2014年10月11日韩国地区
Do people have freedom to make meaningful choices about the issues that really matter?
2014年10月韩国区SAT作文范文
Right choices are often difficult to make as there are often costs or barriers associated with them. However, this does not mean that one should not take responsibility to overcome the difficulties to make them, as those choices might be extremely important to others. This applies both to people who happen to be in the middle of historical events as well as at the turning of one’s own life, as demonstrated by Daniel Ellsberg and Christopher Reeve, respectively.
Daniel Ellsberg, a Pentagon employee, took the initiative to expose the lies about Viet Nam War told by American government. While working for the Pentagon, Daniel Ellsberg discovered a confidential document called the Pentagon Papers. The paper recorded the political-military involvement of the United States in Viet Nam from 1945 to 1967. Ellsberg realized that the American government systematically lied to its people about the purpose, outcome and number of casualties related to Viet Nam War. As a person who had lost loved ones in the war, Ellsberg believed that American people should know the truth. However, he also knew that leaking confidential information from the government would cost him his freedom for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, he decided to make the sacrifice and leaked the document to New York Times and other major newspapers. American people were furious after learning the truth and launched nation wide protests against the war. These protests eventually led to the early termination of the War and the safe return of many American soldiers. Although it was a really difficult choice between freedom and truth, Daniel Ellsberg chose the latter without doubt.
While Daniel Ellsberg had to choose between the benefit of other American people and his own, Christopher Reeve had to choose between living in despair and being useful. Christopher Reeve was best know for his role as superman before he became tetraplegic after being throw from the back of a horse. He then needed a wheelchair and breathing apparatus for the rest of his life. At first, Reeve fell in such deep despair that he even lost his desire to live. But after seeing the courage and optimistic attitude of the other patients at his rehabilitation center, he realized that he could still choose to live a meaningful life despite the tragedy in his life. He then started a new life campaigning for support to people with spinal cord injuries. He travelled all over the world to give public speeches to raise awareness and take active part in raising money for various charity foundations, despite the pain and inconvenience he suffered day and night. Since then, the foundations he worked for have donated over $65 million in spinal researches and provided $8.5 million to improve the life quality of patients. By choosing to live a life with a higher purpose, Christopher Reeve not only helped others, but also helped himself to transcend his own tragedy and lived a much fuller life.
Both Daniel Ellsberg and Christopher Reeve made the difficult but inspiring choices by themselves. As average people, although it is not likely we could do anything as significant as they do, we could still make liable choices in our daily life, for instance, caring more about our environment by wasting less water and electricity.
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