Kate Honeyman

Professor Collins
English 115
25 September 2015

How My Confidence Helped Me Define Social Literacy

I have learned more about social literacy through confidence. I used to
have a very small amount of confidence. I lacked confidence both in my
educational and social abilities. Then I met a few great teachers who helped
me get into college, do well in school, and gain confidence in my work. As my
confidence grew, my quality of work increased and I learned more about
myself and my thoughts and opinions. I used to think that social literacy was
just about communicating through writing; I never thought much about it
until now, and now I realize that in my previous views, I had forgotten about
the social part of social literacy. So now that Ive thought about the social
part, Ive concluded that social literacy is all about confidence and kindness,
which can help someone gain confidence. Kindness and confidence are
connected. The more kindness a person gains, the more confidence they
gain. Kindness is all about being selfless and helping others, and helping
others makes people feel good about themselves, and when people feel good
about themselves, they gain confidence.
People with a high amount of confidence tend to be very social people,
and by being social, they communicate their ideas. Social literacy is all about
communicating ideas, and in order to communicate ideas, confidence is
needed. Back when I lacked confidence, I was not able to effectively
communicate my ideas. I would have an idea, and then I would try to explain

Kate Honeyman

Professor Collins
English 115
25 September 2015
it to people, but they wouldnt understand what I was trying to say. I would
try many different explanations, but people still didnt understand me. Then I
got some opportunities to help people. I would help people at school with
their homework, and then I got to help people at my church. I started
volunteering for fundraisers. I did awareness walks and helped my church
earn some money, and I constantly help out my churchs children with
activities. Doing all of this volunteering and helping over the years has
helped me learn more about myself, and my confidence has grown through
helping people. Being selfless and kind helps people with their confidence
and helps them express their ideas. Social literacy is created through
confidence, which is created through kindness.
Social literacy relies on kindness; the kindness that is within everyone.
As Saunders says, as we get older, we come to see how useless it is to be
selfish, and most people, as they age, become less selfish and more
loving. I believe this is why it took me years to discover what I think is the
true meaning of social literacy. Not many people will achieve social literacy,
by what I believe to be its true definition, right away; for many people, it will
take years, like it did with me. People believe that they are always kind,
when in reality, we are all selfish sometimes. Foer and Wallace would agree
with me, but for different reasons. Foer says that we are selfish because of
technology. Wallace says that we are selfish because of nature. I agree with
Wallaces reasons for selfishness.

Kate Honeyman

Professor Collins
English 115
25 September 2015
Wallace believes that we are all selfish by nature. We always want to
do things for ourselves. Some people help others to make themselves feel
better, and while helping others creates the kindness and confidence that
defines social literacy, we also help others to feel good about ourselves.
When we dont help others, we dont think of what theyre going through. We
react to situations based off of our own selfish wants and desires. Wallace
gives an example of wanting to go home after a long day. We get frustrated
by traffic and long lines at stores just because we want to go home. Foer, on
the other hand, believes that technology has made people selfish. He thinks
that the only reason that we are selfish is because we communicate through
social media, rather than verbally. He thinks that this causes people to be
emotionless and therefore have meaningless conversations. Yes, technology
contributes to our selfishness, but Wallace proves that its not the reason for
our selfishness. We are selfish by nature, not by technology.
People think that their selfishness will give them more confidence.
Selfish people think that they are better than everyone else, which causes
them to think that they have more confidence than everyone else. In reality,
they lack confidence because they lack kindness. Kindness is essential for
confidence, therefore people who are more self-centered lack kindness.
Kindness is essential for confidence, therefore people who dont think of
others lack the ability to understand social literacy. Although we are all
technically selfish, as we all have moments where we subconsciously think

Kate Honeyman

Professor Collins
English 115
25 September 2015
Were better than that person, we can control the amount of kindness that
we give to others. We can choose to help people, or not help them. We can
make decisions that impact our understanding of social literacy. I have made
many decisions that impacted my understanding of social literacy, such as
volunteering, participating in walks, and helping people out. All of these
decisions have made me a kinder person, therefore giving me more
confidence.
I was a lot more selfish back before I started volunteering and helping
people out. This had nothing to do with technology. In fact, I use technology
a lot more now than I did back then. My selfishness had to do with the people
I was surrounded by. There are a lot of selfish people in my family, and since
I followed by their examples when I was younger, I used to not think of
others. It was through society that I learned how selfish I was being. I would
see society giving disapproving looks to people doing selfish things, and I
would wonder why people were so angry at that person. Being used to not
thinking of others, I didnt know any better. But I learned from society that
this self-centered behavior was not OK. While society is selfish, they are also
angered by acts of selfishness. I saw beyond the selfishness when I looked
more at society. I saw people volunteering, and I realized that they are good
people, and thats how I started volunteering. As I started to get more
involved with society, I got a better sense of kindness. I became a kinder
person through society. I learned that being kind is better than being selfish,

Kate Honeyman

Professor Collins
English 115
25 September 2015
as not taking the time to help others doesnt help you. Being selfish gives
you nothing, no benefits.
I didnt learn more about social literacy through people that I was close
with. I learned more about acts of kindness through people that I didnt know
that well. My eighth grade English teacher helped me learn the most about
kindness and confidence. She would give me compliments every day, and
whether her compliments were about my clothes or my writing, she helped
me learn how to be a nicer person. She would also give me a lot of
encouragement with my writing. This helped me gain confidence and
kindness. It helped me to learn to think of other people. I have always been a
kind person, but I never really thought of others when I was younger.
Thinking of others has made me a kinder and more empathetic person.
Whenever others are in a bad situation, I think of how horrible it must be for
them, and it inspires me to volunteer and go on awareness walks to raise
money to help them. Gaining more knowledge about the world has helped
me become a kinder person. If people learn more about the world and start
volunteering, they will be kinder people and therefore gain knowledge. They
will also gain confidence through their kindness.
I have gotten involved in a lot of groups and clubs, which have given
me a lot more opportunities to volunteer and increase my knowledge and
confidence. While I did a lot of activities when I was younger, none of them

Kate Honeyman

Professor Collins
English 115
25 September 2015
involved volunteering. As I got older, I started to discover more of my
interests. I decided to join clubs at school based off of my interests, and I did
a lot of activities through those clubs that involved volunteering. Through
volunteering, I learned that if you help other people, then you become a
kinder person, feel better about yourself, and gain confidence. Volunteering
and having experiences with different people through school and clubs has
helped me learn more about my view of social literacy. With all of the
opportunities I have been given to help people out, I have become a kinder
person, and I feel better about myself. Looking back at my younger self, I
wish that I had taken more opportunities to help others. People dont have to
spend all of their time helping others, even small acts of kindness create
great amounts of confidence. Helping out a little bit is better than not
helping out at all.

Webs Cited

Jonathan Safran Foers Commencement Adress at Middlebury

College, Johnathan Safran Foer, YouTube, May 30, 2013

Advice to Graduates, George Saunders, Transcription of the 2013

Syracuse University convocation speech, n.d.

This is Water, David Foster Wallace, Transcription of the 2005 Kenyon
Commencement Address, May 21, 2005