C Wright Mills The Promise Analysis

Personal issues are not what you expect them to be, rather they are influenced and stimulated by a greater hierarchy. The personal issues in my life, as much as I would like to think I have complete control of, are influenced by the characteristics in the society I live in which have created the very obstacles I battle this day. During high school, especially the community I went to school in, there was a unique way in which military members were regarded. It was encouraged to take up arms and defend the country you live in and to represent your community. Every other day I saw on television propaganda of marines in their dress uniform waving swords on top of a mountain or airmen marshalling a landing fighter jet. This is especially true
Of course, I knew this before I signed the contract, however as a young high school kid watching all of these movies, shows, propaganda and having greater influences of teachers and family, I did not truly consider the compromise. I would like to think this was entirely my fault, but after I read C.Wright Mills chapter and more specifically his statement “They do not possess the quality of mind essential to grasp the interplay of… They cannot cope with their personal…” (Mills, C. Wright. “The Promise.” The Sociological Imagination). This sparked the recognition inside me that my actions have always been led by what I thought would set me in a different social class.
From my understanding of embodiment, the actions that I’ve done have been influenced by the way I wanted to be perceived in my social world. The only way I see this problem being fixed is to address to the young minds the compromises that follow the choice to join the military and to do so publicly, within schools, propaganda and teachings at school. I have finally begun to understand the relationship and impact a social structure has on an