Doing The Right Thing Poem Analysis

If no one was watching you and you had a chance to do the right thing would you do the right thing? Reading this you might say that you would do the right thing without having to think about it. But when you are in that situation the right thing is not always the first thing you would do. After reading three different pieces of text, even though the stories were all different they all sent the same message. In the commentary “Doing the Right Thing” by Rick Reilly, The poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, and the short story Thank You Ma’am by Langston Hughes, the theme of doing the right thing is thought of throughout the different texts. Once reading and thinking about the three pieces of text, Thank You Ma’am, The Road Not Taken, and

In the commentary “Doing the Right Thing” four football players walked into a small store which was actually closed. They got their things and waited for a cashier to come and help them pay. Stealing and shoplifting is common in that store, but the football players were not those types of people. So one of them pulled out five dollars to cover the cost while another guy pulled out 80 cents for the tax. The text states, “So wide receiver Thomas James pulled out the $5 to cover the batteries and a video cord they needed.”(Rick Reilly 9). The four football players found the courage because of their parents influence. They didn't want to disappoint their parents so they did the right thing. The text states, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about parenting it’s that the best gift you can give your kid is someone they’d hate to disappoint.” (Rick Reilly 23). If they would have stolen the items then their parents would be disappointed and the boys would be sad. The four football players did the right thing because of their desire to not disappoint their parents and to set a good example for the people around them. The boys did the right thing for their parents, to set a good example and to prove that you can’t judge a book by its