"Wasn’t it more absurd to give up? Wasn’t it more absurd to fail, to turn back, then to continue?”
For Zeitoun, failure was not an option. From the second he lays his eyes on these irresistible rocks he is dead set on touching them. He states that the idea of not touching the rocks is crazier than succumbing to failure. Zeitoun does not understand why anyone would want to give up and turn his or her back on a task waiting to be completed. If you look at American society today, we are lacking citizens who possess this same kind of drive. Most do not mind turning around when the going gets tough. This enormously sets Zeitoun a part from the average American who has become lazier with each generation.
Zeitoun would not be able to stomach the idea of leaving his path once an adventure begins. His innate determination drives him to achieve all his goals. He takes great pride in finishing what seems to be impossible and doing what others would shy away from. Dignity is everything to Zeitoun so whatever that task may he attacks it at full force to do the best job he possibly can. Losing an ounce of dignity because he did not give one hundred percent would hurt him more than anything else in the world.
As Americans, who come from the land of the free and have millions of oppurtunities open to us, we should take on values such as Zeitoun’s to build a society that is better then we could have ever expected. Zeitoun’s personality would never hide from a challenge, but more often then not we see fellow citizens cringing at the idea of hard work. Overall, if Americans took on Zeitoun's work ethic and determination our society might flourish in ways many never thought possible. If more people thought giving up was foolish it would be extraordinary to see what our generation could accomplish, and we might actually like the results we get from giving it our all.
