Juan Meza
Ms. Lehmann
English 1-3
3 December 2019
Is survival selfish??
Do you think survival is selfish? This is the central question of this essay. Survival does require people to be selfish because people shouldn’t assume they are capable of saving others and apathy will kill people faster than anything, so people have to be selfish and care about what happens to them. Many survival stories prove people shouldn’t assume they are capable of saving others because it could cost them their lives.
Humans shouldn’t think that they could help others because they could risk themselves. In one story, titled “Is Survival Selfish,” a woman survived a plane crash. Even though she felt guilty later on, she would have died had she attempted to save others on the plane. Wallace writes, “Could she really have saved the others? Probably not, and certainly not from the back of the plane. If she’d tried, she probably would have perished with them” (Wallace 318). When people choose not be selfish by trying to help other people, they could die. The same thing applied to a man in another survival situation (Wallace 319). Yates didn’t want to watch his friend die, but he couldn’t have saved him. He had to let him go because he would have died too if he didn’t know his own limitations. Not only should people recognize when they can’t help others, but apathy kills people faster than anything, so people have to be selfish and care about what happens to them.
Apathy, or not caring about anything, has killed a lot of people in bad situations. When Ronald DiFrancesco was attempting to escape the twin towers on 9-11 he only survived because he didn’t give in to apathy. The article says, “The people all of whom would die were just giving up and falling asleep. DiFrancesco, too, was collapsing, but then he said to himself, ‘I’ve got to see my wife and kids again.’ And with that, he got up and bolted down the stairs to safety” (Gonzales 332). The people in the towers who stopped caring about themselves died. It was only by caring about what happened to him next that DiFrancesco survived. People who are prepared have died waiting for others to come and save them because they gave in to apathy.
Although it’s clear that survival is selfish, there are those who disagree. Some people argue that people need a reason to survive, and this is often thinking on others and the loss they would suffer were they to die. The truth is that some people’s reason to survive isn’t other people, but simply that they don’t want to die. An example of this would be Yates, the mountain climber who cut his friend loose in order to survive a fall. Yates did not survive for anyone else, but for himself. He was even willing to let his friend die so that he didn’t have to. Ultimately, the evidence is overwhelming that survival is selfish.
Survival does require people to be selfish because people shouldn’t assume they are capable of saving others and apathy will kill people faster than anything, so people have to be selfish and care about what happens to them. Wallace writes about Yates. Yates had to make the decision to cut his friend loose or they would have both died on the mountain. “In Yates’ case, he had time to think hard about the odds and the possibilities he was facing and to realize that he couldn’t save anyone but himself”. DiFrancesco was attempting to escape the twin towers on 9-11 he only survived because he didn’t give in to apathy. The article says, “The people all of whom would die were just giving up and falling asleep. So, is survival selfish? Yes.
Argumentative Essay Reflection
Please answer all questions in complete, grammatically correct sentences.
1. Explain the process you went through to write this paper. Please be specific.
It was pretty hard but I did go through a lot like of spending time doing this paper.
2. What qualifies this paper as an argumentative essay? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them?
First you need to put on your page a hook, transition and, thesis statement.
3. Explain how you found at least one of the quotations from the essay and tell me why you chose that particular quote. What did it do for your paper?
When I picked that specific quote I realized it talked mostly about this paper.
Ms. Lehmann
English 1-3
3 December 2019
Is survival selfish??
Do you think survival is selfish? This is the central question of this essay. Survival does require people to be selfish because people shouldn’t assume they are capable of saving others and apathy will kill people faster than anything, so people have to be selfish and care about what happens to them. Many survival stories prove people shouldn’t assume they are capable of saving others because it could cost them their lives.
Humans shouldn’t think that they could help others because they could risk themselves. In one story, titled “Is Survival Selfish,” a woman survived a plane crash. Even though she felt guilty later on, she would have died had she attempted to save others on the plane. Wallace writes, “Could she really have saved the others? Probably not, and certainly not from the back of the plane. If she’d tried, she probably would have perished with them” (Wallace 318). When people choose not be selfish by trying to help other people, they could die. The same thing applied to a man in another survival situation (Wallace 319). Yates didn’t want to watch his friend die, but he couldn’t have saved him. He had to let him go because he would have died too if he didn’t know his own limitations. Not only should people recognize when they can’t help others, but apathy kills people faster than anything, so people have to be selfish and care about what happens to them.
Apathy, or not caring about anything, has killed a lot of people in bad situations. When Ronald DiFrancesco was attempting to escape the twin towers on 9-11 he only survived because he didn’t give in to apathy. The article says, “The people all of whom would die were just giving up and falling asleep. DiFrancesco, too, was collapsing, but then he said to himself, ‘I’ve got to see my wife and kids again.’ And with that, he got up and bolted down the stairs to safety” (Gonzales 332). The people in the towers who stopped caring about themselves died. It was only by caring about what happened to him next that DiFrancesco survived. People who are prepared have died waiting for others to come and save them because they gave in to apathy.
Although it’s clear that survival is selfish, there are those who disagree. Some people argue that people need a reason to survive, and this is often thinking on others and the loss they would suffer were they to die. The truth is that some people’s reason to survive isn’t other people, but simply that they don’t want to die. An example of this would be Yates, the mountain climber who cut his friend loose in order to survive a fall. Yates did not survive for anyone else, but for himself. He was even willing to let his friend die so that he didn’t have to. Ultimately, the evidence is overwhelming that survival is selfish.
Survival does require people to be selfish because people shouldn’t assume they are capable of saving others and apathy will kill people faster than anything, so people have to be selfish and care about what happens to them. Wallace writes about Yates. Yates had to make the decision to cut his friend loose or they would have both died on the mountain. “In Yates’ case, he had time to think hard about the odds and the possibilities he was facing and to realize that he couldn’t save anyone but himself”. DiFrancesco was attempting to escape the twin towers on 9-11 he only survived because he didn’t give in to apathy. The article says, “The people all of whom would die were just giving up and falling asleep. So, is survival selfish? Yes.
Argumentative Essay Reflection
Please answer all questions in complete, grammatically correct sentences.
1. Explain the process you went through to write this paper. Please be specific.
It was pretty hard but I did go through a lot like of spending time doing this paper.
2. What qualifies this paper as an argumentative essay? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them?
First you need to put on your page a hook, transition and, thesis statement.
3. Explain how you found at least one of the quotations from the essay and tell me why you chose that particular quote. What did it do for your paper?
When I picked that specific quote I realized it talked mostly about this paper.