Question

I have to write a 500 word essay on what i believe is more important, self-preservation, or preservation of country..or are they both as important.. I dont really care of the opinion i just need to pick one and need 3 reasons why i believe that, i really dont even know where to start and what they really even mean.. please help id really appreciate it! God Bless!(: thanks

Answer 1

I would go with preservation of the country

Answer 2

I think there's a lot you can do with this idea, but one way of looking at it is, on the extreme, you either do everything you can to protect yourself, or you give up everything to protect others (your country).

Someone who believes highly in preserving the country might be a soldier. Additionally, it might be someone who votes for something he/she believes might be good for the country, but not necessarily good for him/her (like voting for higher taxes in order to fund something that won't personally benefit you).

Someone who believes highly in self-preservation might vote in favor of laws that positively affect that person more than the community as a whole.

I think you could make a lot of arguments for either side. On the self-preservation side, we have to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others. Think of the masks on an airline and how we're told to put our own masks on first. You might argue that protecting what we value most is essentially good for everyone, because we will only truly care about what we have a vested interest in. You might also say that while a mother bear might respect or even love other cubs, she's going to defend her own at all costs. Also, maybe we really only truly know what we want, and therefore that's where our focus should be.

On the flip side, you might argue that a society of people who only fight for their own needs is a society that doesn't get anywhere, make any progress, or compromise. You might argue that self-sacrifice is more powerful than self-preservation, and that a society formed around that idea would be much more productive, peaceful, whatever. You might argue that pure self-preservation is anarchy, and that even in anarchy people would probably band together and therefore not be totally bent on self-preservation.

And taking both sides, you might find that the two are necessary. I think it would be very difficult to argue that either isn't important at all, but maybe you think one is more important than the other. Or maybe not.

Hope that helps. Just a little brainstorming.