Optimism

Recent research has shown that optimism is hard-wired into the brain as an evolutionary trait, and allows human beings to function in the face of failure, rejection, and death. (TIME, 6 June 2011) How would the world be different is human beings were not inherently optimistic?

If humans were not inherently optimistic, there may be more people committing suicide, countries may not be able to function well, and there might not be much improvement happening in the human race.

If humans are not inherently optimistic, there may be more people committing suicide. According to http://www.nhs.uk, depression is the number one cause for suicide. Without optimism, people may think negatively on every single issue, and this might cause depression, as they are unable to think positively on issues, making them feel worried when they encounter problems. However, with optimism, people will be able to move on with life as they will feel optimistic of their future. Therefore, if optimism is not hard-wired into the brain, we might be pessimistic, or not optimistic and this might cause a rise in suicide cases.

Countries may not be able to function well without optimism. This is showed by the fact that most, if not all countries were affected by economic crisis that happened. Countries need optimism to imagine a better future and this will allow a country to continue functioning as they would want to achieve the goal of a better future. However, if the people of the country felt pessimistic about their country's future, they might seek for better countries through immigration. This is supported by the fact that the undesirable conditions in a person's country is a leading cause for immigration. If too many citizens of a country migrate to other countries, this might cause the country to be unable to function as there is a lack of manpower. As a result, if optimism is not hard-wired into the brain, people might be pessimistic about their country's future, and this might cause a country to be unable to function.

Without optimism, there might not be much improvement happening in the human race. This might be due to the fact that optimism is a key factor in venturing to the unknowns, as only with optimism, one will feel optimistic about the unknowns, and then will one go and learn about the unknowns. This refers to learning. Without optimism, we might not try to find out what we do not know, and we will remain stagnant. According to the TIME Magazine, "To make progress, we need to be able to imagine alternative realities --- better ones --- and we need to believe that we can achieve them." Only with optimism, will one be optimistic about his ability, which will motivate him to achieve his goals, and through this process, he will learn and make progress. As a result, if optimism is not hard-wired into the brain, we might be pessimistic and will make little progress in life.

Therefore, if optimism is not hard-wired into the brain, improvement in the human race might be slow, suicide cases might increase, and countries might not be able to function properly.

Reflection

After doing this expository essay, I realized how important optimism is to us. In the past, I did not really felt the power and influence of optimism. Every single time I failed in a test, I received the results, feeling very upset, losing appetite and becoming lethargic. However, after a night's sleep, I seem to forget the upset of the failure, but yet became more alert in the areas that I fared badly. All this came naturally to me, and this was how I learned and improved. Now, I realized that this was all caused by one thing, optimism. Optimism can act like a reflex action, without our knowledge, but its influences on how we constantly improve ourselves are greatly beneficial. Also, optimism is the thing that drives us to discover new things, as when we see the unknown, we tend to venture into it, as we are optimistic that the findings will be beneficial. I believe that optimism is also the reason why we are so interested in adventurous activities. In fact, I think it also explains the reason why we feel happy when we are creating something original, In conclusion, I believe that optimism is important to us, as it drives improvements, drives discoveries, drives learning and it drives success.

A one hundred word sentence without punctuation

Ten gangsters surrounded me in a huge circle and the pure thought of how their knifes and hammers are going to crash onto me make me scared to the extent that I could feel my leg muscles moving uncontrollably and the amount of sweat that I had excreted was more than what marathon runners would give out but I forced the fear out of myself by causing myself to be angry by thinking about how I would beat them and hit them till they faint in revenge of their planned attack on me which was about to be executed in the aim of forcing me to enter their gang by attacking and threatening to kill me if I continued to be so stubborn but at the same time offer me a good life if I agreed to join them in their wrongdoings.

Same-sex marriage

Same sex marriage will not ever become legal in Singapore. This is due to the fact that many people do not accept same sex marriage in Singapore, it may further decrease the birth rate in Singapore and also, it might cause health problems.

Traditional beliefs play an important role in preventing same sex marriage to be legal in Singapore. The majority of the population, the Chinese, Indians and Malays have always supported the idea that same sex marriage is wrong and should not be legalized. Most Chinese have the idea that a complete family is made up of husband, a male and wife, a female, together with their children, and they treat children as blessings. However, for same sex couples, it is unlikely that they would have children of their own. As for the Malays, many of them feel that same sex marriage is a sin and that having sex with the same gender is worst than rape. This is further supported by the Islam law. As a large percentage of Singaporeans feel are against the idea of same sex marriage, the government would not want to enrage them by legalizing same sex marriage. Furthermore, there is no point legalizing same sex marriage because since most Singaporeans do not support same sex marriage, they would not marry another person of the same gender. Therefore, same sex marriage will be bad to the country as it might cause widespread unhappiness from its citizens, and the government would not legalize same sex marriage for fear that the citizens might be very unhappy.

Same sex marriage might cause a further decrease in the already very low birth rate in Singapore. According to The Straits Times, a newspaper company, the total fertility rate in Singapore has dropped to below 1.2 children per woman. The legalization of same sex marriage might further worsen this problem as it is impossible for two men or two women to produce children. Singapore is already facing the problem of lack of talent. With the legalization of same sex marriage, the population size will become even smaller, meaning that less talented people will be able to help create the new technology needed for high value added products to be made. This will also cause a drop in productivity of the Singapore, and this is unattractive to Multinational Corporations. Also, the small population could cause a lack of defence as the amount of able-bodied man in Singapore will decrease. Therefore, the government would not legalize same sex marriage as they would not want to risk the defence and economy of the country.

Same sex marriage might cause health problems. Prejudice, and discrimination caused by negative societal attitudes toward homosexuality lead to a higher chance of mental health disorders among same sex couples as compared to their heterosexual peers. By allowing same sex marriage, youths might think that being gay or lesbians is alright, but this might cause parental rejection, causing 8.4 times higher chance of attempting suicide, 5.9 times more likely to suffer from serious depression, and 3.4 times more likely to use illegal drugs. The possible negative effects of same sex marriage are very serious and the legalization of same sex marriage could cause serious health problems to many people in the long run. Therefore, the government would not want to cause all these health problems to their citizen by legalizing same sex marriage.

Since same sex marriage is harmful to the economy, defence and citizens of Singapore, the government would not legalize same sex marriage for fear that Singapore will face many new and serious problems once the legalization of same sex marriage has been done. Therefore, same sex marriage would not be legal in Singapore.

Reflection

After doing this expository essay, I feel that actually there are actually many factors the government needs to consider before implementing any plans, or legalizing any law. Firstly, the government needs to think from the people's point of view. In this case, the government needs to understand that as the majority of the population in Singapore is Asians, and as Asians are quite conservative, legalizing same-sex marriage may enrage a large population of the citizens. If the government did not take into account of the feelings of the people, they would lose votes and may not be able to continue being the government. Also, the government needs to take into account of the defense of the nation and the health of the citizens. If the government legalizes same sex-marriage, the nation's defense will be at risk and there will be an increase in health problems. This might result in speculation, and people might not feel that this government is worthy of the job as they allowed the nation's, peoples' health to be at risk, which might enrage the citizens, causing less people to vote for the government in the coming election. Thus, in order to protect itself, the government must consider the citizens possible feelings before acting. Although people might have the human rights to conduct same-sex marriage, sometimes the government cannot legalize it, as the citizens' responses might not be positive. In conclusion, I think that the government's actions are only based on the citizens' possible responses and that sometimes the government needs to consider many factors like the people's responses, causing some laws to be unable to be legalized as the people might be enraged and stop voting for the government if the law was implemented.