89th Connecticut College Commencement Address And The King's Highway

Only 5% of people accomplish their dreams in a life span of 100 years. This isn’t because chasing your dreams is not acceptable or frowned upon, but because people never want to take the hard way, they never want to put in the work. Although, seeing that only 5% of people accomplish their dreams, it shouldn’t deter you from the fact that it’s possible you can become a part of that 5%. The readings, “89th Connecticut College Commencement Address” by Robert D. Ballard (Non-fiction) and “The King’s Highway” by Henry Van Dyke (Fiction), both share the common theme of; when things get tough, don’t take the easy way out. The Commencement Speech takes place at a graduation ceremony and the author talks about the challenges he has taken on throughout

Ballard, connects his adventures through education and his dreams to climbing a mountain, he says, “The Question is which mountain in life should you pick to climb, which dream to peruse.” His words hold much truth, because our dreams in life are hard to achieve and there are so many. It takes practice and failure, but this is all worth it in the end when you finally accomplish it. Not taking the easy way out some may say is harder than the goal, but Ballard brings up a very good point in paragraph 10, “I have also discovered that it is just as hard to climb a 1,000-foot mountain, as it is to climb one 30,000 feet tall.” He goes on to talk about how both the people climbing these mountains have to go through the same struggles so why not take the taller mountain, why not reach for the higher peak. Through all of this, taking the easy way out is exactly how it sounds, it’s easy. In order to get to the peak of the mountain you could take a helicopter, but the peak is not what makes the journey worth it, it’s the climb. The climb is what teaches us lessons and self reflection, it makes achieving the goal actually worthwhile. The summit makes all the tough times you go through worth it; it gives you a drive for more challenges. Ballards last sentence of his speech connects to the theme, when things get tough, don’t take the easy way out, “So I advise you to think big, have big dreams. Climb tall mountains.” (Paragraph

This takes place in wartime Belgium when Germany invaded in order to get to France in WW1. A man had come across the last remaining land of Belgium that had not yet been conquered when he came across the king, “.the eyes of the young man, who walked in faded blue uniform.but there was an indomitable light in his eyes, by which I knew that he was a King.” (Sentence 10-12). The man asked him if this was his kingdom and he said no, but these still are my people. The man asks a question to the King, “Will you make peace with them and take what they have so often offered you?” (Sentence 51). This is a prime example of a way the king in this story could have taken the easy way out, sided with Germany and got his land back. The king knows that doing this would be a let down for himself and his people. This is why when things get tough you don’t take the easy way out, it gives you a reason to accomplish the goal and honors the accomplishment. The king goes to fight for his country and the man sees a vision as the king sets off on his journey, “The bridge is restored, the road mended and built up, and on that highway rides the king in his faded uniform with the Queen in white beside him.” (Sentence 63-64). This sentence shows that by taking the tough way, which was fighting a war, the king got more than if he were to side with Germany. To connect