Whose Life Is It Anyway? by Brian Clark Essay

Topic (Biographical Essay): We are interested in learning more about you and the context in which you have grown up, formed your aspirations, and accomplished your academic successes. Please describe the factors and challenges that have most shaped your personal life and aspirations. How have these factors helped you to grow?

In the essay Defending My Life, author Geov Parrish tells the narrative of his personal experience with the medical field and healthcare industry regarding life-saving organ transplants in which he underwent. Throughout his narrative he brings up many key issues present in current day medicine that relate well to our BEST medical curriculum. The first issue involves behaviorial aspects of medicine and the importance of the patient’s perspective in care. The next issue involves the social and ethical dilemmas relating to the cost of healthcare and adequate access to proper care.

The concept of living “the good life” means something different for everyone. There is a general understanding that living “the good life” is associated with unyielding happiness and lasting satisfaction. The exact meaning of this desired life was pondered by thinkers and philosophers for hundreds of years. They constructed principals of behavior, thought, and obligation that would categorize a person as “good”. Although some of these ancient philosophies about “the good life” had overlapping ideas, their concepts varied widely. This contrast of ideas can be examined through two major characters in two famous works: Aeneas in “The Aeneid” and Socrates in “The Apology”. Aeneas exemplifies the philosophy that the direct route to “the good life" is through faith, trust in the Gods, and family, while Socrates in “The Apology” emphasizes free will, and vast knowledge of life.

“He’d always had a joke, then, too, and now you couldn’t get him to laugh,

238,900 miles away, the earth’s moon is one that is truly unique. With a given age of about 4.5 billion years the Earth serves a major role in real life and in the book Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. When catastrophe strikes, Earth takes a turn for the worst and great natural disasters occur. Thousands die, but there are a number of survivors. If there are survivors, how beneficial is the moon actually? What would happen if the moon had been destroyed? How necessary is it for human survival? The Moon, is a great benefactor to human survival because of the benefits earth gets from it.

A conflicting question hospital patients often ask themselves when faced with terminal illness is: Is it worth living out the rest of my life? This question is an extremely controversial topic when it comes to deciphering the correct answer and has arguments in favor and against assisted suicide. Allen Roberts and Scott Redd, doctor and theologian, are strongly against this ideology and believe it is morally incorrect to allow physicians to give the independence of such an important decision to terminally ill individuals.

What scale is being used to determine what a life is essentially worth? And who determines this? For most of our lives, we have grown up being taught that ‘All lives are created equally’ while this is important it is not entirely true. You would think that when you die your family could finally be at peace with no worries or fears but they tend to worry how you’re valued is being determined by law. I believe that everyone should be treated equally, even after death.

I could really understand “Life Story” by David Shields. Shields wrote his essay in all bumper stickers. It may seem as a mess, but it is not. It made sense. The bumper stickers combined a lot of life advice.

Nearly 70% of Americans will die in a hospital or care-facility, while this 70% would prefer to pass away in their own home. Most people with chronic diseases wish to avoid hospitalization during the end of their life (pbs.org).Vivian Bearing from the play, Wit by Margaret Edson, is diagnosed with stage 4 terminal cancer and is then immediately hospitalized. There, she is put into an intensive treatment program where it caused great physical and emotional pain to her. The more time that passed, the greater the decrease in Dr. Bearing’s quality of life. Being sick like this had caused Dr. Bearing to lose her independence, a quality she had greatly valued. She was forced to accept the loss of her self-reliance, and even worse, the fact that she was going to die. Often times the most difficult part of having a terminal illness is losing self-defining qualities along with coping with the weight of the looming fate. As shown in the play Wit, the diagnosis of a terminal illness often has devastating effects on one’s mental health, quality of life and independence, along with the struggle of accepting death. By understanding these conditions one can better prepare for the inevitable, while medical professionals can provide more appropriate support and care.

Today in our political society, the controversy around immigration is a key point in deciding where we stand in our community. Many are very tempted to judge an immigrant’s life without regarding the experiences they pass through in an alien country. This is my life.

What is the meaning of life? Well known Greek philosphers such as Socrates and Plato believed that our purpose in this life was to gain knowledge in preparation for the next life. Other Philosophers such as Epicurus believed that pleasure is the main goal in life. After giving these ideas lots of thought, I have come to my own conclusion that the true meaning of life is far more complex than either of these; far too complex for any human to fully comprehend. In fact these two different philosophies are only part of the grand picture. If it were that easy for men to figure out our lives wouldn't be so messed up now. The meaning of life revolves around many different things. I

     I can remember as a child always asking myself the “why” questions of life. What is the purpose of life? Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? Why do certain things happen? And is there really a God? I had always kept these questions to myself and eventually pushed them out of my mind altogether. I was raised in a Christian household and you just were not allowed to ask questions of that nature and doubt the faith. The world is the way it is because God made it that way and that is all there is to it. I was really excited to take this class because it would finally give me the opportunity to exercise my personal thoughts and beliefs. I have come to agree with Socrates that “the unexamined life is not

I can remember as a child always asking myself the "why" questions of life. Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? Why do certain things happen? And is there really a God? I had always kept these questions to myself and eventually pushed them out of my mind altogether. I was raised in a Christian household and you just were not allowed to ask questions of that nature and doubt the faith. The world is the way it is because God made it that way and that is all there is to it. I was really excited to take this class because it would finally give me the opportunity to exercise my personal thoughts and beliefs. I have come to agree with Socrates that "the unexamined life is not worth living." In my opinion life is a combination of

Life as we know it could vanish within seconds. The next day is not promised to anyone that walks on this earth. As we live our everyday lives peacefully, we tend not to think what our mission or purpose in life is. Instead, we think what we must do for that to be a “successful” person. Despite this way of thinking, just think for a second. What makes life meaningful? What is life anyway? These questions dive right into the heart of the philosophical, psychological, and the biological aspects of life and what the true meaning of life is. This is a very arguable topic due to every person’s different perspective on life and what it means to them. In summary, I personally think that life is simply what you make of it and each person’s accomplishments has its own merit

This explains the beginning of my life all the way to the end of my life. My life from the beginning was very fun as I grew up living with my mom’s friend and my friend. But there were a lot of fights and I was very hyper back then. I have ADHD so back then when I was little; I was very hyper and wouldn't stop moving around the place. I always was annoying back then and never seemed to get my homework done at school.