Everett Gustin Mrs. Muckenthaler Language Arts 2 30 May 2024 Title In this article by Kate Murphy, “Outsmarting Our Primitive Responses to Fear.” This article shows the readers how they can overcome their first thoughts when they are scared. In this article they bring in people that have done very big things and were scared to do it, but did it anyway. In this article by Amanda Gorman, “Why I Almost Didn’t Read My Poem at the Inauguration.” Gorman was very scared to do the Inauguration, not because of the public speech, but because she was a black woman. At this time, there have been a lot of not so great things that have been happening to African Americans. In this essay I compare and contrast “Outsmarting Our Primitive Responses to Fear”…show more content… In “Why I almost Didn’t Read My Poem at the Inauguration” Gorman states “I was scared of failing my people, my poetry. But I was also terrified on a physical level. Covid was still raging, and my age group couldn’t get vaccinated yet. Just a few weeks ago, domestic terrorists assaulted the U.S. Capitol, the very steps where I would recite. I didn’t know then that I’d become famous, but I did know at the inauguration I was going to become highly visible — which is a very dangerous thing to be in America, especially if you’re Black and outspoken and have no Secret Service.” Gorman wasn’t scared on just a mental level; she was also terrified of being killed on a physical level. Even though she was scared, she still pushed through and did it. These articles compare because even though everyone was scared, they still overcame their fears and did it. Although fear is one big emotion, there are many ways to interpret it. In “Outsmarting Our Primitive Responses to Fear” this article tells us how to have a better response to our first instinct to…show more content… “It’s why you jump when you sense rustling in the bushes before realizing it’s just your neighbor’s cat. That reflex can save your life in certain circumstances, such as leaping out of the way of an oncoming car. Trouble starts when you can’t tamp down your amygdala response,” in this quote from “Outsmarting Our Primitive Responses to Fear” it states that reflex can save us and the amygdala is what the reflex is and it makes it good for us. In the article “Why I Almost Didn’t Read My Poem at the Inauguration” Gorman tells us that she had many mixed feelings about reading her poem, but she just went for it without thinking about what was going to happen. I agree with both of the main ideas of the article. In “Outsmarting Our Primitive Responses to Fear” the main idea is that we have reflexes to fear and we can also try and control them but it won’t be the best plan ever. In “Why I Almost Didn’t Read My Poem at the Inauguration” the main idea is that everyone is scared of something, some big things, some small things, but we can all get through it and overcome our
