Lily Tikijian
August 28, 2009
Great Books Period 5
Mr. Priest
Which is more important - freedom or survival?
Freedom and survival are two extremely different things. Freedom is the ability to act freely or it could mean to be released from captivity or slavery. Freedom is a huge part of being an American; we have freedom of speech, free will, and freedom of press. As Americans we fought long and hard for our freedom. During the American Revolution, we fought for our freedom against the British. We wanted to have our own laws and rule our own nation. We also fought against each other in the Civil War. One half fought for the freedom of slaves and the other fought for the right to own slaves. Americans have been through a lot of fighting and wars to try and keep our country’s freedom, and I believe this to be very important, but not as important as survival.
Survival is more important then freedom because it is the act of staying alive and in some cases, fighting to stay alive. We have to survive in order to live and exist on this planet. Without survival, there wouldn’t even be such a thing as freedom. Mankind has survived through numerous of natural disasters, countless wars, and endless diseases. If men didn’t have such a will to live and survive we might not be in the place we are today. As we have learned from Sigmund Freud’s writing, we have a natural instinct to fight; we also have a natural instinct to survive, For example, if for some reason you are stranded on an Island out in the middle of nowhere with another person and there is only one piece of food left and without eating that food you will die. What would be our natural instinct? It would be to survive and if that meant killing the other person, that’s probably what we would all do. We have such a strong will to live that it would overcome our of our other instincts and believes. I believe survival is more important then freedom because survival is the key to what has been keeping mankind alive for this long. Without survival we wouldn’t have freedom.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Is war ever a good thing?
Lily Tikijian
August 19, 2009
Great Books Period 5
Mr. Priest
Is war ever a good thing? Is there any cause for which you would go to war?
Is war ever a good thing? If I had to immediately respond to that question, I would say of course not. I do believe there is alternatives to a conflict other then war. The world would be such a peaceful place if we could settle our disputes with talking rather then just heading straight to war. I do know that in some cases most countries aren’t willing to talk about the situation or problem, in that case, I believe in war. I think wars need to have more goals and purposes, like take the Iraq war for example. It has been going on for years now and we barely know what were fighting for. We went in with a goal and we are coming out with less people and having not achieved the goal. We should focus on one goal and set our minds to it.
War should have more then one meaning. Of course, it means armed fighting between groups and periods of armed fighting but I think it should mean more then that. I think war could mean a non-violent dispute. War happens because of conflicts and both groups want to put in serious effort to end something. Serious effort doesn’t have to mean killing people; it could mean serious talking or just some kind of non-violent way to handle things. This probably won’t ever happen but this is what I want to happen so that less people suffer and die. Already in Iraq over 4,000 Americans have died and the conflict still isn’t solved.
When you turn on the NBC news at night or any other news cast and they are talking about the Iraq War, we usually hear about all of the civilian causalities. I believe that United States, in particular, needs to focus on less and less civilian casualties. I do know that we try not to purposely hurt anyone but we do need to be more careful. Many people say, “Make love, not war.” I would say I mostly agree with that statement, until I really thought about it. War can be a good thing if it has a purpose and the countries that are fighting are smart about the way they are fighting. By smart, I mean, less civilian casualties and not going over the countries budgets. War might not be the best option in some cases, but mostly, I think war is a good thing.
August 19, 2009
Great Books Period 5
Mr. Priest
Is war ever a good thing? Is there any cause for which you would go to war?
Is war ever a good thing? If I had to immediately respond to that question, I would say of course not. I do believe there is alternatives to a conflict other then war. The world would be such a peaceful place if we could settle our disputes with talking rather then just heading straight to war. I do know that in some cases most countries aren’t willing to talk about the situation or problem, in that case, I believe in war. I think wars need to have more goals and purposes, like take the Iraq war for example. It has been going on for years now and we barely know what were fighting for. We went in with a goal and we are coming out with less people and having not achieved the goal. We should focus on one goal and set our minds to it.
War should have more then one meaning. Of course, it means armed fighting between groups and periods of armed fighting but I think it should mean more then that. I think war could mean a non-violent dispute. War happens because of conflicts and both groups want to put in serious effort to end something. Serious effort doesn’t have to mean killing people; it could mean serious talking or just some kind of non-violent way to handle things. This probably won’t ever happen but this is what I want to happen so that less people suffer and die. Already in Iraq over 4,000 Americans have died and the conflict still isn’t solved.
When you turn on the NBC news at night or any other news cast and they are talking about the Iraq War, we usually hear about all of the civilian causalities. I believe that United States, in particular, needs to focus on less and less civilian casualties. I do know that we try not to purposely hurt anyone but we do need to be more careful. Many people say, “Make love, not war.” I would say I mostly agree with that statement, until I really thought about it. War can be a good thing if it has a purpose and the countries that are fighting are smart about the way they are fighting. By smart, I mean, less civilian casualties and not going over the countries budgets. War might not be the best option in some cases, but mostly, I think war is a good thing.
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