C/C blog

Compare Contrast Blog
Oh, the fun I had writing the compare/contrast narrative. I had the worst time just trying to nail down a topic. My mind raced on all the things I’d like to talk about my hobbies mostly. That was something I knew a great deal about and could write a compelling compare contrast without the personal involvement. But that wasn’t to be. I really didn’t want to rehash the military lifestyle over and over again. But what could I do I had never traveled more than twenty miles from home, with one exception and it was about seventy miles. I felt I had no real choice, but it was such a broad topic. I knew I would have to pare it down to something that could fit on three pages. There were so many things to say; how should they be arranged? I thought that would be tough, now for a real challenge; write a 500 word essay about creating an essay that was slightly more than twice that amount.
I set out imagining how life would have been different if I had been born under the military umbrella; for quick reference I had to look no farther than my wife. She epitomizes many of the examples I chose to strengthen my argument. I also reached out to distant memories of military families I have known in my twenty-six year tenure. For an easy comparison I looked at my own neighborhood with its less than ideal circumstances.
Then I began to analyze the interplay of the young lives, while trying to keep in mind all that people are different, I tried to focus my comparisons on the middle ground, how might the average person behave? It was a constant struggle to make a comparison of how my life would be different and not use the word I.
I felt like I was playing table tennis by myself and I had to keep changing which side of the net I was play on. The volley of perspective was consuming and tiring, it often led to a sense prejudice. I often felt distaste toward my own upbringing; what if things really had been different? Where would I be today? Why didn’t I change things when I had the chance? Hindsight is definitely 20/20. I tried to keep the points in balance, always comparing apples to apples. This type of writing has its purpose, but I much prefer to take a stand and support that argument, instead of playing the devil’s advocate with my own writing. It was supposed to be arguable, but it seemed more like John Kerry, jumping back and forth trying to satisfy everyone. It was difficult to get a solid train of thought. Each time one thing led to another and I started to feel a little forward momentum, I had to stop, because it was time give an equal argument from the opposite perspective. Each time I got in my comfort zone, I had to assume a new role.
It seemed like the paper had no end, just like argument, there’s no clear winner.