Jase Viera Professor Faulise ENG 1010: (Research-Enhanced) Comparative Persuasive Essay 5 13 April 2024 Power of Judgment: The Danger of Self-Critical and Destructive Thoughts in Waheeda Samady’s “The Cabdriver’s Daughter” and Davon Loeb’s “Fighting the Tree” Everyone has destructive thoughts at some point in their life, but those who have the potential to surpass these thoughts have the strongest minds. Many people deal with the challenge of being too critical of themselves or others when it is not required. The power judgment holds is only as powerful as the person giving the judgment. Both Samady and Loeb demonstrate times of destructive thoughts in their lives, but they both attempt to manage it accordingly. In Samady’s case, her father…show more content… First, for Samady she discovers the critical observations and comments that people make about her father at a rather young age, where she admires him as her personal hero. Her positive viewpoint of her father is that he does his absolute best and proves how hard-working he is constantly to Samady. Driving and singing, Samady’s father “smiles the whole time” (11), displaying his emotions and good intentions to the world. To Samady, her father is a gentle and humble soul, who would never inflict harm on those around him. In addition, according to Aalbert Edwin, et al. in, “From Prejudice to Reasonable Judgement: Integrating (Moral) Value Discussions in University Courses,” “Students need to perceive and analyze these problems and then make their judgement and choice”…show more content… Mom, can I go over there?” (25). Loeb’s attitude drastically changed after realizing his original assumptions were too harsh. He continued to watch and said, “This is so cool, I told her” (25), after they started to cut down the tree. The theme is presented perfectly here in showing that Loeb finds it thrilling to watch them work in action together, since before he thought this was impossible. Most importantly, Loeb finally learns the lesson that he can be helpful and harshly judged himself for thinking he was not enough, as he “gave Dad the bungee” (26), when it was most crucial. In the end, Loeb was able to find the same confidence and passion as Samady had when he was able to get the necessary tools to make the tree come down safely. Finally, due to the original judgment in both Waheeda Samady’s “The Cabdriver’s Daughter” and Davon Loeb’s “Fighting the Tree,” Samady and Loeb were able to use these destructive thoughts to their advantage when they overcame their own obstacles. In Samady’s case, she decided she would take any label bestowed upon her father on herself. People must learn to think about their thoughts before displaying such criticism for everyone to
