Erasing My Ego

 
Egos write in pen.
Their lines are bold, sharp, and definitely permanent. It's almost as if the world can't find a way to smudge them. Well, that was me this Friday, heading into English class with the first vocabulary quiz right ahead of me. I walked in, just spewing confidence in every thought. I pictured my 100 written in ink before I'd even picked up my pencil to answer the questions. I literally told the teacher I would get 100. Fast forward fifteen minutes though, just to hear, "Anthony, I'm disappointed in you." Within the split of a second, my own pen marks, which I had thought were permanent, didn't look so lasting anymore. 

This might sound weird or nerdy, but the thing about pencils is that they're more honest. They admit mistakes, unlike pens. They always leave plenty of room for erasers to come in and rework some of the lines that need to be edited. This quiz wasn't about vocabulary, it was about remembering that pride needs an eraser. The eraser doesn't delete our world, but it does in fact clear the lines we've drawn with too much confidence, and it forces it to redraw the actual truth, not the truth as we want to see it. 

Now that's where Thoreau's Civil Disobedience comes into play. Thoreau clearly warned against and disliked people obeying authority or the government blindly. But the truth is, sometimes the authority we have to resist isn't actually the government, but it's, believe it or not, ourselves. My ego was practically it's own little regime, and it demanded obedience to my overconfidence. And when I didn't ace that quiz, it felt like civil disobedience against the inner authority lying within me. The eraser eventually became my act of rebellion, since it scraped away the false certainty and left space for genuine humility and humbleness. 

I had come to realize freedom isn't about always being right, it's about refusing to live under false illusions, according to Thoreau. Erasing my ego didn't erase me altogether. It had just rewritten me. And at the end of the day, sometimes the cleanest lines come after the smudges.

Comments

  1. MaiaSeptember 21, 2025 at 8:07 AM

    I really like how you connected this directly to something that happened to you in class. It was funny but it also made me realize how much ego connects within the pieces we have been reading.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Berry’s BlogSeptember 21, 2025 at 11:34 AM

    Hi Anthony, I do have to say that was a very funny moment in class when Ms. Rosenberger said that. However, what I really like, whether you meant it or not, is that fact that you basically described one of the vocab words. What you described is conceit which is excessive pride in oneself.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Paul LeiSeptember 21, 2025 at 11:54 AM

    Hey Anthony, I really enjoyed your blog. The pen vs. pencil metaphor was a nice way to show the difference between ego and humility, and it made the whole idea easier to connect with. I also liked how you brought Thoreau into it, it gave the story more depth and showed how personal experiences can tie into bigger ideas. The ending about freedom not being about always being right really resonated with me. Nice blog!

    ReplyDelete
  4. hana rSeptember 21, 2025 at 12:21 PM

    I liked the connection between pencils/pens to the piece on Civil Disobedience, as well as the part where you said "pride needs an eraser" and using that metaphor to show how truth should not be just as how we want to see it. Overall, your blog was very creative and I enjoyed reading!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mohammed ElshiekhSeptember 21, 2025 at 7:00 PM

    This was a really thoughtful reflection. I liked how you used the metaphor of pens and pencils to explore ego and humility—it’s simple but powerful. Connecting that to Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience was a smart move too. It’s easy to think of resistance as something external, but your point about challenging the authority within ourselves adds a deeper layer.

    ReplyDelete

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