Kai Ohlig

English 10

Anna Klasen

9th Jan. 2014

I agree! I disagree!

1.    The punishment for murder should always be death.

a.    I disagree with this statement, because it’s hypocritical. When telling someone not to kill, but then kill them, then this rather indicates the right to kill. Also, two deaths won’t make the murder any better. When killing the murderer, he/she can’t learn how to avoid a murder and what the emotional and physical consequences are. Therefore I think the death penalty should be lifelong jail.

2.    Teenagers can’t understand what true love really is.

a.    I disagree, because most teenagers don’t experience love and they can’t fully understand it when they haven’t felt it. They might have an idea, but apart from that they have a crush and usually don’t love someone else. Even if they have a crush and try to establish a comparison to love, they can’t fully understand true love. There might be exceptions, but it happens very rarely that a teenager falls in love. Usually teenagers have a crush.

3.    Killing someone in revenge for killing a close friend is okay.

a.    I strongly disagree with that statement, because killing in this state doesn’t help. It won’t get back the friend it only makes another person become a murderer. A better revenge would be jail, or show them what they have destroyed. This would also be a great message to other people that wants to commit a crime upon someone else, if they see that a person who did the same thing suffered emotional problems after.

4.    Good friends should stick together at all times no matter how wrong a friend may be.

a.    I didn’t take a side, because it’s acceptable if a friend leaves a friend when he committed a crime or shows that they don’t care about their friend. If they’re just up for the money, then they aren’t real friends though and therefore don’t fall in this category. However, no friendship should split, just because of different opinions. Friends are people you can trust and you’d never want to leave those people.

5.    Parents should make the decisions about their children’s lives.

a.    When the children are small, the parents have to make the decisions for them. As a baby, they don’t know what’s right and wrong yet and therefore need someone else to support them. To add on, the parents have to spend money on their child and have the full right that they say that their child can’t spent their money for certain events or things. However, when they’re older they shall decide for themselves, e.g. whom they will marry.

6.    It is possible to fall in love at first sight.

a.    I strongly disagree with this statement. When seeing a person the first time, you might find them very appealing, but the love will come in later, which is when you get to know the person. You might feel butterflies and feel the desire to talk and come close, but this doesn’t represent love yet. Liking and loving a person are two very different things. It might take a long time until you truly love someone, even if you liked them since you met them the first time.

7.    Telling lies or hiding the truth is acceptable for the right reasons.

a.    I agree, because people can have very good reasons to hide the truth and lie about it. I favor situations where people lie to not attract too much attention, or if it makes situations easier. Sometimes it’s better to lie, otherwise it becomes very complicated to explain the truth and wastes a lot of time. This is very annoying when that person is in a hurry already. However, when just trying to save oneself and blame another, lying is not acceptable.

8.    Family feuds only affect adults.

a.    I strongly disagree with this statement, because when parents fight the kids will hear or see the effects of this. This can lead to mental problems of the child. Parents might not see this right away, since the child might try to hide it. Other family members can suffer too when they accidentally interfere. Sometimes people have to interfere, so the feud doesn’t go too far.

9.    There are times when arranged marriage is appropriate.

a.    There is no situation to do so, since just because the parents want to be rich, they shouldn’t force their child to marry a certain person, even if they’re poor. It makes the child unhappy for the rest of this/her live. The child should choose, according to what he/she wants. Perhaps, he/she makes a good decision and if it’s not then it’s not the end of the world.

10.  Each person has a soul mate.

a.    I can’t take any side, because it might be that some people have and that some people don’t have a soul mate. I don’t necessarily believe in it. Also, some people don’t meet their soul mate at all. It’s also a good question if there’s more than one soul mate for one person. Most likely the number varies and I wonder if I have one and whether or not I’d meet her.