Redden Freeman

Sociology 101

Essay #1

“I am the sculptor and I am the clay” is a quote with many different meanings. Sociologists would look as this quote much differently than a normal everyday person. To me the first thing that I thought of when I read this quote was my childhood and the influence my parents had on me throughout my childhood. I look at my parents as the sculptors and me as the clay. They helped guide me through childhood and taught me just about everything I know today. I can vividly remember many times as a young boy when my dad played the role as my sculptor. When I was younger I raced motocross and I wasn’t afraid of anything. I wanted to go as fast as I could and jump as high and far as possible. My dad being the great sculptor that he is could always tell when I was getting too carried away. He would rush out onto the track dodging other riders and immediately stop me to say, “Slow down, take it easy, you’re going to kill yourself boy.” I know that without him there I would have ended up with many more injuries throughout my racing years. He helped sculpt me in ways I will never forget. Teachers play the role of sculptors in many young people’s lives. Through teenage years young people see their teachers almost every day on the week. Many serve as parents away from home, guiding their students to make wise decisions and evolve into young adults. All of my teachers, kindergarten through high school, helped sculpt me into the person that I am today, whether I noticed it then or not.

Even though I am a young adult I still see myself as being a sculptor. Young people sculpt their peers every day. I’ve sculpted many of my friends as they have equally sculpted me. I know I played the role as the sculptor not too long ago. Ever since I was a young boy I wanted to become a United States Marine. None of my friends shared this dream with me until about the 9th or 10th grade when I showed them videos of Marines in action, let them me a recruiter, etc. Now I have 5 friends who are anxiously waiting to head off to Parris Island boot camp, and one who is already there. I feel that without me being temporarily being their sculptors, none of them would have had any interest in joining the Marines. Many teenagers have a much larger impact on their peers than they think they do.

I believe this is how a sociologist would have looked at this quote. Many people may think that what sculpts a person into who they are is their religion, and some may think we are the way we are and there is nothing we as humans can do about it. In sociology we look at human interaction and figure out why things happen the way they do. There is always a reason for why things happen and sociology teaches us to look deeper into every situation and figure out the real reason why “We are the sculptors and we are the clay.”

Redden

2008-11-23