ISSUE16 - "Although many people think that the luxuries and conveniences of contemporary life are entirely harmless, in fact, they actually prevent people from developing into truly strong and independent individuals."
I can hardly agree with the author that, the luxuries and conveniences of the modern life can not keep people away from the true strength and independence.
To begin with, we should aware the meaning of the true strength and the independence. Some people, like the author, may believe that the true strong and the independence is the capability, by which we can live with less help from the circumstance, or we could survive with less resource. From that threshold, people with the luxuries and the conveniences of the modern life may hardly endure the long trudge, the hard physical laborious work, as our ancents (ancestor), who lived without such luxuries. In my opinion, that is not the case, or at least, not the complete story. The only thing such luxuries and conveniences can affect us is that we have less chance, but not the capabilities, to face those problems that once troubled with our previous generations. In fact, nowadays, we are dealing with more problems much more sophisticated than our ancestor. Consider the Space Shuttle Discovery, the real convergent device, collected endeavors from various fields. Many of the equipments in it are to facilitate astronauts. Remember， the objective of the space travel is to understand our environment and ourselves, to make a brighter future of human beings, to make us more strong and independent.
Next, sometimes, the luxuries and facilities reflect people’s strength and independence. A weak person can not control himself, and a feeble one can not change the situation or world to be suitable for his survival. Needless to say, along the history of human beings, we become more and more powerful and independent. Consider the sunrise and sundown affected the work hours in the Middle Age, A newspaper delivering for weeks before its arrival, the trip from the Africa to the Rocky Mountain spending millions of years, while we just need 6 hours by the latest jet. All add to the pile of evidence. All these tell us that, without such facilities making our life easier and more convenient, we can hardly claim that, we are more powerful than before.
In addition, the luxuries may become necessities later. The PC (personal computer) is a sound example. Four decades ago, PC is certainly a luxury, and only the richest ones could have. Now, it has become a common thing in the average families. That is a real boon to us. With the help of it, a Chinese student could visit the JFK Library. We could give the routine calculation to a procedure, and save time to spend with our families. An oversee student could see his parents in his hometown when equip with a video device. All those tell the story.
In sum, it is unfair for the author to blame the convenient life to make us losing the strength and independence. In fact, it is the convenient life reflects our strength and capability to make the environment more suitable to us. As for the luxuries, some time it may become the necessities.
发表于 2010-2-21 20:22:52
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