English language event 2006
sunway university college, 24 June 2006

THE WINNING ESSAY

Name: Varsha a/p Sivalingam

School: SMK Puteri

Question: In our determination to be ahead of the others we have abandoned humanity, ethics and decency. How far do you think this is evident in our society?

Man will do many things to get himself loved, man will do anything to get himself envied. The fundamental question would be how far would man be willing to go? Would they cross the boundary of humanity, ethics and decency? Would they forsake their principles to be ahead in this dog eat dog world? More importantly, if they did, would you be too ignorant to see it or worse yet, would you yourself be found guilty of this crime?

Take my dare. Open your mind. Leave all sense and reasoning behind. Prepare to see through a new pair of eyes, the masquerade of society that fails to be realized. First, we must examine human nature, for it is within every fibre of our being to be ahead, first, top of the hierarchy and the best. In truth, there is nothing wrong with this for it is ambition. And ambition is the foundation of progress of civilization. However, the Achilles heel of ambition is to forsake our principles and in doing so undo ourselves. The reason why society itself is not aware of the apparent abandon of humanity, ethics and decency is their misconception of what these principles truly are. I quote the graphic novel `V for Vendetta’, `It’s not inhumanity, it’s simply the lack of humanity’. We no longer see the word in black and white but choose to view it in a more comfortable shade of moral gray.

In my point of view, humanity would be our sense of empathy, understanding and so forth. We cheat, we steal, we lie without even flinching. The one thing I marvel at in the current age is how some people can lie off the top of their heads and not even feel the slightest remorse. I quote William Shakespeare in his play `Hamlet’, there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking it makes it so’. This was to show the heart of a person who had forsaken his humanity. Not only is this highly accurate in theory, it also applies in reality for society seems to have lost it’s sense of right and wrong.

When a natural disaster strikes, people seem to turn a blind eye though many will disagree. Think about it though, you watch the news, you hear that people have died, you hear their pleas for help, but then what? All you do is shrug and say `Yeah, that’s sad’ then proceed to switch off the television. Because for you to give a helping hand would take away your money, your time and be a detriment to your journey to win the rat race.

Even the youth has an apparent lost of ethics. The existence of cheating during examinations in school goes to show how hard core the lack of humanity is. Students will degrade themselves to cheat, for what? A measly `A’ just so he or she can be better than their classmates. Students cuss, blackmail and spread vicious rumours about their peers just so they can gain the top spot on the social hierarchy. In high school, to be `popular’ is to be ahead and teenagers will do anything to be popular.

In the work environment, only those who are ignorant still believe in working hard to get what they want. In the new age, sex, money and blackmail is in vogue. Workers bribe their bosses just to get a rise or a promotion. The saddest this is those who stick with their principles gets left behind. It makes a fool of the idea of equality that we hold on to and the cliché that good things happen to good people.

As for decency, well to be honest, there is not much to say is there? It has been long forsaken, eroded by the tides of time. No longer do we watch our demeanour when we compete. We give everything we have, every con, every lie, every trick of the trade, used in hopes to be ahead. We can give every inch of us away, every inch of us save one; our integrity. Yet our integrity sells for so little. But within that kept inch we are free. Alas, nowadays even that inch has been forsaken.

George Satayana once said `Those who fail to remember their past are condemned to repeat it. Though we have forgotten that there was an instance once during the Roman Empire that spoke at the same questions. Is abandoning humanity, ethics and decency in the name of ambition wrong? Yes, the answer was yet repeating it we are on a much larger scale. For back then it was a singular case, now it seems to be a pandemic.

Certainly there are those more accountable than others and they will be held accountable. But if you looking for the guilty, you need only look in a mirror. The devil can cite scripture for his purpose, yet we humans choose to cite ambition, the need for power, to evolve and be the best. We cite this for our purpose. Oh! How ignorant we are! Every beginning has an end, who would have thought we would be our own?