Douglass---A Great Human Being.

Despite the sad descriptions in his autobiography, Douglass gives to his readers a sense of hope and a good model of how human beings should live their lives. Throughout the book, there were a couple of scenes that I found disturbing, which led to close the book and picture an image on my mind of what he was describing. One scene that I would always remember is the one where he described how cracked his feet were because of the cold and how he could place his pen (the one he was writing with at the moment) in one of the holes. As painful as this description is, I found it to be so inspiring and hopeful because he is saying that he stepped above the exploitation he suffered as a slave. He is proving to the slave holders, especially his masters, that he is more than just someone who they can mistreat as much as they want and more than just someone who can work until his body can longer function. Douglass shows us that we too can be more than what other people and society as a whole may expect or think about us. We have the potential to be better human beings towards ourselves and others. We sometimes take for granted our inner power, that is, our abilities and talents. And I think that Douglass is saying that it should not be so, even when the situation around is difficult and may seem as if it is never going to end. I wonder what Douglass would say about our society today if he was alive. Even though slavery ended, are we moving forward or backwards?