Is it your duty to give to charity?

By definition, in the United States, charity, or a charitable organisation is an organisation that is organised and operated for purposes that are beneficial to the public interest. And duty the moral commitment that results in action, and it is not a matter of passive feeling or mere recognition. When someone recognises a duty, that person commits himself or herself to the cause involved without considering the self-interested courses of actions that may have been relevant previously. This is not to suggest that living a life of duty precludes one from the best sort of life, but duty does involve some sacrifice of immediate self-interest.

So if it is our duty to give to charity, it means that we recognise that we have to give to whatever organisation because we have made a commitment. But when we give to charity, does it involve some sarifice of self-interest? No, it does not, and surely giving some money for a worthy cause cannot be a sacrifice of self-interest. Therefore, it cannot be our duty to give to charity. Instead, I would say that it is very good that one gives to charity as that money may have helped some child pay his or her medical or school fees, or may have helped an elderly person find his or her next meal. Whatever it is, that money of yours is not wasted.

However, giving to charity is not duty as we give to charity out of our own free will. If someone from an organisation approaches us and askes for a donation, if we choose to donate, that is good, definitely, but if we do not, that does not mean we are bad either. The decision to give is made solely by ourselves. Do not get me wrong, I am not against charity but if it is our duty to give, everytime a person approaches us for a donation, we MUST give, if not, we would be perceived as bad or irresponsible people as we did not do our duty, and that cannot be the case.

What is happiness?

Happiness is a feeling and must be experienced. It can be described as the feeling when one is enjoying oneself.

What really is happiness and how do we experience it? Many people have the misconception that once one have the most material things, one is the happiest, and thus the go about slogging their guts out to obtain whatever items they think that can make them happy. Now let us find out how long this happiness can last them. Perhaps it satisfies them when they buy the item or items, or until it is out of fashion. At most, it can let them be happy until it has lost its use. This is considered as merely short-term happiness and not true happiness.

To me, I experience happiness knowing that I have the company of my family and friends, as I can be sure that in times of need, there is someone who can be my pillar of support, facing every setback that is thrown at me together. Such things cannot be bought or worked for, but can only be gained through years of true sincerity and friendship. If people have all the traits mentioned in this paragraph, they are the happiest and richest people in the world, even if they have very little assets.

If many people think something is true, is it true?

Even if majority of the people think that something is true, it may not be the case.

There may be a few possibilities. For example, people might have been misled by false information, either unintentionally or intentionally, therefore making the conclusion that something is true.

If you could eliminate one emotion from the world, would you? Which one? Why?

HATE is the root of why people in this world are not happy. Due to this emotion, people experience mental torture as it is uncontrollable, which can result in people doing stupid things and regretting their actions later.

People go to war as they have hatred, a form of hate, inside of them. If there was no hate in this world, people would be living in peace and harmony together.

When people are jealous, they are envious and therefore dislike the other party for having a certain material or privilege. Without hate, people would not be jealous.

Hate, when combined with anger, also plays a part in many murder cases, where the murderer has hatred towards the victim or victims due to his or her actions which are deemed wrong by the former.

However, hate can be seen on the positive side. A person may hate that his competitor or opponent is faring better them himself and thus work harder to improve himself, but alas! A competitive environment creates a lot of tension and hate.

By removing hate from the world, the root cause of enmity, unrest, unhappiness, and jealousy is abolished forever.

To conclude, I would remove the one emotion, hate, from the world, as it will also remove other evil emotions from the world together.

Should you criticise people or the opinions they have?

People should not be criticised for their opinions. Everyone has their own views and opinions, even if it is not a good one.

For example, if you were reprimanded by your parents when you failed a project, who said that you did not put in enough effort which resulted in the failure, you may disagree at that point in time, probably because you were upset, but if you were to reflect, your parents might well be right.

1st Semester as a secondary student

It has been almost half a year in secondary school and life has been filled with homework, homework, and more homework, but it is much more fun than in primary school. Besides, we have a big campus to roam about during recess!

We have assembly in the auditorium every Monday, which usually starts with a discussion on various topics, for example the recent conflict between STTA and coach Liu Guodong. Three panelists would be on stage stating their point(s) before the discussion was open to the floor.

We call Monday the "slacking" day because we have only Language Arts, followed by recess, then two periods of assembly and Infocomm Studies each, before ending with RTA(Arts and Acts of Persuasion).

However, Tuesdays are the busiest days. We have all the subjects (except RTA and PE) ! (to be continued)

Animal Farm : Chapter 1

Utopia is a name for an ideal community or society, taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempted to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in literature. "Utopia" is sometimes used pejoratively, in reference to an unrealistic ideal that is impossible to achieve, and has spawned other concepts, most prominently dystopia.

To me,