Analyzing an Argument

Martin Luther King Junior is a well respected man that has many famous quotes and arguments. He always challenged white Americans to change their ways of think, and always challenged black Americans to stay strong in their faith and trust that change will come. He has a quote that applies to everyone and that will never lose its power in its meaning. Dr. King said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” He is clearing making an argument for people not to be silent. He is saying that people need to speak up and speak their mind, but I think that he clarifies it nicely that people need to do it when it matters.
One argument that could be made for this quote is that if people to do not say what is on their mind and have some meaning in their life, then they are just living to die. He is saying speak up, have a voice in something that matters and then you will be living. Martin Luther King Junior was defiantly not silent about anything. He spoke up and fought for something that matter, not only to him, but to thousands of other people. Although he lived a relatively short life, he lived his life to the fullest and he never started to end his own life by not speaking up. Fellow students, in various classes, that just sit at their desk, write notes, and not say a word, are the people Dr. King is talking to. He is saying that they need to speak up and have a voice in the class because that class does matter to them, otherwise they would not be there. Also, people who just float through life not standing up for what they believe in are just living to die and started to end their life when they were able to have opinions. The main point of this argument is that people need to not be silent about what is important because you are just waiting for your life to end otherwise.
Another argument could be that you can say something about anything. He said, “… about things that matter.” There are many things that matter to some people that do not matter to others. An example of someone speaking up for something that mattered to them was Kanye West speaking at the 2009 MTV Awards. Apparently it mattered to him that Beyonce wins the Woman’s Video of the Year award. Everyone else may have just been proud of Taylor Swift for winning, but Kanye strongly felt that Beyonce should have won. He spoke up, maybe at the wrong time, but he spoke up about something that mattered to him. Another example is people saying something to others form killing a bug. It is just a bug and there are probably millions or billions of that bug somewhere else, but to some people that bug matters to them. Although it is a little ludicrous to care about something like that, there are people in the world that it does matter and they do care about it. There are also other more important things for people to speak up about such as who to elect for president, how to save fossil fuels, how to stop pollution, or deciding what is better, Pepsi or Coca-Cola.
I think that Dr. King had no hidden arguments in his quote, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” I do not think that this quote was meant to be analyzed, but I do think it has a great message and that it is very true. I agree that people need to speak up because there is never going to be change or things are never going to get better if people do not speak up about the things that matter. People who stay silent do start to end their life because they are not expressing their selves and I think for someone to express their self they need to speak up on things that not only matter to them, but matter to everyone. A more literal example of the meaning of his quote is victims of some form of abuse, sexual, physical, or emotional. People who are being abused, but do not speak up about it are literally starting the end of their lives. With the sexual abuse and emotional abuse, there can be a mental stress on the victim and cause severe depression which can lead to death. Physical abuse can also lead to death, but for more obvious reasons. Another example is when people wait to speak up about a problem or topic until that problem affects them. By the time they have spoken up it is probably too late.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” This is a powerful argument that challenges people to stand up for something they believe in. It may not be the most important subject, but just something that matters someone. When people do not speak up they are doing an injustice to themselves because they are not living they are just existing and to live people have to take a stand.