True love is a rare commodity and is not found by all. Siddhartha seemed to have found this in Kamala, but because he was so focused on himself he just used her for physical pleasure. Siddhartha’s worst abandonment, as he continued his search for a good life, is when he leaves his Kamala. Although they were both using each other Siddhartha seemed to think that leaving her would help him achieve Nirvana. He not only broke her heart, but also unknowingly left her pregnant with their son. By leaving his Kamala, Siddhartha abandoned what could have been a key part of his good life: a loving relationship with his son. Studies show that children without their fathers are more likely to rebel and in essence not achieve the best good life because they are constantly in trouble. That is exactly what happened to Siddhartha’s son. Once he found he had a son he did try to make up for it, but the damage was already done.
From the beginning of time humans have been waging war against each other is attempts to reach the good life. Taking our quest to this extreme, to kill a fellow human being, seems a bit extreme. We justify our actions by saying it is a necessary evil, but when we really think about it we are taking away some else’s life, obviously taking away chances at achieving the good life. In the video “The Good Fight,” Americans have taken into their hands the good life of the Spanish people in fighting Fascism. Though they are before Martin Luther King’s time, they are taking into action “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”(King, “Letters from Birmingham Jail”) These men fighting in the Spanish Civil War, on both the Republicans and the Fascist side, are risking taking someone’s life to achieve their good life. It is evident that in war that the definition of what is right and wrong and good and evil may be very different by both sides. In war there is always a winner and a loser and never a tie, so if you disregard which side you root for and you just focus on the fact of people achieving the good life, someone always loses the chances of achieving their good life. Even if war makes political changes that benefit the quality of life as a whole, there will always be a few individuals not happy with the situation they are placed.
In the 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. and all other colored people were living in a situation where they were not happy. Dr. King approached seeking a good life by fighting for his human rights in a non-violent way. Though Dr. King did it in the nicest way possible, technically he declared and waged war on racists and all those who discriminate against colored people. His good life entailed equal rights for whites and blacks, but the good life of his enemies entailed “separate but equal” utilities for whites and colored. Dr. King was sick of inequality amongst African Americans and wanted to have the same opportunities to achieve a good life as those who were white. While many of the whites were living their good life in their own little “white world,” the colored were not allowed to go to the same school, or eat at a the same restaurant and even not allowing them to drink out of the same drinking fountain. This war still has many battles being fought but they main battle has been won. Even though Martin Luther King himself never got to see the end of his non-violent war, he eventually achieved the good life for his people. His achievement meant that those radical racists do not live their good life in which whites are the “supreme” race. Dr. King’s fight was much less selfish than Siddartha abandoning everyone who ever loved him or the soldiers killing fellow humans, but to those that Martin Luther King was fighting, he was being very selfish in thinking that blacks should have equal rights.
Life is full of choices and some of these choices are bound to hurt some people in our lives. We are constantly told to live life to the fullest and my personal favorite quote “live life passionately.” But when this passion hurts others is it worth living life passionately? Maybe we have to decide who can achieve the good life in the survival of the fittest kind of way. Some people may believe that when in search of the good life you have to be selfish, and if you are just selfish enough you can get where you want to go, but is this selfish move worth the cost? We could compromise our dreams to help others achieve the good life, or maybe if we put our selfish human nature aside we can work together to help everyone get to their good life. Everyone is different and because of this everyone will always have different opinions and stands on things, but if we all worked together to help each other to achieve our good lives this game we play called life will have far more winners than losers.
Works Cited
"The Good Fight (V of XII)." Youtube.com. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLM4aHQVKw4&feature=related>.
Hesse, Hermann, and Hilda Rosner. Siddhartha. Toronto: Bantam, 1971. Print.
King Jr., Martin L. "Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]." African Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html>.
by
brittbutler14 (student)
