Is the Sacrifice Worth It - Assignment Example

Assignment “The sacrifice which causes sorrow to the doer of the sacrifice is no sacrifice. Real sacrifice lightens the mind of the doer and gives him a sense of peace and joy. The Buddha gave up the pleasures of life because they had become painful to him,” and truer words have not been spoken by Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Indian nation. (Mahatma Gandhi Quotes) It is a matter of great commonality to think about what a person should sacrifice and whether or not the same is ever worth it. The question arises when a person must give something or someone up for the greater happiness of someone else even though it might cost a great deal including the happiness of the man willing to give something up for another. Thus, what is worth sacrificing for; is it happiness, morals and ethics, or just about anything else, materialistically speaking, that would make someone else happier than the person giving it up was when he owned it? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word sacrifice has been defined as ‘something given up or lost’ or ‘destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else’. (Sacrifice-Definition) These are by far the most befitting definitions of the word because they help to comprehend how the act of sacrificing something works. It usually involves something someone owns as his personal object, to be given or offered away to another being. Taking historical events into account, one can understand how different people went through a great amount of sacrifice to achieve the stance that they have in life today. For example, during the colonial period, there were a number of countries around the world that were bound by the shackles of oppression and force by other powerful nations. The British invaded India and tried to exploit the local people and drain away all the resources of the country in order to befit their personal welfare and betterment; the French conquered Vietnam and tried to abuse the locals by forcing upon them their language and way of life; the people of Zimbabwe were forced to give up their political prowess and subsequent freedom that followed with the same; and the Germans tried to assert their authority over the Jews. All these instances have one thing in common - the people that formed a part of the minority were forced to sacrifice their freedom and lives for the people who they were forced to be under. However, was the same worth sacrificing for? According to historians and philosophers, it was not, because the sacrifice did not involve a happy ending. The Indians were unhappy because they were being denied the rights to use their own resources and bring about development within their own country; the Vietnamese people were being forced to give up their personal and national identity and adopt the lifestyle of the French despite the kind of difficulty it was proving to be; the Jews did not even have a choice because it was their lives that they were forced to sacrifice during the Holocaust; and the people of Zimbabwe have faced a vast amount of political as well as ethnic challenges. (Magasia, T. Alex) All of these aspects that have been sacrificed during the past by different groups of people go against the quote that Gandhi said. According to him, a sacrifice is not worth it if during the course of it, the person giving something of his own up is not happy about it. Thus, this helps to answer the question pertaining to the topic, what exactly is worth sacrificing for. It is now clear, that one should only give something up if he is happy to give it up; if not, then it tends not to be a sacrifice, it ends up being something that has been snatched away for selfish reasons. Keeping this in mind, it is important to note, that in the examples provided earlier, the Indians, Jews, the Vietnamese and the Zimbabweans were ‘forced’ to sacrifice their freedom, lives and daily living. Their happiness was taken away on purpose even though they were not happy about it. But it is a sacrifice, because they wanted to continue to live and exist somehow, thus in exchange for that, they had to give up their freedom and happiness. Coming to modern times, most people rely on and believe in the philosophy of thinking and living life. Most people have now begun to understand the spiritual way of living life, and many are even trying to come on the path and adopt it. It is very important to have a strong idea of what a person’s own character and personality is in order to finally help him gain his own self esteem and confidence. While doing this, a person will be able to understand how vital it is to be happy and understand that being happy is something that is everyone’s birth right. It is against ethics and morals for someone to interfere in the use of someone else’s personal enjoyment of feelings, emotions as well as things. People, who do intervene, tend to cause trouble and hatred as well as lead to sowing the seeds of negative emotions in other people’s lives. However, the question is whether or not it is imperative to sacrifice this happiness for other people? (Chini, Bucky) Sometimes however, it is important to try and make one’s own conscience understand that giving up your own happiness will make someone else happy. This is what our elders have taught us, and it is the message of the universe as well; to engage oneself in the service of others is the best way of living life. While trying to sacrifice one’s happiness, one will also be able to see who else in his or her life is willing to do the same for him or her in times of need; and this is how a person can come to the conclusion of who his or her real friends are. Usually, people do not comply with making someone happy if it means carrying out certain actions at the cost of their happiness, however, most people finally understand that if others are happy, then that is what makes them happy, and their purpose has been met. This is what sacrifice should be, and this is when a person’s happiness becomes worth sacrificing for. (Michele) In conclusion, it is worth sacrificing something if it makes a person happy enough to be able to do it. Sacrificing is a very hard task because the person who does it does not usually get anything materialistic in return, however, one may try and see that when a sacrifice is made for a good cause, a person does receive some kind of happy feeling within himself and that is more than enough to help him comprehend that the sacrifice that was made, was completely worth it. Sacrificing out of force sometimes, might also be worth it because it helps people live their lives. For example, if a person is threatened to exchange his wealth in order to keep his life by a robber, then he has no choice but to go ahead and do it even though the sacrifice might not make him happy. But in the end, he is still getting his life, which is more than anything else. It is not worth sacrificing one’s life for anything else; however there have been many instances where people have gone ahead and given up their lives for other people or causes. Looking at some of the greatest martyrs in the world, this example comes in handy because such people had the power to stand for their rights, and the status they have been able to achieve today is because of their ‘desire’ or actual want to give their lives up for the betterment and growth of their countries or their motives. Therefore, the things in life worth sacrificing for are emotions and feelings like happiness, and material aspects of living like wealth and money for causes that would help out people in need. Money might be required for the happiness of other people; for example giving away donations to charities and people in poverty. If happiness is required to be give up to make someone happy, then one should go ahead and do it if he is feeling good about it. Subsequently, people will find out that carrying out the task might take a lot out of them or prove to be very heavy on them, but will be finally worth it. Works Cited "Mahatma Gandhi Quotes." Find the Famous Quotes You Need, ThinkExist.com Quotations.Web. 30 May 2011. . "Sacrifice - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Web. 30 May 2011. . Magasia, Alex T. "Independence: Was It worth the Sacrifice?" Opinion. 11 Dec. 2009. Web. 30 May 2011. . Chini, Bucky. "Life Part III - Is It Worth Sacrificing Your Happiness For Others? JQuery(function(){ JQuery('ul.superfish').superfish(); });." ManWhole.com - Man Growth. Web. 30 May 2011. . Michele. "Scanlon and Well-being - 2. Moral worth and Self-sacrifice." Philosophy Journal. 11 Jan. 2007. Web. 30 May 2011. . Read More