Sunday, October 25, 2009

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

----Martin Luther King, Jr. Strength to love, 1963

What does this quote mean? Provide a valid interpretation of this statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it, and support your opinion using specific references. Don't forget to comment on someone else's opinion.

Make Text Connections.

(Please write your first and last name at the end of each of your comments)

23 comments:

Luigi said...

I.S.68 Luigi Mathieu
281
In my opinion I think that the by Martin Luther King, Jr quote ""The ultimate measure of a man is not Where he stand in the moments of comfort and covenience,but Where he stand at times of challenge and controversy. "" Means that a man is not strong when he's is on "top of the food chain" but when he's in the bottom of it. my father used to tell me that " It easy to be brave when your in a castle."" I agree with this quote.

Unknown said...

I think the quote that Martin Luther King Jr. stated meant that the way a man stands up to simple things and little problems does not really affect his stature. The way a man stands up to big things like war, racism, huge issues, shows a sign of a great confidence and awareness. This reminds me of a movie I have seen in the past in which a man deals with all of America's huge problems first and easily eliminates the small problems. I agree with Luigi's statement about the food chain concept because he makes a good example of his own stating what the quote means.- Stephane Francois 281

SassyVinci101 said...

Shae- I think that this quote simply means that, when people are comfortable and safe, no one really cares about how you feel then or how you feel when your living your life, wat they really wnt to know is how you are going to deal with a situation in a time of trouble or when your down on your last. They want to see if you are up for the challenge, and if itis not too much for you to handle.
I would have to say i disagree with this comment because mainly if you really want to know how someone deals with a problem in a sticky situation u have to know their commen life style and compare it to how they act when they are out of their shell.
i understand that the phrase says "The measure of a man", but you can never really understand and judge the actual life style of that man bacause he can very well be pretending, it is easy for people to talk about what and how they are going to do in the time of the situation but the real truth is that when that situation day actually comes its another story wid dem because that will be the time when everything that person says goes out of the window.

planetgod said...

Alex Duvivier 281-

In my personal opinion I think that the quote "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy",Martin Luther King, Jr, named Strength to love, 1963, means that the ultimate measurement of a man is not about the easy way out but, how a man handles himself during a period difficult challenges! In other words it's easy to be strong during prosperity but hard to have strength during the most difficult times of life! I agree with all 3 of these opinions because they are very precise on what the quote defines!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yvenalie Gardere said...

I think that this quote means that aman should not be judged just because of who he is or where he cames from, but how he deals with bad things in his life. If a man just takes the easy way out, that doesn't make him a man. Aman is a person who faces every obsticle that has stood in front of him. A man has to work for what he wants and what he believes in to be a man. If you can talk about your success but can't say what you faced to come to where you are, you're not really a man, but if you can stand and tell of the hard work that you had to do to get to where you are, you are a very strong man. You can be confident of yourself if you work for what you want and i totally agree with this quote. Martin Luther King Jr. is a smart man.
I think that Luigi's explanation of the quote is way too short. He needs to explain his thoughts more. Also, I didn't think that Alex really explained his thought either.

Anonymous said...

Steven Verdieu
281
I believe that the quote "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy" refers to how your integrity how much you are able to take. Sure, when a person is in charge he can make threats, but when he is up against someone in power, I don't expect to see him try anything. I truly think that Mr. King was in the right kind of mind when he said this. Luigi and Stephanie seem to agree. Right?

Laughter is the best Medicine said...

Jacqueline Alexander
281

In my opinion , I that that the quote means that You can't tell if someone is a good person in a situatiion that nothing is happening ,everything alright or not faced with challeges but, you can tell who someone rreally is from when they are faced with a dilemma or in a tough sistuation your response to it determines who you reeally are. This reminds me of when i had a friend and on the faith full day i really found out who she really was inside because when i had to face easy problems she was there but , when it came difficult situation she wasn't in sight. I truly agree with this poem and I like the way how Yvenalie explained her explantion on the Martin Luther King Jr. quote.

Anonymous said...

Hi my name is Junior Elinor from class 281.The quote is trying to express & say that it doesn't really matter where a man stands in easy times with no trouble or battles but what really matter is when a man stands during challenges and battles or fights they have to go through in order to succeed.This is what I think the quOte mean.

DarkApprentice said...

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Martin Luther King, Jr. Strength to love, 1963

This quote means that you can't judge someone when there in a comfort zone. This is important because a period of stress and challenge tests a man's ability to control the situation. To see if the man is weak and will crack under the heat, or to see if the man is strong and could strive towards victory. I disagree with alex's interpretation of the statement. i also disagree with luigi's comment because to too short.

Christopher Ferguson 281

Anonymous said...

I think this quote means that you can't judge them when they're comfortable or in his convenience, but when he is in desperation or trouble and has to make a decision. That decision would then show the character of the person, or how they would react in a time of trouble.

I agree with Christoper's own because he interpreted it well.

Akeem Wilson 281

Anonymous said...

Shannon Emmanus 281

I think the quote "The ultimate measure of a man is not Where he stand in the moments of comfort and covenience,but Where he stand at times of challenge and controversy," means that when the man is comfortable you cant judge how strong he is mentally and emotionally. But when he is in times of challenge and heart break you can judge and determine how strong he is mentally and emotionally. Also, i think it means that you cant measure how much of a man a man is when he is comfortable then when he is actually thinking and making important movements and decisions. I agree with what shae wrote because its what i wrote in different terms.

Anonymous said...

I think that this quote means
that a real man is strong not only
in the best of times but is also
strong in the most trying of times.
As the old saying says "when the going gets tough the tough gets going".Basically I am saying that the qoute means that a real man stays strong and tough in bad times
as he was strong and tough in good.
A man that can not stand one night
camping in his backyard can stand one minute camping in the woods.I agree with this quote and also with Alex about how it does not matter whether you can be strong
in prosperous times but if you are
strong in through challenging times.Also Shae "wid" and "dem" are
not actual words.
Isaac Gurajena 281

Unknown said...

Octavina Bastien 281
for this qoute i think that there no limite to a men The real character of a man is found out by his character.The reality of the other person is not in what he reveals to you, but in what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says but rather what he does not say. The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
for an example:
The strongest oak tree of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It's the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun.

Unknown said...

octavina bastien 281

The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don't know what to do.

nikki said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
nikki said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dcjaxn said...

I think the quote "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy" means that the only way to find the true nature of someone is by looking at the way they react in during a challenge or serious situation and not the way he behaves when everything is normal.
As I read this quote I was reminded of the book "Remnants:THEM", because in the book Yago who was the President's son, was nice and calm when everything was alright, but when there was a bad situation he was willing to let someone die just to survive.
I agree with this quote because someone could hide the way they act sometimes, but if something goes wrong its hard for them not to react to it.
Daniel Jackson 281

clarence said...

What i think this quote is that evn thought segregation existed black people had the power to stand for their rights.Even thought the "white man" put them down they still stood.Espically back in the mid and late ninetenth century.Alot of blacks would not have the strength to speak up but they had courage and spirits to say what they had to say. What i basically am trying to say is "even thouh life ahd rough time we should still fight for what we believe in no matter the odds." This is similar to a long poem i have recently read. The title is called "harlem." The poem was basically about how diffrent people around the world came to a small neieghborhood to make a fresh start with their lives. The neieghborhood didn't care for backgrounds only that you came to make a fresh start. In the neieghbor all types of people lived there.Since there was diffrent races it wasn't much of a neieghborhood. It was more, it was s neieghborhood of brothers and sisters of diffrent race. The qoute means more. It didn't matter how someone looked on the outside but the character that is on the inside

Dcjaxn said...

I disagree with what Clarence is saying because I don't think thats what the quote is about.

Anonymous said...

This quote means that you cant under estimate a person because of how they are when they are in comfort but when they are in a tough challenge and how hard would that person have to work to make everything better .

careem spence
281

Unknown said...

I think this quote is talking about that you stand in a place where their is peace and stand in a place where things are tough and challenging.

Oluwatobi Kolawole
272

Unknown said...

This quote means that we can all hide behind masks and consciously think of our next move or action when we are in a comfort zone or controlled situation but when things are tough and we are under pressure the masks comes off and we can no longer rehearse our next action or response. What we do without the mask and rehearsal is who we really are. And the person that you see in tough times is the person you want to know, because based on that response it would be indisputable who he would be when things are going well.