A Little About Me With A Twist Of Rhetroical Analysis

Foundations
Through obstacles and hardships, family and friends have shaped my life into what I have become but how; Rhetorical appeals like pathos, logos, and ethos are what molded me into who I am but may have not affected all of my decisions. Pathos- is the appeal that affects your emotions to influence you. Logos- is the appeal that affects your logic or makes you think. Ethos- is the appeal of credibility. My family has affected me using ethos mainly through their life experiences and stories.
I have doubted my parent’s credibility on some things but I have mostly applied a lot of what I have learned from them to my own life. As a Christian family I have many morals and values that I believe are right and it has affected many of my life choices which have protected me from many harmful situations. I look up to my father a lot because of his personal achievements like enlisting in the Navy and retiring as a lieutenant commander after only about 25 years. Even though my Dad was who I mainly looked up to, my mom has been there whenever my dad couldn’t and brought my brother and I up, which I’m sure wasn’t easy. Because of the statement,” We are not mad at you, we are just disappointed in you,” I aim to always please everyone but myself. My parents’ ethos has guided me through most of my life and it still affects daily choices like working out to life time choices like a college education and a military lifestyle. The further I have grown away from my parents I have been more affected through logic or by logos.
Something that has had me really thinking lately was introduced while listening to a radio talk show. The question was,” Is everyone just going to go about their lives not questioning anything…anyone says.” I thought that it’s completely true that many people go through life not questioning anything. I found that I was one of those people and have been looking to question things that I’m personally confused about. It has given me a mind of my own rather than a mindless brain washed “zombie.” It has changed my personality to be more exploratory than lethargic and boring. As logos has affected me recently through the radio, I was really affected by pathos earlier in my life.
Emotional I was hit pretty hard in high school. About four years ago as a freshman I was a cocky arrogant varsity soccer player. A pretty cute Philippine girl caught my eye and you couldn’t find me anywhere but by her side. I was head over heels in “love” or so I thought; for about two years we were constantly fighting but I kept convincing myself she was the one even though my parents, whom I really trusted, begged me to leave her. She made it always seem like it was my fault because she was always freaking out over nothing like she was bipolar or something. By the time it was over I had become depressed with extremely low self esteem, and it was so bad it had affected my confidence on the soccer field thus benching me for the rest of my high school career. I’ve also very well masked my emotions to people I don’t know and to many of my close friends and family. Two years later I’ve been able to open up more to my family and friends by smiling and crying. Even though I’ve been influenced by many things I believe I’ve made many choices on my own.
As easily as I’ve been influenced I’ve come up with a couple things that have had some influence but I’ve made the overall choice. Another one of my big changes actually was of my own choice which was to actually listen to my parent and become more obedient. This choice was not just a mental change but also a physical on through the symbolism of cutting my hair from a long surfer cut to a buzzed tight cut. Actually getting a college education before I join the military was my idea because I believe I would be like my father and get in and never regain the drive to get my education. Choosing a military life was a big influence on my life because many of my ancestry have been in the military but I’ve made the decision to be in the Marine Corp not life my father and grandfathers on both sides whom were in the Navy. Even when I was still under the complete guidance of my parents and our Christian based family I made my own choice to continue my faith by getting baptized in Florida. Other than these few things most of my life has been almost dictated to me through many these types of influences.
In obstacles, hardships, family, and friends the rhetorical appeals show up all throughout my life. In adolescence I was mainly affected by my parents’ ethos. Even listening to the radio has had me seriously thinking about my own life thus being logos. From the emotional and passionate relationship which scared me affected my personality making is appeal pathos. The real questions are how many decisions a day do we actually make on our own and does this make everyone the same?