【☆09GRE作文冲刺组】ccd2月14日作文

ccdUID: 2535452

Issue 212
“If a goal is worthy, then any means taken to attain it is justifiable.”

The speaker asserts that if a goal is worthy then any means taken to attain it is justifiable. I conced that this assertion is apply to some certain situations in one’s life. In my view, however, whether any means taken to attain a worthy goal is justifiable should be determined on a case-by-case basis and should account not only for the definition of the “worthy goal” but also the influence brought by the means.

This assertion makes sense under some specific conditions in which one should do whatever he can do to attain a “worthy goal”. The most typical illustration is the war, where soldiers have to kill enermies to guarantee the security of their country as well as to protect themselves, and where stratagems and rumors are used to catch the victory. Setting the war aside, there should not have been any critque towards soldiers themselves but hymns for those historical heroes. Thus, the cruel means taken to attain the worthy goal are acceptable and justifiable.

However, the definition of the “worthy goal” should be cleared up in that the value standard differs from person to person, which will probably lead to a completely chaos in the society. People with different backgrouds and education have a different needs and expectation towards their contemporary life. A man brought up in a wealthy family may have an extreme dependence on money, so that making money becomes the most worthy goal for him; while a man who grew up in a literary family has a great possibility to be an informed person, and acquiring more knowledge can be his life-long pursuit. Actually, both of the goals cannot be called a “worthy goal”. A broad definition of worthy goal should be a great target fit in with the mainstream and the interests of the nation and its most people, a target good for bringing peace and happiness of the entire scoiety. Only in this major premise, can the assertion be valid.

On the other hand, with a real “worthy goal”, one should also take the influence of his means into considerations. Back to the example above, even if their goal is justifiable as the assertion, the former person might be a cruel boss who deprives his workers wages and escapes the tax and the latter one might steals books from library and bookshop: those means cannot be accepted by public no matter how worthy their goals are in that they are harmful to the others and the harmony of the society. That means what one does to attain a goal costs materially and morally, and finally should be judged by the social value system. Essentially, what they have lost is much more worthy than the goal itself, and they cannot afford it.

Simplely put, the assertion is valid only in a few situations. Until the speaker can give us a definition of the “worthy goal” and a consideration of the results, the assertion cannot be generalized.