H. L. Mencken's The Average Man Does Not Want To Be Free

It’s vital to understand that in all that we do, there’s a dependably a chance that we’ll come up short. Confronting that chance, and grasping it, it likewise gives us a fuller, all the more compensating life. However, they are ways to overcome fear as learned from the book. Many people experience fear of failure because they fear the unknown. Remove that fear by considering all of the potential outcomes of your decision.

It takes a strong character and morals to be able to stand up to society and maintain individuality. It 's almost impossible to be an individual because of all of the rules and judgments of society and their influences forcing their rules and opinions on others. Huck felt that people “don 't fight with courage that is born in them, but with courage borrowed from their masses …” (111). He is saying they are not strong enough, individually, to stand up for what they believe in, so they follow the group. Being an individual would be much easier if it weren 't for frowns and rolling eyes that people get when being themselves, acting out of the ordinary, or standing up for what they believe in when it goes against society or even their peers.

However, when people fail to use their common sense in life situations, they end up making bad decisions, and it becomes difficult to fit in the society. Making of wrong decisions does not make an individual a failure but failing to learn from the wrong decision and repeating the same mistake does. All human beings have the ability to improve their lives no matter where they are now; it is necessary to know where they would want to be later in future. To change something, people should learn to apply common sense in different situations and get to understand the reasons why set plans fail and measures needed to be taken to move up the ladder and avoid getting back to the same

No one should be forced to volunteer. Volunteering is suppose to come from the heart. The person that is volunteering should want to make a difference in someone 's life, not be there because they are

This could be the struggles faced in life. The author was expected to prosecute his assessment and was frightened that not completing those tasks, would make his self-image to everyone shameful. This man completed a very difficult task, in which he probably shouldn 't of because he felt he didn 't need the pressure of being shamed

When realizing a dream, one often comes face to face with the fear of failure. This fear pressures the individual into conforming in a variety of ways. One may perceive conformity as an asset that helps an individual to pursue his dream; however, conformity is, in actual, a setback that “convinces [individuals] that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend” (21). One character that displays this fear in The Alchemist is the crystal merchant. Unlike most individuals, the crystal merchant does not fear that he, himself, will fail to pursue his dream, rather, he fears that his dream of “go[ing] to Mecca” (54) will fail him instead.

Giving up hope only hurts your self esteem. In addition, people should not force others to work harder than they already can or they will get hurt. The story was set with

In the article “How to Use Failure to Succeed” by Daniel Wood, he comments on the fact that some people are afraid of failing. “Most people are afraid of failure. Some so afraid that they can’t attempt anything that involves the risk of failure” (Wood). Being afraid of failing, blocks an individual from moving forward in progress. This is a common misconception of failure, believing that it will prevent you from ever succeeding.

H.L Mencken uses contemporary society to explain that “the average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe”. I feel the average person should be both free and safe. After thinking about the question nobody is able to be safe unless they are able to have the freedom that is needed. Some countries are not safe because they don’t have the freedom that is needed to keep themselves plus their families safe.

They must take note of the strengths and weaknesses and understand a person fully, rather than just seeing if they can complete a job well enough. While it is a strong belief that everyone ends up where they are supposed to be, certain people do not like where they are in life because the people that put them there did not understand their personality