2012年10月4日星期四

Eat to live, but do not live to eat.


                                                            
                                                  Eat to live, but do not live to eat
            “Eat to live, but do not live to eat” means that in order to survive, people need to eat; however, the purpose of our life is not to eat, but things far more meaningful and essential. Men are born not to enjoy, but to fight for their life and pursue their dreams.  
            People could no more know the meaning of their life by only eating than they could see the Sonoran Desert by rafting down the Colorado. Taking Stephen Hawking as an illustration. Stephen Hawking, a great physicist and author, caught a motor neuron disease when he was in Cambridge University. The disease soon progressed, paralyzing his body. What’s more, he needed a speech generating device to speak. Under such terrible condition, Hawking was thought by most of his colleagues that his life would end soon, not to mention his academic ability; whereas, so indomitable was Hawking that not only did he survive but he also contributed substantially to the physics world, recognized as the greatest physicist after Einstein. On the one hand, food is a major part in Hawking’s life because it is important for him to get as much nutrition as he can from food. On the other hand, despite severe pain and inconvenience, Hawking did not give up his academic researching; instead, he fought harder to achieve his dreams. He did not make any excuse to give up his research. As Hawking pointed out, “we should seek the greatest value of our action.” The greatest value in his life, to me, is definitely physics, rather than food. From Hawking, a man who needs food more eagerly than normal people do, still regards physics, not eating, the most critical element in his life. In consequence, we should fight for real values in our life.
            Created for a divine purpose, men need to spare no efforts to explore the possibility, excitement and variety in their life. At meanwhile, men are supported by food to fight. We cannot deny the fact that food is one of the most essential parts in our life. Without food, ideologies crumble and life crash. However, this does not mean that men are created to eat. Remember, food is only one indispensable element; there are still bunches of other critical issues we have to do everyday, such as doing academic assignment or making friends. Generally, man has a destiny with his creator---he was not just born to enjoy food.
           


2012年10月3日星期三

Justice question 1

No absolute justice ever existed in our world. Justice to one side indicates injustice to another side. There will always exist one discontent side in the judgement of justice. Taking murderer as an illustration. If a murderer was penniless and, he was sentenced to death, majority of observers will find it a justice judgement to the victim; however, think of the case that the victim is a thirty-year old young man with aspiring future. The loss of him, to his family, definitely outweighs death of the murderer. It is still injustice to his family because his future is so promising and, the fact that he is so young add injustice to the judgement. Consequently, there is only limited and partial justice in our society.
As for taxing the rich heavily to help paupers, this will definitely be seen as a partial justice by Aristotle. This is partial injustice in the sense that the rich earns more money than the poor because in general, they fight harder and longer than the poor everyday. Therefore, it is injustice to deprive the fruit of their labor to the benefit of the lazy ones. This is also partial injustice in the sense that despite reallocation of incomes, gap between the rich and the poor still appears.
Absolute justice is not very good for society; on the contrary, it can be the kiss of death.