Alexander Pope’s poem An Essay on Man got me reading over and over again and took me a quiet long time to understand. Every time I read the poem, I underline more lines, but I think every line in the poem is very meaningful. There are a few aspects that I can’t agree more. One thing I want to point out is that from ancient time to present time, mankind still possesses that greed and laziness described vividly by Pope.
In the poem, Pope writes that human think it is unfair that they need to work so hard in life and the gain is always little while God can achieve goals easily. Human always envy the abilities of deities and other animals and dissatisfied with what they possess. It is true, we always want what we don’t have and neglect what we already have. We always long for more riches, better appearances, and think that these materials represent better life. This greed drives mankind to do immoral things such as robbery, scams, defaming, etc. Girls who are dissatisfied with their natural looks go for plastic surgeries. But at the end, are they that much happier? When they end up in jail, or their friends and families are lost while achieving their ambitions, or their bodies start to deform due to side effects of plastic surgeries, they cry and say they regret. There are too many stories like these in the society, but some people still do not learn the lessons and more people are behaving the same way.
“All in exact proportion to the state; nothing to add, and nothing to abate. Each beast, each insect, happy in its own: is heaven unkind to Man, and Man alone?” These lines from Pope are worth reflecting upon. If only human would think in another perspective – notice that every creature has its strengths and defects; that we should be satisfied with a healthy body and having people around us whom love us and we love.
We should all be grateful of what we have!
–Kary Huang
It is sad how our society revolves around people who are always dissatisfied with what they already have, and yearn for more. We become obsessed with trying to buy products that we don’t actually need. Because of our selfish nature, we are being manipulated by the producers in society, because they know that we will always want “the next big thing.” For example, whenever there is an announcement regarding the release of a new iPhone, people go to extreme measures to be the first to obtain this new product. Is it really worth to waste your time just to get your hand on a new piece of electronic that will easily be forgotten and tossed away when a new one comes out? I believe that we are wasting the moment that we have alive to obtain products and items that we do not truly need.