“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” That is a famous quote from Mahatma Gandhi who was a famous philosopher and the preeminent leader of the Indian Independence movement in the British ruled India. When you ask most people my age who they are, most would respond with saying they are a broke college student. Before I took this class I would have had that same response to the question, but now I have a different answer to that question after completing this class. I would reply with not only am I a broke college student, but I am a son to a caring mother and father. I am a brother to a loving older sister. I am a boyfriend to an amazing girl I have been with close to a year now. When people need to talk …show more content…
A hero does not have to slay a dragon and save the princess from the castle because that is only one example. There are thousands of ways you can be a hero through anyone’s eyes. All you have to do is make an impact on their life through something you have done for them. I know it is a cliché, but my girlfriend looks at me as a hero because of how caring I am towards others and I am also trying to make people feel better if they are down. Even before being in this class I have raised this question, “Why do good people suffer?” I used to ask myself that when I was younger in junior high because I had three close family members die within 2 months. It was a really hard time for my family and I question god why he took those three angels. I realize now that there was a meaning in the suffering. The suffering was a test to strengthen us, which is what God was looking for. God tested this in the book of Job with pretty much destroying his life even though he was a good person. It was a test because he killed his family and all of his animals. Satan was looking for Job to curse God but instead Job cursed the day he was born. Job stated, “Let the day perish in which I was born, and that night that said, a man-child is conceived” (Meeks 696). Then, in the Happiness Hypothesis, Jonathan Haidt brought up the idea that suffering may help us. Haidt states, “The adversity hypothesis has a weak and …show more content…
There are many things in life that I can do to make me happier as a person. You still have to put others before yourself. That is something that I can see giving myself the most joy by changing somebody’s day and making it better. I can think of times when my girlfriend or friends were not having a good day so I did everything in my power to cheer them up. I would make silly faces, noises, and tickle them to cheer them up. Once they finally crack and show a smile, it is one of the best feelings in the world to experience. They don’t want to smile because they are so upset but they are happy that you were able to cheer them up. One thing that has made my life better and made me happier over the past eleven months is my girlfriend. She has completely turned my life around for the better. I personally would be afraid to see where I would be at this point in time if I wasn’t with her. Another thing I enjoy in life is dogs. The loyalty they have for you and the unconditional love they have for you, which you of course return. One thing that would keep me happy in the future is to keep my body healthy. “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver”
Now ask yourself, what is a hero? Works Cited http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/happiness-in-world/201009/what-makes-hero http://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=9585
If God loves us, why does He allow us to suffer? The central question in Shadowlands challenges traditional religious and moral conventions. It is a question asked by many, with few satisfactory answers. Before attempting to answer the question, and explore its relationship to Shadowlands, let us first define the question, so its implications may be more clearly understood. At the heart of the question is a doubt in the goodness of God, "If God loves us". From the beginning it is clear that God is being judged and criticized by the question. Then the second phrase follows"Why does He allow us to suffer?". The assumption made in the second phrase is that God has enough control over the world to prevent suffering. If He can prevent suffering, and He really loves us, then why shouldn' t He excercise that control, and prevent needless suffering?
After reviewing the work of David Hume, the idea of a God existing in a world filled with so much pain and suffering is not so hard to understand. Humes’ work highlights some interesting points which allowed me to reach the conclusion that suffering is perhaps a part of God’s divine plan for humans. Our morals and values allow us to operate and live our daily lives in conjunction with a set of standards that help us to better understand our world around us and essentially allows us to better prepare for the potential life after life. For each and every day we get closer to our impending deaths and possibly closer to meeting the grand orchestrator of our universe.
The existence of a God is always questioned, but it is questioned even more so at times of suffering. As Rabbi Dr Louie Jacobs comments “If God exists… how and why could such a Being tolerate all the pain, misery, and anguish that is often the lot of humanity”.
What does it mean to be a hero? Heroism can’t be confined to one set defined definition. Instead is a forever evolving term that change as society changes. Since it seems it isn’t the actual individuals that are labeled as the hero that are setting the standards to what it means to be a hero. Instead, society deems itself
In order to understand where God is in suffering, it is important to first analyze why God cannot intervene in suffering. Rabbi Harold Kushner’s Why Good Things Happen to Bad People concisely explains this mystery. He states that God cannot intervene because “God can’t stop us without taking away the freedom that makes us human." Essentially, the only way God can stop suffering is by not allowing people to cause it, taking away their free will. One of the most prominent examples would be the German concentration camp Auschwitz. Millions of people suffered and died there, but Rabbi Kushner asserts “. . . it was not God who caused it. It was caused by human beings choosing to be cruel to their fellow men.” Man’s evil choices cause human suffering, not God’s complicity. Rabbi Kushner’s observations give a strong foundation to the argument that God cannot intervene. This concept of God meshes with the idea Marcus Borg presents in The God We Never Knew. In his book, Marcus Borg suggests the notion of a panentheistic God, that is, a God that is “. . ....
Living creatures have experienced suffering in the world for thousands of years. Suffering not only through humans, but animals as well. This begs the question to why suffering exists, or what is its purpose? One may argue that suffering will bring the individual closer to God, as for animals, it is for their own well being. Many characters from the Bible such as: Adam, Job and David, have all overcome suffering that God bestows upon them, in turn bringing them closer to him. In today’s society, humans have a tendency to inflict suffering on each other, and through animals. Holding animals captive is not a justified act in the eyes of God. The Smithsonian National Zoo is a prime example of humans wrongly
Recently, students of Olympian High School have stumbled upon the question, "What is a hero?" In the school's 2013 Young Minds Essay Contest, students are expected to consider universal concerns and ideas. Many times when people think of a hero, they think of Superman, Batman, and many other Marvel characters who display unattainable superpowers. However, heroes are prevalent throughout the world. A hero can be anyone who has the desire to help others, brave in dangerous situations, and does not look at exterior gain from helping others.
As previously, stated God uses difficult situations as a way to improve the relationship we have with Him. Why suffering though? Frederick Sontag wrote in his book that evil or suffering are the best circumstances in which to find a God, unlike times where everything goes well
I think God places his chosen people through hardships as a way to show his power. A big example of hardship endured by God’s chosen ones were that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt for over 400 years before God intervened. God demonstrates that he has more than enough power to free his people, but he chooses to wait to free his people. Even once God started the plagues in Egypt, he hardened Pharaoh's heart, making his people stay even longer than needed. Also, once the Israelites were out of Egypt, God sent the Egyptians after them one last time.
According to Brooks (2014), people seek happiness but indirectly obtain several tests that affects their emotions in many ways. Indeed, when people are is questioned about their past, memories coming back to her mind are often the most important positively as negatively. A positive event can be the birth of a child, success. In contrast, a negative event is often links to death, failure, a dismissal, and so on. Suffering or pain also gives us an outside perspective. Without a doubt, suffering makes us human we like it or not. For example, when a friend tells that she has failed an exam and we realize that we could get it easily, it is hard to understand exactly her emotion because we have never been in the situation. But when the same situation arises and you become the concerned, you understand the effect that this failure may have on you emotionally. In this sense, we understand that suffering makes people human because it helps them to be connected to a situation already happened before or which could happen in the future.
Heroism is defined as an act of courage and an act of selflessness. They reflect the highest levels of morality in society. Heroes have embodied the morality codes of civilizations throughout the ages. When heroes display courage, observers often identify with that courage. The refusal to take the easy way out and the ability to act in spite of fear, is what makes a person a hero. This is the way everyone wishes to react in the midst of a crisis. As witnessed in literature and real life, mankind needs heroes to provide an inspirational role model, an escape from the mundane, and a guide for morality.
Everyone has their own outlook on life. Most people feel like money and success brings them happiness, while others think love is all they need. “For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul” (Epicurus). Our philosophies change over time as we grow older and wiser. As a child I thought the world was full of so much happiness, love, peace and joy. Once I grew older my philosophy became clear that there is more to life than just living. In the world today it is best to have something that makes you look forward to the next day. Like family, friends, and personal goals. Being able to have overall balance of happiness, pain and the existence of God, is my guide for living.
The Christian tradition is haunted by a significant mark: Suffering. The question that arises from this suffering is if God is the omnipitous being that Christians believe Him to be, why would He let His people, whom he loves, suffer great pains and horrible deaths? According to premises derived from theologians and followers of the Bible, God is "all loving". If that is true, then God would not want His people to suffer, but by just looking around us we see that suffering, in fact, is happening. If there is suffering going on that God does not want, then He would be able to stop that suffering since He also believed to be "all powerful", yet suffering still goes on. Why? Hopefully by the end of this paper I will be able to answer that for myself.
Not many people in the world today express happiness, we always hear about the bad and despair in the world around us. I try to stay happy and positive as much as I can, because I think happiness can be spread through the littlest things in life. In a world today where all you hear about is the bad going on around you, having something to hold onto and give you hope can change the outlook of that situation. I try to live all of my days by being positive and happy,