So I was helping my friend/colleague for his Qualifying English Test(?) for his admission to NTU today. He had to write an essay of 250 – 300 words for it. We suggested that he practice on essay writing today (at work XD) so that we could check it for him. A friend of ours provided us with the subject title, and when he got to work, I decided “Why not?” and wrote my own version for it. Which turns out to be the monster below XD

Anyways the title is    To Make Progress, Humans Have to Pay a Price.

Anyone interested in posting a version of their own is free to do so ^^ I welcome any and all constructive comments/criticism.

Disclaimer : This essay is mine =) I accept responsibilities for any offending statements proclaimed in it. However any flames that comes flying my way for it, be prepared. I fight fire with fire XD

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It has been thousands of years since the beginning of mankind. In these millennia, we humans have seen vast changes in both ourselves and our living environment. From stone caverns, we have progressed far into several feet tall buildings made from a hybrid of metal and glass, materials that were not even heard of then. We sometimes wonder. Where do these advancements come from? And how do they come about?

Commonly, we assume, correctly, that it is because there is a need for it. But what drives this need? Why not stay in our stone caves for the rest of eternity?

The answer to these questions, is greed. As humans, we are always greedy and never satisfied. When we have stone caverns, we thirst for comfort. So we build houses to house and shelter us from the sun and rain. When we walk, we thirst for convenience. So we invent vehicles that can travel tens and hundreds of kilometers per hour.

These are but a few of the progress made by mankind over the multitude of years that we have walked on the face of the earth. And while we may claim that creating these inventions have helped us in a great many ways, many other actions that we take because of the same greed that fuels us do not.

Examples of such are the many wars fought by many countries over the various eras of the world. From the World Wars that involved tens of countries and brought about millions of casualty and deaths, to the battles fought in Ancient China where various tribes were extinguished in the conquering of the giant fertile land. These wars fought between men because of the greed for power, for riches and for the want of others to understand ones’ idealism, may have brought us progress in technology and research. But these advances have only been made at the cost of uncountable human lives.

Even progress such as the aforementioned vehicles, which had been made with the intent of convenience, has brought us a threat that literally runs deep into the earth. Harmful gases emitted from these technologically advanced machinery rise to the atmosphere and cause our climate to hike any various directions. The most recently discussed issue is Global Warming, a phenomena where the temperature of our environment rises, and will result in the death of flora and fauna, animals and even we humans.

These effects threaten our livelihood. But they are also brought about by none other than us in our search for progress. Had there not been progress in technology, Global Warming might not even exist. Yet if we decline from paying the price for progress, we would still be left in the Stone Age where we light fires by repeatedly knocking two stones against each other.

On a final note, I agree that we must always pay a price for progress, no matter how great it may be, or how soon this price would come. The real question, I believe, is whether the progress we make is worth the price that comes along with it.