Briar+Opinion+Writing

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__ Argument Reflections __

 * I think that my argument is a bit muddled and not raly persuasive
 * I think that my conclsion was inprecise and not persuasive
 * next time I will spend more time organising my argument
 * next time I will spend more time on the conclusion

__ Winning is not the most important thing __
Competition is a big part of society today. Competition to get this job, get this score or win this game, but is winning these competitions really very important in the long run? Competition in my eyes is when people are putting themselves against another person or other people and trying to do better than whoever they are up against. So is this competition really that important? Personally I don’t think that it is.

To start with, imagine what it would be like if you won every competition you took part in. Sure you’d be rich and maybe famous, but you would never have made a mistake and therefore you’d never learn from your mistakes, so when something wasn’t a competition, you may not do well and that might mean that you fail in schoolwork and never make anything worthwhile of your life. I don’t think that you would live a very happy life if that was the case.

Another point is that winning all the time wouldn’t gain you many true friends, and I think friendship is the key to happiness. Take being in a sports team for example by just being in the team you can make lots of friends, and as long as you play your best, it won’t matter to them whether you win or not. So wouldn’t you rather have friends than things that you gain by winning, like money and material objects or the pride that only lasts for a second? Because you can’t buy happiness and you definitely can’t buy true friends.

Thirdly, does winning really make you happy? Winning can make you feel good for a while but it doesn’t last. The feeling you get from having the support of friends and family that love you lasts forever. The people that love you are much more important than winning, and being with them makes you feel much happier.

On the other hand winning will gain you many things that you couldn’t have if you never won anything. These are things like expensive jewellery and clothes, big houses with pools and tennis courts or a high paying job. It can gain you respect from your peers and sometimes even friendship from others that otherwise would not be your friends. These things can make your life more comfortable and help make you feel more secure and safe. I think that feeling safe and comfortable can help you achieve more than you would if you were under pressure.

Also you will feel a sense of achievement and self pride when you win something rather than the feeling of your heart falling to the bottom of your chest that that you may feel if you don’t win or you don’t reach your expectations. This pride and sense of achievement can make feel really on top of the world for a little while and I think that feeling happy is very important.

To conclude, I think that winning is definitely not the most important thing, because when you think about it, does winning really make you happy in the long run? No it doesn’t.

By Briar

__**Winning is not the most important thing (draft)**__
Competition is a big part of society today. Competition to get this job, that raise or even that car, but is winning these competitions really very important in the long run? Personally I don’t think that it is.

To start with, imagine what it would be like if you won every competition you entered. Sure you’d be rich and maybe even famous, but you would never have made a mistake and therefore you’d never learn from your mistakes, so when something wasn’t a competition, you wouldn’t do well and that would mean you would fail in school and never make anything worthwhile of your life. I don’t think that you would live a very happy life if that was the case.

Another point, is that winning all the time wouldn’t gain you many friends, and friendship is the key to happiness, so wouldn’t you rather have friends than things that you gain by winning, like money and material objects, because you can’t buy happiness and you definitely can’t buy true friends.

Thirdly, does winning really make you happy? Winning can make you feel good for a while but it doesn’t last. The feeling you get from having the support of friends and family that love you, that lasts forever. The people that love you are much more important than winning and being with them makes you feel much happier.

On the other hand winning will gain you many things that you couldn’t have if you never won anything. These are things like expensive jewellery and clothes, big houses with pools and tennis courts and a high paying job. These things can make your life more comfortable and help make you feel more secure and safe. I think that feeling safe and comfortable can help you achieve more than you would if you were under pressure.

Also you will feel a sense of achievement and self pride when you win something rather than the sadness and envy of the person who won that you feel when you lose something that you really wanted to win. This pride and sense of achievement can make feel really on top of the world for a little while and I think that feeling happy is very important.

To conclude, I think that winning is definitely not the most important thing, because when you think about it, does winning really make you happy in the long run? No it doesn’t.

By Briar

Parents Should be Allowed to Smack their Child
 A parent should be allowed to smack their child as punishment, but only within reasonable limits of force. The right to use a light smack as parental correction should be accepted, only if the smacking goes too far and becomes abusive should the police and social services be involved.

First of all, if a smack stays illegal, then families, who have otherwise done nothing wrong, will be subjected to investigations. But such small cases can distract the police and overburdened social workers from the real cases of abuse. So the people who are really doing something wrong might get away with it. Smacking a child lightly shouldn’t be regarded as abuse, as it can be a way for the child to learn that they are doing something wrong, and as it is not a pleasant experience they will learn to avoid doing that in the future and therefore avoid being smacked. It is when it goes beyond a light smack that it should be illegal. If the parent is using excessive force or is smacking the child for no reason then it should not come under a light smack, parents shouldn’t be able to use smacking to hide the abuse of their child.

Also, parents, who would usually use physical abuse to punish their child, may now resort to using verbal abuse, which can be just as damaging to a child, in fact often more damaging in a mental sense. When a child is being abused verbally then it is often harder to track down, as the shouting and crying might be taken as just household arguments.

I think that this is a case of sorting through the accusations to find the real cases of abuse and if smacking stays illegal then there will be even more cases that have to be investigated and therefore time and energy and money wasted on unimportant cases. Making the social services and police investigate cases that are usually only a case of a parent disciplining their child isn’t going to lead to less abuse, it is just going to clog the justice system even more than it already is and take up the time of police and social workers who should have that time to find the real criminals.

As well, all the money involved for paying police and social workers could be used for many, much more useful things. Like teaching abusive parents other ways to discipline their children and counselling for the children. So that it stops the cycle and therefore lessens the amount of abuse going on. This would be just as effective, if not more effective than the anti smacking referendum, and would cost much less. If all the money paid to the police and social workers to do this extra work, was used for something like this, which is so much better for the abuse rates and for the people involved.

Finally, I think that to investigate every parent who smacks their child is an extreme waste of time, for everyone involved. This time, energy and money should be spent on finding cases of real abuse that can damage a child greatly in mind and body, not on something like a light smack that will only make them a bit sore. What is the point of it all?