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Maggie
Is showing your true color to the world risky? On October 30th 2014, a man did one thing that can be considered as one of the most powerful acts to date. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, declared in the letter he published, ‘’I am proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.’’ It takes great courage for someone with social status like Cook to do so. Stockowners of Apple might put the blame on him, if the price of their stock collapses due to Apple’s potential declining sales figure in the Middle East. Or even all over the world as a result of Cook’s ‘’provoking’’ letter to homophobes. I am sure Tim Cook, as a public figure, understands all the possible consequences before he sent out the message via mass media. However, he did not draw back. Is it not pathetic if we cannot show the world our true identities and live our lives as we please? If we conceal ourselves in the dark fearing that others might have an ‘’opinion’’ on us, we are likely to suffer. Years later, we might look back on our past regretfully on account of the opportunities we could have seized, the love we missed and the viewpoints of no importance but we desperately cared. Many have such perspective on life, that is:’’ You only visit Cactus when it is bearing fruit.’’ Thus, we are hesitant about alternations, improvement and facing our inner selves but what is the worst that it can be? The risk of being judge, or the chance of living the rest of our life with regret and fear? As the saying goes, ‘’ Those who care do not matter, these who matters do not care.’’ Maybe it is time for you to speak up for yourself and those who will be inspired by you.

Corrections · 10

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Is showing your true colors [1] to the world risky?

On October 30th 2014, a man did one thing something that can be considered as one of the most powerful acts to date. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, declared in the a letter [2] he published, ‘’I am proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.’’ It takes great courage for someone with social status like Cook to do so.

Stockowners [3] of Apple might put the blame on him, if the price of their stock collapses due to Apple’s potentially declining sales figure in the Middle East. Or even all over the world as a result of Cook’s ‘’provoking’’ [4] letter to homophobes. I am sure Tim Cook, as a public figure, understands considered all the possible consequences before he sent out the message via mass media. However, he did not draw back.

Is it not pathetic if we cannot show the world our true identities and live our lives as we please? If we conceal ourselves in the dark fearing that others might have an ‘’opinion’’ [5] on of us, we are likely to suffer. Years later, we might look back on our past regretfully with regret on account of the opportunities we could have seized, the love we missed and the viewpoints of no importance but we desperately cared for [6, 7].

Many have such perspective on life, that is: ’’ You only visit the Ccactus when it is bearing fruit.’’ [8] Thus, we are hesitant about alternations [9], improvement and facing our inner selves,  but what is the worst that it can be [10]? The risk of being judged, or the chance of living the rest of our life with regret and fear? As the saying goes, ‘’ Those who care do not matter, these those who matters do not care.’’ Maybe it is time for you to speak up for yourself and those who will be inspired by you.

 

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[1] The expression is "true colors", even if we're discussing one aspect of one person.

 

[2] Writing "the letter" refers to a known, identifiable letter.  For example.

"On October 30th 2014, Tim Cook published a letter.  In the letter he wrote,..."

If we have not made the letter identifiable, we need to refer generally to "a" letter written by Tim Cook.

"On October 30th 2014, Tim Cook published a letter in which he wrote,..."

 

[3] The word 'shareholders' is far, far more common.  Indeed, the word 'stockowner' does not seem to be in any dictionaries.

 

[4] The first use of quotation marks around 'provoking' is okay, because it quite rightly mocks people who would be provoked by such a letter.  However, if you're writing for an English class or examination, I'd recommend never placing a word in quotation marks, except when providing a one-word quotation.

 

[5] The second use of quotation marks around 'opinion' is unnecessary. It would be better to use an adjective, such as "an unfounded opinion" or "a warrantless opinion" or "an ignorant opinion".

 

[6] In terms of grammar, the following is a better correction:

"and the viewpoints of no importance but for which we desperately cared."

However, that reads rather awkwardly.

 

[7] Here is the phrase you used:

"and the viewpoints of no importance but we desperately cared for."

That is very long, and breaks the rythym of your sentence.  Here is a shorter version:

"and the unimportant opinions we cared about."

 

[8] I have noticed that you write a quotation mark by writing two apostrophes.  Does your keyboard not have a key for a quotation mark?  (To be clear, I am not being sarcastic.)  Some software will format two apostrophes in a weird way; use a proper quotation mark if you you can.

 

[9] Alternations is not the right word here, but I am not sure what you intended.  Presumably you meant "alterations", although the following use of "improvements" would be redundant.  Perhaps the word "confrontations" would be suitable here.

 

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Camilo, thank you so much
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Sean,thank you but what does playing devil's advovate mean?
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Ruthi,it is a bit different in the Eastern world and that's why I feel so. I guess that's the difference. Thank you so much for valuing people over our quality instead of sex orientation and point out how people in the western world think.
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Thanks for this very interesting entry!

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