“Self-awareness is not something we are born with. Self-awareness must be learned and practiced and it is not an easy thing to do. We go throughout each day doing our own thing and most of us believe that we are being as mindful as possible, but what does being mindful really mean? Everyday life, as we know it, can be perceived in a totally different way. Instead of being so quick to think, you could take a second to really analyze the situation, and be mindful of it, to see it in a different light. For example, maybe the mean waitress from the 99’s isn’t so mean after all. Maybe she has gotten yelled at by her boss so many times for being on the phone, when in reality: she’s on her phone so much because she is checking on the status of her son who is in the hospital- or maybe she is coming off a bit moody because she is going through the worst mental health slump she has ever faced. Now, it may seem far-fetched to think these things, but it’s not impossible for these situations to be true. I think humans naturally practice a sort of selfish behavior without even realizing it and changes can be made to that behavior if you really set your mind to it. Self-awareness, mindfulness, and critical thinking is important for your own mind’s sake.”

I think one strength that I have found in my introduction is asking the reader a question. I think this will get the reader’s mind thinking a bit, and maybe they will be interpreting what the rest of my writing will be about, just from a simple question. Another strength I have found in my introduction is the real life scenario. This kinda paraphrases some of the ideas that DFW had in his speech, so I feel as though it brings that piece into my introduction. Also, it is relatable to the reader, so they can get a sense of a real life scenario that relates to what my topic is about. One weakness I have found in my introduction is my thesis. My thesis statement is there, but it is not clear cut. I believe I still got the message across just fine, but it could have been structured a lot better. Another weakness I have found was that I didn’t really include a real summary of both of the texts that I used for this piece. Although, I feel that if I had used summaries of both texts, it would make my introduction a lot longer than it needs to be. I think it leaves some room for interpretation and it also allows me to give my essay more volume by having multiple separate paragraphs for each summary of each source I used. I think my introduction could have used a little more debate, but I believe my message/ideas/arguments are made promptly enough for the reader to comprehend.