Essays Generation Gap, Energy From Atom & A Coward Dies A Thousand Deaths
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Generation Gap
Our forefathers had deep faith in God and religion. which is somehow missing in the present generation. As a result of scientific discoveries, we find it difficult now to believe in the existence of God, in the soul, or in life after death in the religious faith used to be a great prop to human beings in times of distress or misfortune.
The belief that whatever God did was for the good of human beings served as a great consolation to people when a natural calamity fell upon them. The difficulties disappointments and failures were attributed to God’s will and people bowed before them without much questioning. But now those beliefs have more or less gone. We now ask if life has any purpose at all. We now feel confused and perplexed.
In a way, however, we are happier than our forefathers. Our forefathers were the victims of illiteracy, ignorance and superstitions Ignorance might mean bliss, but this bliss is non-existence now. We today are literate and educated. We now know many secrets of nature which were unknown to our forefathers.
We experience an intellectual thrill when we acquire more and more knowledge. We have more or less got rid of superstitions and imaginary fears, nor are we any more victims of a sense of fatalism. Our forefathers used to attribute everything to the will of fate. But we now feel that our fate is in our own hands. We experience a sort of liberation from the restrictive influence of fate.
If we talk of wealth, it is today more equitably distributed than before. Socialistic trends all over the world have narrowed the gap between the rich and the poor. In the days of our forefathers, poverty was regarded as part of the divine scheme of things and was passively accepted by the people.
Now the attitude towards poverty has greatly changed. Poverty is now looked upon as an evil which can be, and must be removed. The rich classes do not now have that sense of complacency and they do not now take their wealth for granted.
We are also happier in the sense that we enjoy better health than our forefathers. Various discoveries and inventions by science have made it possible to prevent disease, to eliminate or cure them. We live cleaner lives, in accordance with the rules of sanitation than our forefathers could ever do.
On good health depends much of the happiness of mankind, and the health of mankind today is better than ever before. Physical fitness keeps us happy and enables us to derive genuine pleasure from eating, drinking, sports and games and all sorts of recreational activities.
Today we have greater freedom than our forefathers had. Freedom too is an essential condition of happiness. We no longer feel wretched because of rigid restraints Woman is today emancipated. The young are no longer in the tight grip of their elders but enjoy a measure of independence unknown before.
The joint family system in our country has crumbled, thus diminishing greatly the wretchedness and misery of those who were its victims. There is greater freedom to love and here, too, parental control over boys and girls has been considerably relaxed.
Physical comforts have gone up. Scientific inventions of our times have made life easier by greatly diminishing the need for manual labor or physical exertion. We have more leisure and along with leisure many more sources of pleasure. Physical comfort, leisure and pleasure have surely increased and augmented human happiness.
Energy From Atom
Until World War II, the world was familiar with only mechanical, chemical, acoustic, thermal, optic, magnetic and electrical forms of energy. But on a fateful day in 1945 when the US exploded atom bomb over Hiroshima, the world got aware of nuclear energy.
How exactly is energy got from the atom? The atomic the tiniest speck of matter? Each atom has a central core called the nucleus, around which revolve the electrons. The nucleus is built up of two kinds of very minute particles called protons and neutrons.
In 1938 Hahn and Strassman bombarded uranium with neutrons and found traces of barium in the material. This led to the discovery that some of the uranium atoms capture a bombarding neutron and get split into two nearly equal parts. This splitting is called nuclear fission.
At the same time, two or three neutrons are set free in the reaction. These go on splitting other uranium atoms and release neutrons. This is called a chain reaction and in its wake enormous amount of heat and gamma rays, which are X-rays of very short wavelength and great penetrating power, are released.
This knowledge was utilized in the preparation of the atom bomb. Such a weapon had become imperative in view of the mounting supremacy of the Germans and the Japanese in World War II. After three years of intensive work, atom bombs were perfected.
It is now history that the two atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki knocked out the striking power of the enemies and brought the war to a speedy end The two cities were completely destroyed with great loss of life Such was the destructive power of the atom bombs. The energy needed was derived from nuclear fission.
The bomb demonstrated that the nuclear fission provided a new and powerful source of energy and that it might be put to peaceful uses as well In agriculture, atomic energy is used in the shape of radioactive tracers in researches for finding the best type of fertilizers for plants. In medicine, radioisotopes of iodine are used for diagnosing brain tumors.
Other radioactive isotopes are used for the cure of the human ailments in the treatment of cancer, radio gold, radio-iodine and radio-cobalt In industry, radioisotopes are used for measuring the thickness of paper, rubber, textile and metallic sheets, for the detection of hidden flaws in castings, for the detection of the thickness, flow and separation of liquids.
Nuclear energy is used vastly in the development of atomic power. When the supplies of coal and oil are running low, the development of atomic power is a welcome achievement.
Nuclear energy offers a new source of cheap fuel for the production of power. The first step in the production of atomic power is the setting up of atomic reactors.
A Coward Dies A Thousand Deaths
This was said in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is a part of a speech by Caesar in reply to Calpurnia who warned that he should not go out as evil omens point to some danger to his life. Caesar refuses to agree and declares that death has no terror for him.
He rises above cowardice and ignores the dangers. The word “fear”, he says, does not exist in his vocabulary. He throws a challenge at death and refuses to be frightened by it. He could never have been a greater soldier if he had fear of death.
Death is inevitable. Nobody has ever conquered death. Death comes to all-kings and beggars, rich and poor princes in their places and paupers in their huts. Death lays its hand upon all creatures.
It does so without distinction or discrimination. Knowing the omnipotence of death, it is folly for a man to tremble with fear at the thought of it It shows an utter lack of spirit to turn pale at the mention of death. It is extreme cowardice to shirk from the dangers of life and a mark of bravery to face them.
Constant fear haunts a coward. His heart sinks for fear of death which is like a sword of Damocles hanging over his head. The outbreak of war, a riot, the tremors of an earthquake, the prospect of famine or a flood-all these make the coward shudder with fear because he thinks that he will be the first target.
If he stands on the sea-shore or a river-bank a wave of fear sweeps over him at the idea of being accidentally drowned As he walks along a road, he is extra careful not to step down the pavement lest he should be run over by an omnibus.
He knows that death pounces upon a man suddenly and in a variety of ways and therefore his life is a continuous nightmare. Every time he hears that someone has died he thanks God on his own escape.
A coward suffers a thousand times more pain and agony at the imaginary prospect of death than by the event itself. For he meets his death many times in his imagination and endures the horror connected with it. He even goes on to imagine the sufferings that are in store for him beyond grave.
As against this, a brave man maintains an attitude of defiance towards death. He realizes the fact that death must come sooner or later and that it is no use denying this fact.
For death is an essential part of the scheme of things, this structure of clay and flesh must some day become a cold insensitive and lifeless stock. It is, therefore, vain to pity oneself at the thought of death Besides, with courage and resolution one may well evade death many times.
Death is only a natural consumption of life. It is true that premature death is tragic and that it is the prospect of dying before time that strikes terror into the hearts of most people. But if one is to die prematurely no complaining or self-pity can alter the fact.
No one can foresee accidents, epidemics and other forms of sudden death It is therefore, meaningless to fear, it is wise to preserve an attitude of tranquility and serenity always.
