Discussion Assignment: The Hyphen / Life-Work Balance

The Hyphen/Life-Work Balance
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Institutional Affiliation
The Hyphen
In this video, John Wayne first defines what a hyphen is meant for and its functions in the English language. He defines its main function to be separating words thus leading to the concept of division of something from its parent self. He transfers this concept to the common notion of people being either African-American, Jewish-American, Italian-American, Mexican-American etc. According to John Wayne, this form of ideology has separated Americans instead of them being united in the nation that they are in. The fact that several Americans define themselves this way they may as well be called divided-American.
Despite the nation of the United States having people of different ethnicities, they should be united in the land that they occupy. Division among the people has created only conflict and brought misunderstanding. As a nation, all the people should be as one large community. Harm has also been caused to many people in the form of discrimination. He then says that for them to be considered to be a nation, they need to behave as one people who are united despite all their differences. The little line which is the hyphen is what creates all the divisiveness.
The hyphen is a simple little line but it has created so much conflict between people in the United States. From the time that the Nazis dominated Europe to the time that Russia almost dominated the whole of Europe, the hyphen has been a detrimental factor in the lives of many people. It has caused wars, great fires, explosions from bombs and the great massacres to have happened in human history. The choice that an individual makes on how to use the hyphen in up to the deciding individual. The perception of the hyphen should be positive and promote peace among people.
John Wayne then says that the hyphen can be used as either a wall or a bridge. A wall in that it may hinder a person from reaching out to another and as a bridge in that it may help a person reach out effectively to another. It also saves time to use it as a bridge since it takes less time and effort to reach out to someone than hindering contact. He therefore encourages people through his message to use the hyphen as a bridge and not a wall. Using it as a bridge also helps to promote unity among the people of the United States and also the whole world. It will also help people to overlook their differences and focus on others based not on their ethnicity or origin. The mind and soul will also be strengthened to be free thus people can support each other in whatever they want to achieve.
Using the hyphen as a wall only makes a person’s life small and meaningless. It fills one’s heart with strife and bitterness thus he/she won’t relate with others well. The wise decision...