Essay 4 – Luck largely determines our lives

Another essay, but on luck and self-determination. Warning: it’s rather pessimistic but extremely convincing!

Qn: “There’s no such thing as luck. People determine their own lives.” Do you agree?

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves.”, quoting Shakespeare. As wise and as respected the late English poet may be, this may not necessary hold true in reality. Our lives, as affectionately as we call it ours, are often subjected to many determining factors that we have no control over. In adolescence, our parents make several important decisions for us. In a soccer game, the referee’s say is final. In work, the boss’s request is not a question but an order. As humans, it is not uncommon to find our lives in the hands of others or Fate herself. Therefore, I do not agree that there is no such thing as luck as it plays an important role in determining in every being’s life.

As we all know, life is unfair. Luck determines which part of the world you are born in, and more importantly, what kind of living conditions you are born into. These conditions are what determine the opportunities that create chances that are imperative to one’s future. A child born in a developed country to a middle-income family would definitely have more opportunities to education compared to one who is born in a country crippled with hunger, conflict or debt. Education, apart from many other privileges, is an important determinant to the type of life one will lead in the future. There is no denial that with better education comes better career prospects and hence, better standards of living.

Supporters of the opposing view may argue that with sheer determination, overcoming any odd is possible and people create their own chances and opportunities. It is always encouraging to hear such optimistic views but we must understand that it does not hold true in reality. For decades, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have suffered from extreme poverty and the concomitant effects that it brings to its people, particularly the children. There is almost zero chance for the poor children to break through their predestined fate of poverty and deprived opportunities, unless help comes. Then again, whether help comes, it depends on luck. Out of 10 African children living in poverty, barely even a quarter of them get by with a meal a day, let alone gain access to proper education. Furthermore, there is only so much that international humanitarian organizations can do when the problem of poverty is endemic and complex to resolve in the African nations. Luck plays an important role in determining how far such relief efforts can help them, and until luck reaches those who are in need, they can only pray in hope.

Luck determines the type of people one would meet throughout his life. From acquaintances to friends, potential soul mates to spouses, colleagues to bosses, almost everybody whom you meet affects your life one way or another, no matter the magnitude the difference he makes. It could be a simple gesture which breaks or makes your day, or it could be someone’s decision that changes your life forever. The decisions and the way people around you act can affect many aspects of life, including marriage and career. It is up to luck and Fate to determine what kind of people you would meet in life and the way they would change it.

Many argue that by being a people person with good social skills, doing the right things at the right time, there would be no relationship that you would not be able to sail through. As the old saying goes, “Do unto others as you want them to do unto you”. Be nice, and everything will be just fine. But sadly, we do not live in a land of milk and honey. No matter how well you treat others, it will depend on their receptivity, which very much depends on what kind of people they are. Then again, it depends on luck on who are they people who enter your life. Our lives are predestined by Fate and we have almost no autonomy to choose who we want to meet and how much as an individual we mean to them.

Luck too determines the physical features we are born with, and the subsequent choices that are available to us. The majority of us are lucky enough to be born with functioning limbs, organs and vision so that we are able to do the things that we like, play the sports that we love, go wherever we like independently. However, not everyone is blessed with such fortune. People with disabilities are not able to experience or excel at certain things in life that others do. Physical limitations are huge hurdles when it comes to areas such as independent mobility and sports. Many argue that it is still possible to defy the odds and do the impossible, such as Dr William Tan, neurologist who contracted polio at age 2 and is paralyzed from waist-down. His paralysis did not stop him from becoming a brain surgeon, nor being the first person in the world to complete 7 marathons across 7 continents in 27 days. Such willpower and determination is admirable but we must not forget that for every Dr Tan, there are perhaps thousands if not hundreds of thousands of disabled people who live incapacitated lives, restricted by their disabilities. Also, Dr Tan’s success was due partly due to his mother’s persistence in sending him to a regular school, who carried him on her back to school every day. Not every disabled person in the world would have such fortune to have such a mother or even opportunities that Dr Tan encountered. His case of success is greatly attributed to luck bringing him the chances that many can only dream to have.

All in all, luck determines the bulk of the opportunities and chances that life brings us. There are only so many opportunities that we can scour for, and the rest is up to fate and the results that it brings. Of course, when life brings us opportunities, it is up to us to treasure them and make the best out of these rare chances.  When things do not go the way we desire, we take lessons away from life to better prepare ourselves, albeit for the next big thing that Fate may throw at us.

Essay 3 – Why people have high expectations of medical science

One more essay on qn 5. It’s a good read for its style, voice and yet force of argument  without needing to be overly complicated. However, it does somewhat miss the POC of whether the high expectations people have of medical science are considered ‘too much’.

Enjoy!

Qn 5: ‘Medical science has been so successful that people now expect too much of it.’ Discuss.

Suppose you were a migraine-afflicted caveman in the Paleolithic era. You could choose to either take the pain like a [cave]man, or visit your local shaman, who would proceed to drill a burr hole in your skull in order to release the evil spirits within causing the pain. Fortunately, medical science has progressed tremendously since then, especially within the past two centuries. The Age of Reason brought forth a more rigorous approach to the field, replacing the evil spirit theory of epidemiology with modern bacteriology and virology, and in the process more than doubling the life expectancy of the average human. In light of this, it should come as little surprise that people mistakenly expect medical science to hold the solution to all of life’s maladies.

Although medicine has turned away from the supernatural, to the average person a doctor is still a sorcerer, and medicine but potions by another name. The fundamental cause of the excessively high expectations that people have for medical science is because of its esoteric nature: few beyond the medical profession actually understand the underlying science of medicine, and what it can and cannot do. The reason for this ignorance is simple — the population by and large is undereducated about medical science as knowledge of it would require specialized study in specialized institutions, something most people do not go through; furthermore a full comprehension of medical science would require a mental capacity beyond that of an average person, hence precluding the average person from attaining all but the most basic of medical knowledge. In short, the public is in a state of utter nescience regarding medical science. As a result of this, people are unable to judge for themselves if something is feasible or even possible, given the current state of our knowledge of medicine. The prevalence of pseudo-scientific treatments such as homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine and faith healing, especially among the least educated in society, should be proof enough of this. When the successes of medical science are in the eyes of the public indistinguishable from magic, it is inevitable that people would expect miracles.

If ignorance is the source of high expectations, however, then the popular media is the mechanism by which it is promulgated. A by-product of the success of medical science is that it has become a source of inspiration for science fiction, which liberally invokes the field as a catch-all explanation for its wild premises. Superheroes and monsters in science fiction have been more often than not results of medical experiments (usually ones that have gone awry). Yet, more often than not these medical procedures that have produced these fantastic beings either exist in a far more limited or primitive form in reality, or do not exist at all. Medical science in reality is still a long way away from the realm of limb regeneration and brain transplants, yet these things are presented to people as if they were plausible, at least in the imminent future. This gross misrepresentation of medical science has distorted the expectations of medical science among the general public, but yet goes unchallenged because it hides behind the shield of artistic license for entertainment purposes. To poke holes in science fiction is not only a futile effort, but a surefire way to attain the status of a wet blanket. Hence vehicles of popular culture are able to perpetuate a fantastic image of a medical science with impunity, leading—of course—to an equally fantastic level of expectation for the real medical science.

At its heart, the reason for the excessively high expectations for medical science and the successes of the field are one and the same: human ambition. As long as humans look toward a better standard of living, there will never come a day when we decide that medical science has done enough; humans will always seek to improve it. However, it is only with great success that one can have even greater ambitions. Perhaps a century or two ago it would have been a big deal to survive the common cold. Yet today, long after surviving the cold has no longer become an issue, research still goes on to make cures work faster, better and more efficiently, and it will not stop until the cold goes in the way of tuberculosis and smallpox (ie, completely eradicated). It is this tenacity hardwired within the human psyche that pushes medical science in an inexorably upward trajectory. And the further it advances, the more humans expect from it.

It is beyond a doubt that modern medical science has been immensely successful. However, its success has only fostered an illusion of exaggerated potential among those who don’t understand it, and served as fodder for storytellers and charlatans to draw upon. As long as there are people out there willing to believe that eating a tiger’s penis would invigorate his libido, the successes of medical science will always seem like a magician’s trick, and the audience will always be eager for an encore.

This is fun!

Hah, the comments are coming in. It’s fun to see all the nit-picking coming from you guys for once! And most of you were able to pick out the flaws in the arguments after all. Writers (I shall not identify you), feel free to defend yourself!

I shall be inviting more of you to put up your essays. Believe me, it’s good to hear from others; take it professionally!

Essay 1 – Hosting sports events causes more problems than benefits.

This is essay 1! Give your comments on the essay but no unnecessary flaming please! You may comment on its:

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6) HOSTING MAJOR SPORTING EVENTS CREATES MORE PROBLEMS THAN BENEFITS. Do You Agree?

Today, we see a world driven by a fanatic enthusiasm for sports. Whether it is the football fields or the cricket pitch, or even the spectator stands, we find that passion and love for the game is overwhelming. The craze around sports makes sporting events international extravaganzas and we find nations across the globe bidding to host them. This leads us to believe that sporting events bring about huge benefits to a nation, however we ignore the underlying countless problems which inevitably accompany the hosting rights. This essay will examine why hosting a sporting event, despite its claimed advantages, is largely a problem to the host country.

It is claimed, mostly by non-economists, that hosting sporting events result in the economic growth of the nation. Nations hosting major sporting events receive funds from international organisations like the International Olympic Committee, which are channelled into the renovation of the country in order to prepare it adequately for the approaching event. New projects inject money into the economy, thus stimulating it. Also with the international interest in the event, host countries may become tourist attractions, thus boosting hospitality and tourism industries. This is supposed to generate more jobs, greater income and better standards of living. However, this is a myopic view. The reality is hosting main sporting events is a major economic gamble. The sums received from international bodies are negligible given the scale of investment required and host nations have to pump in huge sums themselves. More often than not, the returns are insufficient to cover the costs. Greece, for example, spent US$15 billion (twice the estimated amount) on the 2004 Olympics and this overspending which was unavoidable given the importance of the event, has in no small part, nudged Greece into a financial abyss.  The benefits from tourism are short-term especially if the tourism industry was small to begin with, lasting only for the duration of the event. Thus, given the economic costs plus uncertainties, the sporting events create more problems than benefits for a country.

Another claimed benefit is that sporting events lead to development of a country’s infrastructure which benefits locals in the long run. In order to hold a successful event, governments invest heavily in transport and communication networks, hotels and sporting arenas, among others. An example is India where massive construction is being carried out in New Delhi at an unprecedented scale for the upcoming Commonwealth games. Opponents argue that locals will benefit from this infrastructure development in the long run. However, this is not necessarily the case as the investment is mostly channelled in specific areas, namely building state-of-the-art stadiums, luxury hotels and airports only in major cities hosting the event. Locals who mostly belong to middle-income families do not avail or benefit from these expensive facilities. Even in the long run, countries struggle to maintain these stadiums and buildings which grow redundant after the event, a sheer waste of resources. China still spends billions on ‘The Nest’ which serves no practical purpose today. Also regular businesses are upset as a huge amount of manpower is directed towards sporting events. New construction requires demolishing or relocating existing houses and offices, and often people are not compensated adequately. This breeds discontent among the locals and antagonism against the building authorities and the government.  Transport systems and traffic are also disrupted. Thus it is clear that sporting events create significant problems and practically negligible benefits for the locals.

Moreover, optimists claim that host nations, in spending enormous sums of money on their sporting facilities and sportsmen, thus improve the standard of sports in the country. The interest stimulated in sports in the country also helps in producing competent sporting talents in the future. While this may be true to a certain extent, the opportunity cost of investing in sports is huge. The inordinate funds spent on sports could be used instead to fund social programmes like education and healthcare which are pressing concerns. This is especially true of developing nations like India where income disparity is alarming and given limited government resources, diverting resources to sporting events will widen this income gap. Thus, as the benefits of sporting events are not spread evenly, they are a problem in the long run.

Finally, a major reason why nations bid for hosting rights is to gain international recognition to boost national pride. Sporting events are turned into a flamboyant display of a country’s economic, sporting and political might, and governments assume this will glorify the country’s international image. A perfect example is China which used 2008 Olympics to show the world that it had ‘arrived’. However, China’s Olympic success required colossal planning, something which all nations are not capable of. Sporting events, given the celebrities, huge crowds and media interest, are favourite targets of terrorists. A terrorist attack like the Munich Massacre in the Munich Olympics of 1972 can ruin a country’s image forever. Moreover, accidents in major sporting events, like the recent death of Georgian lunger, Nodar Kumaritashvili, in the Vancouver Winter Olympics, cause huge and often irreversible damage to a country’s reputation. Thus host countries face huge concerns in terms of vulnerability to terrorism and ensuring safety. Also, even if the event is a success, host countries may not be able to escape negative publicity, especially if they have skeletons in their closet. Intense media attention on the 2008 Beijing Olympics, unfortunately placed China’s human right abuses, internal dissent and strict censorship policies under greater international scrutiny and oppobrium than before. Thus major sporting events have a huge propensity of tarnishing a country’s image, thus bringing more harm than good.

As is evident, hosting sporting events has both its pros and cons; it depends on the individual country to decide whether it is capable of handling such a difficult responsibility.  A country which is still struggling with its economy and grappling with its international image and relations should not consider sporting events as an easy way out as there is a huge likelihood of things going wrong. Instead, only when a country is sure of its capacity to weather any storms hosting sporting events might bring, should it compete in the bidding race. Till then, it is better to patiently wait its turn.

Essay 2 – Hosting sports events brings more benefits than problems

This is the 2nd essay on the same question. Leave your  comments on which essay you find more convincing by comparing them in terms of:

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Sports have always been an integral part of human lifestyle. The Olympics today is no longer exclusive to the Greeks alone after their revival in the 20^th century. Today major sporting events such as the Olympics and World Cup are being held around the world. Hence to accommodate international athletes, such sporting events have to be organized in large cities having state-of-art facilities. Hosting sports events certainly benefits the host nations which is evident by the intense bidding to bag the rights to host one. Major sporting events bring more to a city than fan excitement. In addition to the thrills of game action, these events funnel millions of dollars into the host nation primarily through spending by the international spectators and investments by foreign firms seeking to expand their markets. Major sports events are often seen as a source of economic generation though there are definitely costs associated with hosting large scale sports events.

Hosting sports events stimulates regeneration, investment and long-term benefits. Developing infrastructure required for such events act as a catalyst for the development of hosting nations. For example, major sporting events usually require upgrades to transport and communication links. This investment leaves a lasting legacy for the whole economy. Better transport links reduce congestion and helps to improve efficiency for local business.  It may be argued that the money spent on these projects would be much better off used to build affordable homes and transport infrastructure which is designed with local residents in mind.  Moreover many of the sporting arenas may never be used in the future incurring high maintenance costs without any revenue being generated after the event. However this need not be the case with every event as better management sense dictates that the games village built to accommodate the athletes could be converted into low-cost government housing for the lower income groups unable to afford a private house. This will result in the better management of scarce resources while generating revenue for the government in addition to the utilisation of the land. For instance after the upcoming London Olympics, the UK government plans to hand-over about 15,000 of such units to the public. Besides the stadiums can be used to promote sports culture among the youth as good facilities will encourage more to embrace sports. Hence in view of the development of infrastructure resulting into growth of the nation, hosting sporting events continue to bring benefits even after their culmination.

Hosting major sporting events like the Olympics or the World Cup attracts millions of people for the month of the duration. These foreign tourists bring a boost to the local economy. In particular the local tourist trade, shops and hotels will benefit from the surge in visitor numbers. However, it is worth noting that these visitor numbers tend to be temporary. The major sporting event only lasts for a few weeks; potentially there could be many empty hotel beds in the future. Moreover businesses not directly involved may face disruption in their daily activities due to overcrowding and increased security measures. On the other hand people argue a major sporting event can lead to a long term growth in visitor numbers as the whole world follows such events. For example China has seen a surge in visitors after the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Barcelona continues to attract increased number of tourists after the Barcelona Olympics primarily due to the overhaul of the port and coast of the city creating an artificial beach and waterside cultural area that has since become a lasting tourist attraction. Hence even though hosting sports events involve huge costs, the long term benefits such as increased tourism ultimately brings benefits for the nation.

Typically hosting a major sports event requires preparations for the nation up to 4 or more years in advance. This creates job and higher income opportunities for the locals much before the actual event starts. These extra jobs help create a positive multiplier effect amongst the local economy. Arguably such events benefit only the host city with the rest of the nation being neglected as most of the funds are channelled into the host city. Moreover the host city is likely to be highly developed in comparison to other cities in order to win the sporting bid creating a scenario where growth and development are concentrated where it is least needed. Though the spill over benefits enjoyed by neighbouring areas cannot be completely ignored, there is always disproportionate distribution of funds associated when capital cities are chosen to host the events. Hence it becomes unfair for the country’s taxpayers to pay increased taxes for something they are not going to benefit from directly. Therefore it can be conceded that hosting major sports events which often results in additional taxes to finance it may not prove to be beneficial to every taxpayer.

As mentioned earlier sports events are often concentrated around a few major cities with the majority of the population left in the lurch. However this does not imply that there is no impact on the whole nation. Having captured the imagination of the whole nation, there is an increased promotion of sports among them which eventually benefit the entire population. There is excitement and awareness about different sports played around the world and many people send their children to learn such sports in the various training camps set up. The lasting impact of this will be a generation of young people who are excited about sports. Given rising levels of childhood obesity and declining interest in sport in schools, this can only be a good thing.

The cost of hosting a major sporting event has increased significantly in recent years due to heightened security measures besides the high levels of investment required. It is hard to meet these costs running into billions through sponsorship and ticket sales alone. However most governments are ready to incur some losses as hosting major sports events for many nations is a matter of prestige and a showcase of their economic prowess. The games have become political instruments to demonstrate a point due to the intense media coverage. The 1988 Seoul Olympics were used to demonstrate South Korea’s economic and political maturity and the recent Beijing Olympics is seen by many as evidence of China’s acceptance into the global community especially by the West and a platform to demonstrate her economic might. Even though the sporting events are unable to make immediate direct profits, they showcase the host nation to the world and for many developing countries as a sign that it had arrived on the world stage. Hence such events can work wonders for a country’s international image and stimulate investment for local businesses.

Hosting world sports events is a very prestigious affair today and all nations look forward to be able to host one, be it developed or less developed. Beside the many economic benefits brought about through such events such as development of better infrastructure, influx of foreign visitors, job creation and higher levels of growth, there is also an opportunity to improve the nation’s image in the eyes of the world after a successful event. Though there are always costs associated with these large scale events such as high expenses being funded through the taxpayer’s money, newly developed facilities being left unused and increased security measures in view of terrorist threats, these events provide a one-time opportunity for host nations to showcase itself to the world on such a huge scale. Therefore disadvantages aside, hosting major sports events certainly have their share of benefits for the host nations.