective universities. It’s clear to me now that my decision to be in a fraternity was solely based on what it seemed like I was supposed to do in college, as most of my friends both at UM and from high school did the same thing. This once again shows a follower’s aspect of myself, and my ignorance towards rebelling and making the most of the time that I have in my life.

The authors of Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude best express how I am living an uncool life in college. All of the things in my life that I have discussed such as my college, joining Greek life, and managing a girlfriend show one thing; I am and have grown up privileged and sheltered. I have never had to experience rebellion against my circumstances because I am privileged, being a middle class, white male. I am sheltered, as my parents have paid to put me through all of school and to keep me safe from any harm throughout much of my early life. My life was and should be considered easy in terms of having to face any adversity. Dick Pountain and David Robinson express this lens of cool best when they write, “Cool is a rebellious attitude, an expression of a belief that the mainstream mores of your society have no legitimacy and do not apply to you. It’s a self-contained and individualistic attitude… indeed it strives to displace traditional family ties, which are too intimate and intrusive to allow sufficient space for self invention.” This quote illustrates cool in a rebellious light, telling you to break away from the mainstream and take risks that most in society would not take. It tells you to break away from your family ties, which in my case could be considered the sheltered and privileged upbringing that my parents have provided me. Until now, I had never thought that rebelling against this would be something to even think about. I was given a safe and sheltered life thus far and have enjoyed it, never thinking once if my life would be better without it. I have not taken the time in my life to self-invent, as Pountain and Robinson say, and instead I have let my parents and my peers invent my own life in a way, listening and following the words they say rather than rebelling to regain the hero in my soul that is gradually attempting to flee from me. For this, my life in college is once again proven uncool.

All of these opinions from Nietzsche, Dubois, Thompson, and the authors of Cool Rules, have enlightened me in a way I would have never thought of before. They have taught me that retaining the originality and uniqueness of yourself is vital. This is something that I notice myself more as I go through college. I think a lot more about who I am and who I want to become, rather than what my parents or teachers or friends want me to become. I find myself with several more rebellious thoughts, wanting to skip class occasionally or take a night off doing homework for the betterment of my life. Several of these authors touch on uniqueness and being yourself; standing out amongst a herd of sheep. This is certainly a difficult task but I believe to achieve cool, you must allow yourself time to think about what means the most to you and how you can perfect the rest of the time you have on earth. I think I am on the path to becoming a more individualistic person in the upcoming years at college, and I hope one day to transform my life from how it is now, to something much cooler.

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An Aesthetic of the Cool

This text defines cool as we have defined it through much of our classes; not caring, being nonchalant, and showing no emotion. Robert Farris Thompson brings a lot more to this idea, however. He analyzes the definitions of cool in African cultures compared to how cool is defined in English. The English definition seems to bring up the idea of stress and how being cool and acting nonchalant is often used to calm oneself in times of stress. The West African definition of the word cool addresses being nonchalant and calm and showing no emotion, but this definition also throws in the concept of composure. The West African definition includes the point that the “mask” coolness is worn in times of pleasure as well as stress. It also states that to be cool you must be composed and stable in moments that require tough tasks. Being cool is being able to have a detached expression and have your mind be in its own world and to deal with difficult tasks with an easy mind and, “Silent disdain.” Thompson bring African art into this piece, looking at how many African sculptures of kings or chiefs and the way they are depicted in various works of art. It seems as if the art that is shown all has the common theme of depicting the kings as attractive in some way, and to look “cool” in the sense that they can be composed and calm no matter what the moment brings. I believe this is what Thompson was trying to touch on in terms of the aesthetic of cool and West African culture including its art and sculptures.

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Nietzche

This documentary shows Friedrich Nietzsche in both a positive and negative light. Nietzsche is shown in a positive manner throughout his thoughts and his willingness to defy the socially accepted ways of thinking and ideas. It is said that he left his ideas of God and decided to live a completely free life, which was not a very popular ideology of the time. He let himself create his mind and his life and in a way become his own God. He based his philosophies off of a life without god, living and thinking without any restrictions on his thoughts and views. He was able to live in a sense above the rest of the world and see things that many others couldn’t because their views were restricted by the writings and philosophies of God. It was very interesting that he considered himself an antichrist, as this is a very dark and pessimistic way to characterize his way of thinking. While nihilism is in itself a very pessimistic view on the world, I think Nietzsche was simply living and thinking way ahead of his time and making decisions on his own and by what he thought were the right and wrong ways to think and live instead of relying on the practices people of Christ told him he should follow. Nietzsche’s views were shown in a negative light through World War II and the Nazi’s. After becoming clinically insane and dying in his mid-forties, Nietzsche’s sister adapted some of his works and books slightly which then became heavily praised by the Third Reich. This is far from what he wanted and had stated that he was not a fan of all of the nationalism in Europe throughout the time. It is a shame that such a smart man with views ahead of his time and a free mind with much contemplation had to be brought into something so negative when his views were actually very intelligent and good for the world, as it is the way many people think and use their minds today.