The Paradox of Sacrifice Essay

“When you go in search of honey, you must expect to be stung by bees.” ― Joseph Joubert. According the Merriam Webster Dictionary “sacrifice” is defined as “destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else”. The second definition is “something given up or lost”. Do you really understand the definition of sacrifice? Have you ever felt like you’ve sacrificed something for a greater gain? Sacrifice can be a hard thing to do sometimes but the action that belongs to the word has changed the course of history time after time.

Imagine laying on the floor of the building that you would come to every day. My leg crushed to the point where I couldn't move with out bringing tons of pain. The first couple of hours of me being trapped I began to hear moment of people. Someone had came to the building looking for survivors, they try to help me

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory which acts as a guideline on how people should act in certain situations and was first introduced by a hedonist (pursuer of pleasure) named Jeremy Bentham who put forward the ‘Principle of Utility’ which said “The greatest happiness for the greatest number”. Utilitarianism is a theory which bases on the end purpose (teleological) of achieving pleasure, our decisions should be based on consequences in pursuit of the principle of utility (consequentialist) and is a theory which judges each situation independently (relativistic).

Throughout A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens creates several scenarios in which the main characters are called to sacrifice their personal comfort and pleasure as a means of serving the people they love. In some cases, these personal sacrifices resurrected or brought other characters in the novel back to life. Furthermore, these sacrifices signify the sacrifices all people must make to live a selfless life directed toward following God’s plan. In addition to advancing the plot, the main characters’ sacrifices improve the lives of other characters in the novel. However, in such cases, life is often traded for life as the sacrificial lamb must sacrifice his life to resurrect or save the life of another character.

How could a novel character from a Charles Dickens book be related to a famous spokesperson of education? In the novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton makes the ultimate sacrifice by giving up his life for the happiness of Lucie, the girl he loves. In real life, Malala Yousefzai, a sincere believer of education for everyone in Pakistan, shows her willingness to do anything and make any sacrifice for what she believes in. Sydney and Malala are comparable in that they both are willing to stand up for what they believe is the right thing to do by sacrificing their lives if it became necessary.

Sacrifice is honestly a big deal. not only are you giving up something of yours, but your doing to make someone or something better.

I was anxious, frightened, and excited all at once. If I don’t do this now I will never convince myself to ever do it. As I stood at the top hill with my bike and a million thoughts running through my head. Pleased with myself that I was finally going to do it. This is it, at a slow, gradual pace I started to pedal at an agonizing slowness. Beads of sweat poured down my forehead. Realizing how frightened I actually was, I no longer want to go. Never the less, It was too late. Quickly picking up speed, as I zipped down the driveway. Suddenly, all control was gone, the gavel was too loose. Trying to stop, I squeezed the brakes as tight as I possibly could. Nothing seemed to matter though, no longer did I have control of my bicycle. Drifting from side to side, I’d never felt so much panic and fear in my life. All of the sudden my tire struck a large rock that was sticking up and sending me barreling over the handlebars, onto the jagged gravel, the bike still clutched tight in my grip. As I was falling, the though to let go of the handlebars never occurred to me until it was too late and the bike landed on top of my ribcage. Pain shot through my body. What I feared most was no longer a fear, but a

Using no context, historical or literary, I completely endorse this verse because that means people who eat meat will ultimately be stronger in faith. Which is great for me, because I love eating meat! But fortunately for those veggie lovers out there, hope remains. Obviously, my claim is ridiculous because I am not approaching the verse in a historical context to the passage. Without historical context, I am making a fool of myself, so allow me to appear a bit more intelligent. To begin, historically, Jews have had quite the strict diet, which may have caused some of them to eat more veggies than meat. This was not just for their health but also for them to keep the Old Covenant and therefore honor God. So, when some of the Jewish Christians

Her cold latex hands took hold of my bare arm as she pulled it toward her and said with a smile, “this will only hurt a bit!” I felt a chill go through my body as the hypodermic sword pierced my skin. The white walls around me seemed to be closing in like a vignette photo, darkening around the edges and becoming blurry until suddenly, darkness. I was floating upon a puddle of dark abyss. I laid there for what seemed like hours until my limp body hit the tile floor. I awoke in a daze moments later, my feet being held above my now dizzy head and feeling like I had been hit like a truck. “What happened?” I mumbled as I began to sit up. The room, now filled with doctors and nurses, erupted in voices insisting I lie back down.

My body is being dragged into the bathroom by my friend and two of my dance teachers. Paper towels are drowning in my blood that is dripping down the back of my head. My numb body is being tugged into a chair, right next to my dance team's dressing room. The rest of my studios team and teachers came out.

We often speak of “utilitarian” solutions in a negative manner, but it’s very probable that every human being will have to make a “utilitarian” decision at least once in their lifetime. Although I don’t agree with most “utilitarian” point of views, in some cases utilitarianism is a demanding moral side that brings benefit for the sake of the majority. In this case, I give you a matter of life and death.

On my way towards the bike I had removed my shirt I mean I was a little kid I did not know not to take my shirt of when riding a bike. I got on the bike and started to do bunny hops in the street, by this time I was confident in my skills. So I convinced myself to stand on the handle bars of my bike and that is when my face grinded against the ground along with my body. I could not feel what I had done to myself until I turned around the street light show multiple cuts on my chest and blood slowly seeping out of them.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is an unforgettable, powerful and heartrending novel of two friends bonded by childhood and of the forces that tear them apart. Amir, the protagonist, is a young boy who is constantly faced with the challenge to stand up for what is right, however, he always fails to fight his own battles and constantly depends on his friend, Hassan, for aid. Amir is emotionally unstable due to deprivation of love from his father, who is his only source of affection. He yearns to be accepted and acknowledged by his father, and he is prepared to do whatever it takes to earn his affection. On the day of the kite tournament, Amir sacrifices his friend’s innocence for the blue kite, which he believes will earn him Baba’s respect. However, Amir’s sacrifice of Hassan’s innocence is not worth Baba’s endearment and this can be clearly seen through; the loss of his childhood, the guilt that eats him from inside and the love which only lasts him momentarily.

“Walking on the road to Jerusalem, The time had come to sacrifice again, My two small sons, they walked beside me on the road, The reason that they came was to watch the lamb… ‘Daddy, daddy, What have we seen here?, There’s so much that we don’t understand,’ So I took them in my arms, And we turned and faced the cross, Then I said ‘dear children watch the lamb’” (Boltz n.p.). Did Jesus only feel pain and anguish, or did he feel joy on the cross too?

Sacrifice. One simple word brings to mind two completely different images.  Today, sacrifice is most often thought of as a noble and beautiful act, but also one painful-emotionally, mentally, and physically-involving the surrender of something highly valued for the sake of something deemed of superior value.  On the other hand, when done in the name of religion, sacrifice may involve the offering of a gift to some deity in worship or propitiation.  Usually when sacrifice involves the latter, the connotation of the term darkens, for the dominant image is of ritual slaughter. Generally, we do not think of mothers or children as being the victims of this type of sacrifice.