Thank You M'Am by Will Rogers

Seeking For Help Will Rogers once said, “A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people”. Learning from more experienced and wiser people is much more effective than trying to solve everything yourself. In Langston Hughes’s short story, “Thank You, M’am”, a boy, Roger, is caught stealing Mrs. Jones’s purse; however, instead of reporting it, she brings the poor orphan boy to her house to wash his face and to feed him. This story demonstrates the importance of learning from others. It is much better to learn from others around yourself because if one tries to learn on their own, they will have no discipline, manners, or knowledge of what’s right or wrong, and they will only do what pleases themselves. If a person educates himself, he will not know ethics nor will he have any manners. For instance, in the current world, schools and parents teach children what is good to do or bad to do. Starting from their toddler stages, they get time-outs for wrongdoings and rewards for doing good things. People all around you fix your wrongdoings and mistakes, and discipline you to choose what’s right. On the other hand, if a child is left alone, they will do bad things without even knowing because they were not taught ethics. In addition, parents and schools also teach children to have good manners at the table or to older people. They tell you to keep feet off the table, eat quietly, talk respectfully to elders, and other important facts that are needed to respect others. However, if schools and parents are not part of a child’s life, that child would turn out to be very rude and they would form bad habits because of their lack of discipline. In other words, you need others to set the right path for your life or else your path will stray to one that only pleases you. The only thing a person, that was not taught by others, will think about is what pleases themselves. To illustrate, Roger tells Mrs. Jones that the reason that he snatched her pocketbook was because, “‘[He] wanted a pair of blue suede shoes” (Hughes 2). Roger committed a crime to get what he wanted because he didn’t have enough money. He stole her purse just to get money for shoes because he wanted to have it and be happy. Therefore, if any child decides to live on their own, they will end up doing only what they want to please themselves because of the fact that nobody taught the boy ethics and nobody cared about them. Furthermore, after getting caught, Roger is asked if he would run if turned loose and Roger tells her that he would
(Hughes 1). If she had turned him loose, then he would’ve gone on stealing money to supply himself with whatever he needed. He would’ve gotten the suede shoes with other people’s money and he would repeat this if he wanted something more. Roger needed Mrs. Jones to fix his way of life, and all children should be provided with these lessons so that they don’t do wrong deeds to get what they want. A life without the help of others would be a messy life full of sins. Learning from other people around you is much more helpful than learning on your own because more experienced people teach you proper etiquette, teach you ethics, and discipline you to do great things. In addition, it keeps children from doing bad things to satisfy themselves. People who are left alone in the world today need the care and wisdom of others in order to have a good life. On the other hand, where would lives lead if everyone was an independent person?