L&L Debate - Is the Community or Earth More Preferable

L&L Debate

This debate was to see if Earth or the community from the Giver is a better place to live in. The community has no colours (only shades), has no deep feelings (no love, no pain), has all you need... It is a utopian society.

I believed that enjoying the moment is the element to life, with ups and downs is what life is, not boring steady life where you don't even know what the purpose of your existence is except for contributing to a society without a purpose of existence. It's living like animals, survive and pass on. But it is taking away the survive part, and the pass-on part, leaving behind live and die.

I wanted to be honest so I chose the harder way instead of going with statistics and facts. But what I learnt is that facts are efficient and feelings are effective. But it is hard to fight with a sword and hammer. And sometimes, perhaps we should do it the easy way if our choice doesn't make a difference except for the difference on ourselves.

I was also in charge of my group. It was difficult to manage others work while you have your own, and they don't always listen. So that was a challenge, and a training. Next time, I would check with my group more regularly because shorter work time and more small deadlines do help time management according to an experiment on university students.

Below is the script for my speech.

Is the Community or Earth More Preferable Speech Script

The community is not more preferable than earth. It is because to live with no experience, and no purpose, is not the best life. It is because the purpose of life is supposed to be all about the ideas in your head, the feelings in your heart, and the experience with your body… I mean experience with your sense. The life of the people in the community is not experience in depth like real fun, real friends, real colours, real experience, real happiness, real sorrows, real families, and real love. The life of the people in the community is extremely about fulfilling the duties. The community is exactly as what Oscar Wilde with an “e” said, “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” Why is the community not the ideas in your head, the feelings in your heart, and the experience of your senses?

First, their education is pointless because it does not spark the ideas in their heads. Perfection and flawlessness are all the community is. Brené Brown said, “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.” Without vulnerability, which is what the community lacks, there is no opportunity for innovation, creativity, and change. New ideas do not spark in their heads. It is because innovative ideas are basically creative solutions, which require problems. And if problems do not exist, true innovativeness and ideas does not exist. One may argue “Innovativeness is not necessary when you do not need it. Perfection is in turn the purpose of innovativeness.”

One may argue. However, I will say innovative solutions can also lead to entertainment like television. Peter F. Drucker said, “If you want something new, stop doing something old.” Entertainment form experiences. And speaking of experience, they don’t have experiences like vacations, theme parks, TV, Internet, books, movies, music… New experiences are necessary. One may argue “if you have never experienced or knew about something, like X-box, then you won’t wish for the experience.” But I believe that the enjoyment of an enjoyment is the best enjoyment. For example, why would you pity people with allergies to some food. It doesn’t matter to them! But that is what is sad about it. Entertainment forms experience, which adds colours and meanings to life. When the people in the community become adults, they do not have much entertainment - no books, no TVs, no Internet, no travelling, no vacations. They have nothing to do when they have time. Why do they need things to do? It is like people in prisons or monkeys in the zoos without anything to do. But do you know what happens to those prisoners and animals? They go crazy because they are so bored. Okay, maybe the people in the community do not go crazy, but how meaningless and boring life is. But yes, perhaps they do not even have spare time. Now, imagine a person who goes to work, have meals, come home, and sleep, and yeah, use the toilet for 365 days each year, and for 70 years. That’s going to make them crazy too. It is like people in prisons or monkeys in the zoos without anything to do. The life and experience of the people in the community is ignored because they are busy fulfilling their duties and they have a schedule, and they will be released and dishonored if they do not do it the way they are “suppose to”.

Last but not least, life is what happens to you when you are busy fulfilling your duties and keeping up work. He who does not experience with his heart does not live, he exists. I remember at the beginning of the year we were discussing stereotypes. Under the picture of the Asian (which looked like me according to Paul) with glasses and a book was “No life”. The stereotype was that people think that only working and not spending enough time on other things is “no life”. I remember, when I was in Hong Kong, it indeed was not quite “life”. When I was in Hong Kong, I studied, and go to extracurricular activities and lessons, and learn extra skills and talents. In some ways it wasn’t completely my own will, sometimes you need this to do better in school and get a better job. But yes, it is interesting, useful and satisfying. Or maybe just for me. However, when I look back, I realized it made my life too busy, fulfilling my duties and catching up with the environment that I was actually lost and trapped in the business I don’t really pull back and take a serious look at my life in general. Moreover, it doesn’t allow spare time. You don’t have many time for curiosity, fun. And I think it is the same case for the people in the community. They are too busy fulfilling their duties in order to be part of the community, that they don’t have spare time to do multiple interests; or to look at life in a big picture, and enjoy the moment; plus their same schedule every day and no regular or frequent holidays, they might as well lived 24 years and yet it felt like 24 weeks, or hours.

In the community, no experiences, no purpose, not the best life. It's because it is too perfect and have no space for problems, so it doesn’t provide opportunities for innovation. There is not much entertainment; and no spare time to reflect, or have fun, making life meaningless and purposeless. They are so busy and their schedule is so identical their life pass away too quickly, and seems pointless. Therefore, no experiences, no purpose, no the best life. Thank you.

I know that Earth has hunger and everything. But there are help being offered. People have a choice, at least the slightest choice to change their lives. But in the community, you don’t have a choice to decide change. And unless you are Jonas, change would never be a word to you.