Many tragedies can be avoided if people take preventive actions. Discuss.

We are endlessly fed by news of tragedies happening all over the world. These long lists
of tragedies seem to become longer the more we become more developed. Is this a
coincidence? To say that all tragedies are fated can be a way to wash off one’s hand when
something bad happens. We shall not just sit around and do nothing. I agree that many
tragedies caused by floods, road accidents and fire can be avoided if people take preventive
actions.

First, floods can be avoided if people take preventive actions. It is true that floods
generally happen due to bad weather, but floods actually happen when there is an overflow of
water, bursting of dams or ruptures of blockages. Although to know exactly when floods could
happen is impossible, the rising water is predictable. Therefore, preventive actions such as
installing a better warning system to measure the rising water and using a better system of flood
barriers can prevent tragedies caused by floods. People can also build or modify their homes or
buildings to withstand floods if they happen to be in at-risk areas. Better, ban constructions of
buildings at areas which are likely to be affected by floods. These preventive actions can
hopefully avoid tragedies such as deaths, loss of shelters and belongings – caused by floods.

Second, tragedies caused by road accidents can be avoided if people take preventive
actions.  Among of the many common reasons for road accidents are bad road condition, poor
roadside landscape and poor condition of vehicle. On top of these reasons, irresponsible driving
is also often cited as a reason. If only roads are repaired, careful drivers will not lose control of
their vehicles when trying to avoid potholes. If only the signages are not blocked by trees or
flower pots, the drivers will be more alert of the change of traffic flow. If only all the drivers send
their vehicles for service on time, there will not be faulty vehicles that can cause accidents in
many ways. A road accident at its worst, can cause a life and the very least, a damaged vehicle.
Injuries and traumas are just as tragic. If only people take preventive actions, these tragedies
can be avoided.
                                                               
                Third, tragedies that occur in a fire can be avoided if people take preventive actions.
When a fire happens, again, deaths are possible. Injuries and losses are possible too. People
should take preventive actions to avoid fire by not smoking indoors and not leaving burner or
candles unattended. Preventive actions such as installing fire or smoke detectors can help too.
Careful and proper use of electrical appliances is utmost important to prevent short circuits
which is often stated as the cause of domestic fire. Keeping a fire extinguisher and learning how
to use it properly are also preventive actions. For schools and organizations, fire drills should be
done annually as a part of fire preventive actions too. It is true that we cannot smell danger but if
you are well prepared and have taken the necessary preventive actions, hopefully, the severity
of the tragedies can be reduced.

In conclusion, in my opinion, floods, road accidents and fire are among the causes of
many tragedies in our life but these tragedies can be avoided if people take preventive actions.
It is a hope that everybody will realize this soon. It is not that we can run away from our destiny
but to put in effort to be safe, that is living a cautious life and in a way, it shows gratitude.
In an arranged marriage, the choice of a husband or wife is made by parents or elders.
Arranged marriages have been in existence for centuries and are still widely practiced in
many corners of the world. The reasons include economic, cultural and relationship and
perhaps charitable too. Let me look at this issue from various aspects. What are the Pros and
Cons of Arranged Marriages?

Many people choose who they want to marry based purely on love, but arranged
marriages still take place in some cultures. Usually, the family has more input in the choice of
husband or wife, which means that the individual has less choice in the partner they end up
with. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as arranged marriages often last longer than marriages
based on love, and they offer stability to any children that are conceived. There are also
drawbacks associated with arranged marriages, which is why many individuals have difficulty
imagining finding a partner this way.

In arranged marriages you cannot choose. Individuals obviously have very little
opportunity to get to know their prospective spouse before they are thrown together and married
in law. Thus, they could discover that they have nothing in common and that they actually do not
like each other all that much. Once a couple is married, however, there will be social pressures
to remain together, while legally they are bound together whether they like it or not. Sometimes,
feelings of love can develop in an arranged marriage, but this is not always the case and,
unfortunately, this can leave both individuals feeling miserable.

One advantage is it is easier to find a potential spouse. Arranged marriages make

finding a potential spouse much easier. The responsibility to find the ‘right one’ falls on the
shoulders of parents and other relatives, so that individuals can relax about settling down. Their
relatives obviously have a pretty good idea of the person they are and so can pick out
candidates they think will be suitable and who they approve of. Thus, there will not be as much
room for arguments over the choice of a spouse, especially since those getting married still get
the final say and can reject a partner they are not interested in.

Romantic love is heavily idealized as seen in films and stories and everyone likes the
idea of ‘falling in love’ and settling down with the man or woman of their dreams, but the reality
tends to be rather disappointing. At least people know what they’re getting with an arranged
marriage; they know that it is going to take time to learn each other’s ways and that compromise
will be necessary. When people get married for love, what happens when that love fades?
Usually, the result is divorce, which is stressful for both parties and can also have a detrimental
impact on children.

The next question is whether it is your choice or your parents’ choice. Arranged
marriages are clearly not for everyone, but the practice continues in some societies and cultures
where family is valued above everything else. At the end of the day, there is more to marriage
than love, and arranged marriages force individuals to confront how much effort is actually
required to make a marriage work. Love does not guarantee a happy and successful marriage;
nor does having a marriage arranged, but there is certainly more pressure to make an arranged
marriage work.
In a nutshell, getting married is a personal matter to some; happiness and everlasting
love may or may not be achieved. To others arranged marriages maybe the solution. Hence it
all depends on the individual or maybe the couple.
The most valuable thing in life is friendship. Do you agree? Discuss.

Friendship is most valuable thing in our life because friendship is one of the most basic
components in life. As the saying goes ‘no man is an island’ that no one in this world can live
alone without friendship. Friends are very important in our lives. I believe that a friend is like a
twin sister or brother, this is the reason we rely on friends so much and do not stop to think
about life without them. One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand
and to be understood. In my opinion, the three most importance of friendship in our life are
being a good listener, loyalty and a sense of humor.

First of all, when we are depressed, a friend is ready to listen and give us some advices.
They cannot read our mind, but chances are they can usually tell when we are happy, sad,
excited, shocked or upset. A good friend is not only someone we can talk to about your
interests, but is also some who is willing to listen to your opinions and keep all our secrets. We
cannot expect our friend to accept everything we say, but they should respect our right to have
our own ideas. If they are aware that they are doing something that annoys us, they will try to
change their ways or at least talk to us about it. They are the people with whom everything can
be discussed. Whenever you look back in your life, you will realize they are the one with whom
you have shared the best and the worst.

On the other hand, one of the basic needs of people is to know that we are not alone.
One of the things that hold friendship together is loyalty. This is why it is such an important in
friendship in general because it is the glue that binds people together. A loyal friend is always
there when we need them. A friend supports us in times of trouble. However, just spending time
with someone is not all there is to friendship. Moreover, good relationships are based on good
communication with each other. We have to talk about the importance of valuing the friendship
that we have already built while still being able to establish new friendship.

Besides that, being a good friend is not always easy. Friends need a sense of humor! If
we cannot share a common joke or look at the humor of situation in a similar fashion, we
probably won’t be able to enjoy someone’s company or create a close bond with that person. In
my opinion, being able to laugh at the same things brings friends closer together. As the saying
goes ‘If fate doesn’t make you laugh, you just don’t get the joke’. A good sense of humor is
important characteristic that a person should have in friendship in life. Moreover, who does not
admire those who make others laughing out loud? If we can amuse our friends, they will always
be delighted to spend their time with you which are a personal achievement. Communication
with others also will be a lot more fluent. We become more attractive to colleagues and friends.

In a nutshell, I do believe friendship is the most valuable thing in life. If we have found
someone who is able to share life’s ups and downs with us, loyal and understanding, then we
have truly found a soul mate and a good friend. Friendship is undoubtedly a heavenly thing. Life
is colorless and slow without a friend. Though real friends are not easy to find, a real friendship
with a good person is a precious gift that could be great supports for lifetime.

A person's career choice should be determined by his or her interest.

At some point in their life, people need to take up a career. As there are many career
choices in this world, people need to think carefully in order to find the right one for them. Many
of them choose their careers based on the salary, their skills and talents or qualification or
influences from role model. However, in my opinion, our career choice should be determined by
our own interest. This is because it brings motivation, enjoyment and satisfaction to us.

The first reason why we choose our career based on interest is because when we do
something that we like, we can motivate ourselves. For example as students, if we want to
achieve a good result, we will learn from the beginning and take the initiative to organize study
groups with our friends. The same also occurs in our workplace. We will give our total
commitment to do well in our work if we are interested in the career. We also can motivate
ourselves to learn not to give up easily, especially when we have to face challenges or failures.
We will try even harder to do the work again if we have failed until it is successful. For example,
if we are policemen, we will not easily give up or be afraid of catching criminals. In addition, we
do not mind working long hours to solve any case. Other than that, if we have interest in our
career, we can build a dedicated characteristic in ourselves. It is the same case with a teacher.
It is not easy to be teachers because we have to face all types of students’ attitudes and
behaviors. If we love to be teachers, then we will possess high spirits to teach our students in
order to help them to achieve good results in the examinations or to mold them to be useful
citizens one day. Therefore, our career choice that is based on interest can give us motivation to
do well in our career.

Another reason why we choose our career based on interest is we can have enjoyment
in our work. We would love to do any work that can be enjoying to us. This is because being
interested in our career can bring happiness as it helps to reduce stress. Even though we have
to face a lot of workload, we will take it as a challenge and not as a burden that stresses us. It
does not matter if we have to work overtime too. It is also the same when we are scolded by our
superiors or employers. We will take the criticism as a way to improve or to encourage
ourselves to do even better in the next task. Moreover, we will think creatively and create a new
product to help our companies to enhance their profits. For example, when we love to be a
scientist, we can always think and create a new antidote to cure patients that suffer from HIV.
We also will not feel depressed because we always think positively and look at the bright side
when we are interested in our career. This will make ourselves more cheerful, confident and
never give up easily when facing problem in our work. This is because when we enjoy our work,
we surely can have a good relationship with our colleagues. This will make us feeling pleased
when doing our work and thus, we will not think of changing our career. Therefore, having a
career based on our interest can actually bring happiness to us and lead us to a brighter future.
 In addition, interest-based careers will definitely give us satisfaction. When we like our
career, we will do any task given earnestly. For example, if we are very interested to be singers,
we will sharpen the talents we have. We will try to please the audience by performing well on
stage. In this case, we can achieve the satisfaction when we see the audience are happy. Other
than that, we will grab the opportunity to organize a concert to entertain the audience. When we
have managed to sell all the tickets, this signifies that we are successful as we have attracted a
lot of fans. When people love us, we can be famous. We also can achieve our goal when we
receive many awards. This will make us satisfied in our career. It is different when we have a
career that we do not like. For example, if we become doctors, following our parents’
expectations or based on high salary, we may feel bored doing the same routine every day. We
may treat our patients but not satisfied with the job. It will make us be very depressed and thus
cannot do our career better or cannot have a good relationship with our colleagues and patients.
That is why we will have satisfaction if we choose our career based on our own interest.

In conclusion, our career choice should be determined by our interest. This is because it
surely brings motivation, enjoyment and satisfaction to us. Deciding on the career that we like
can ensure a bright future. Our family or friends should not expect us to choose a career based
on other factors because it cannot guarantee us benefits in the future.
“Women make better leaders than men.”
The debate between the supremacy of the genders have been in session since time
immemorial. In the past, it would seem that men had the upper hand but these days, women are
starting to leave their mark in many aspects from business to politics rather than just domestic
affairs. In my humble opinion, both men and women have the potential to be great leaders but
the question of 'better leaders' does not lie in a person's gender alone but his or her innate
character. In this essay, let us explore the qualities that make men and women great leaders
before focusing on other factors that are unrelated to gender.

First and foremost, men have some distinctive qualities that make them far better
leaders than women. We can attribute this to the fact that men are generally physically stronger
than women. This is undeniable because a man has clearly more muscle mass than a woman
so in terms of leadership that has to do with physical ability, men win hands down. For example,
in the army, most leaders are men that are buffed up and better able to handle the physical
exertions of this field compared to women who are more delicate in structure. Men are also
known to have better ability to strategize in terms of warfare and they seem to command their
armies better. For example, great leaders have been men such as Napoleon Bonaparte,
Genghis Khan, Hitler and so on. Moreover, men tend to be able to make quick decisions that
are not usually based on their emotions but logical, rational and practical reasons. Women,
however, seem to be very emotional creatures so they may make poor leadership decisions if
they simply follow their feelings. Therefore, men have many qualities like physical strength,
ability to strategize well and make snap decisions which can make them better leaders.

However, women have proven to be better leaders in an increasing number of cases.

This can be seen as more and more countries have entrusted women to be their leaders. These
women have a more 'feminine' approach to leadership which is more sensitive towards the
needs of society. For instance, history is peppered with exemplary female leaders such as
Indira Ghandi, Benazir Bhutto, Eva Peron and present day heroines such as Aung San Suu Kyi.
Women tend to be more caring in nature and quite patient in dealing with problems which
makes them better leaders compared to men who could be less sensitive and impatient. Most
women are also known to be perfectionists, and this is an advantage because they are often
very meticulous and detailed in carrying out their duties as leaders. Thus, with a more open-
minded society, an increasing number of women are being given the onus to take the lead and
may even one day supersede men in their traditional leadership roles!

Although I have gone to great lengths to show that both men and women have the ability
to be great leaders, I still completely believe that 'leadership' has little to do with gender and a
lot to do with a person's innate character. This means that to be a great leader does not depend
on whether you are male or female but rather your personal characteristics that drive you to
succeed. Men and women both possess the qualities of confidence, responsibility, time
management and delegation skills, public relations and good communication skills, positive
outlook, high commitment, creativity and innovation, forward-looking visionaries and many other
characteristics of a good leader. Hence, the question of gender should not arise because being
male or female does not guarantee the ability to lead well.

In conclusion, history has shown that men make better leaders but this is a faulty
argument because it does not take into consideration the fact in the old days women were
discriminated against and not allowed to lead. Today, society is more open-minded and more
women are taking the helm and proving that women can be better leaders. Nevertheless,
leadership to me is 'genderless' whereby it is completely dependent on a person's positive
characteristics which makes people respect them and want to follow in their footsteps. Every
country needs more leaders regardless of gender so the government should conduct more self-
improvement leadership courses for the younger generation so they may become better future
leaders of our country.
‘Peer pressure can help mould a student’s life.’