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The Great Influenza Essay Questions

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Describe a problem you 've solved or a problem you 'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

In The Great Influenza, Barry states that one must “accept uncertainty”. Everyone has a problem or question that he has not yet found a solution or an answer to; everyone has something that he is uncertain about. Like many, there are problems and questions about religion, science, and love that I would like to solve, but one of the questions that has most negatively impacted my life is “what makes people happy?” which then lead to the question “is there anything that can make everyone happy?” Luckily, I have found answers to these questions, and I can finally apply the knowledge acquired by these answers to my life. …show more content…

Many do not consider these questions “problems”, but they have influenced my life significantly. As a child, I was taught to ensure my contentment before focusing on that of others, but also to put others’ feelings before my own. Being confused by the contradictions taught to me, I repeatedly attempted the ladder. I made an effort to focus on others’ pleasure and disregard mine. This made me ask: is there anything that can truly give all people joy? Watching the sunset and seeing my friends laugh both give me feelings of accomplishment and joy, but this is not the same for everyone. For example, one may find no interest in the sunset or making others laugh. How has this become a problem for me? Albert Camus once said “you will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of,” and although I was not only looking for happiness within myself, the same principle applied. Contentment was extremely hard to find because I was entirely concerned with that of

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The fact that happiness is a state of well-being pursued by humans since the beginning of humanity is not new. Since the ancient Greek philosophers, happiness has always been a goal for people. However, the definition of happiness is still subjective and controversial as Mark Kingwell, an award-winning social critic, essayist, and professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, presents in his article “In pursuit of Happiness." The author begins to build his credibility by calling everyday facts and emotions, also by citing philosophers, researchers, and other authors. Using the sources effectively in a persuasive piece, Kingwell demonstrates, through examples and science researches, the difficulty in defining happiness, which can result in unhappiness.

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