Essays task
As we celebrate 30 years from the Velvet Revolution, the topic was obvious:
- Is it worth fighting for Freedom? 200-240 words
Essays – Younger students (Category I)
IS IT WORTH FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM?
Is it worth fighting for freedom? I would say yes. Fortunately, I live in times when freedom is taken tor granted. We live in a democratic state, we have an access to world-wide social media, we can travel abroad, I can freely express my opinion and when I reach the age of 18, I will have the right to vote.
I can not imagine what if feels like to live in a world where people can not say what they think and what needs to be said, or how it feels to be too scared of someone to speak up for myself and for the others.
Speaking for myself, it is totally worth it. It is important to fight for ourselves, for our well-being, for younger generations and for people in this world who still can not live their lives peacefully due to their state system.
I believe that we can not live in a world where everyone is happy and free. In my opinion, there will always be a state with a wrong state system that benefits from oppressing certain people, where someone will be disadvantaged, but the disadvantaged ones will always resist against the oppression.
From my point of view, it is important to educate ourselves on the history of our state, so we appreciate what we have and we don´t repeat our past mistakes. I was born in a good time in a good state and I am really grateful for that.
Adéla Kotková, kvinta B
IS IT WORTH FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM?
What is freedom? Are we really free? And is it worth fighting to be free? Those are really tricky questions people often discuss. But sometimes we find ourselves in bad situations – as an individual or a nation, when we can say we really aren´t free. One of those situations was when the Communist party took over East Europe and many other parts of the world and introduced many imprisoning rules. Europe managed to free itself but there are still lots of countries that are fighting. And the
question is – is it worth it?
Everyone wants a say in mothers of the nation and nobody wants to be controlled. It´s the control of your own life that´s at stake when you exchange freedom for no political duty or consequence. It´s the ability to do, wear and say what you want that people so desire and it´s unimaginable to never know the full truth because every piece of info is censored and evaluated if the general public should hear it.
However, rebellions come with great danger and uncertainly. Rebelling in a strict, military-oriented
government means you´re never safe, never accepted and always watched. It also affects your family and close friends. Your children probably won´t have many friends and won´t be accepted to schools, your old grandma will be questioned about you and your house will be searched regularly. Everyone is willing to fight until it affects their life and only the brave few ones are actually willing to continue.
In conclusion, it´s necessary to fight for what we love but everybody needs to evaluate to which length are they willing to go.
Daniela Holecová, kvinta B
IS IT WORTH FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM?
Even though I did not experience what happened it the year 1989 and before that, from what I have heard I am glad that there was a revolution 30 years ago. I personally think that it was worth fighting for freedom. Otherwise, we would probably live under the same circumstances jus like people did 30 years ago, including some of our parents and other relatives. They were not able to travel abroad unless they agreed with the politicians. Our country would not grow like the other countries did for the past few years and I dare to say that we would be stuck in the past and live restricted lifes.
What did the revolution cost and what did it bring us? It brought us freedom in everything. We are able to openly say what we think. We can wear any clothes we want to. We can study in universities without any restrictions and study abroad as well. We can travel the world. I am aware people were hurt fighting for freedom but if they have not fought they would be hurt in other ways without
getting their freedom. It might have taken something from us but it might have not as well.
In conclusion, we are free now and we should be grateful for it, we should be thankful to all the people who freed us. Still, we should acknowledge the fact that this might not last forever and we might need to fight so that our freedom is not taken away from us again.
Zuzana Havlová, 1. A
IS IT WORTH FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM?
This year our country celebrates thirty years from the Velvet Revolution. Since 1989 we have lived in
democratic country, however it has not always been that way. Our ancestors lived in much worse conditions and did not know the feeling of freedom. Many of them spent
their entire life fighting for it. The question is – was it all worth?
It´s unimaginable for our generation to live in socialistic system, where we could not say our pinions, buy quality food or even have basic human rights. It must have felt so desperate to live under these conditions. It is easy to give up and go with the flow and many people in the past did it, however there always were “rebels”, who tood up and took action and they often payed a high price for it. Was it worth? In my opinion, these political “heroes” were a big inspiration for others, who realised
they were not worthless after all. People realised that in unity there´s strength and convinced more and more other people to fight for the freedom of our country. It all lead to that November evening, when hundreds of thousands of students made a demonstration which changed our country forever.
Freedom is something that is always worth fighting for. Any country, and races shouldn´t lived chained by the political system. We all have right to live our lives free and to the fullest. It´s pointless to not take action, if it is our and our children´s future in the risk. I wish our country will never be lead by communists again, but if any reason to fight for our future comes, I´ll take action and do what´s the best.
Tereza Hejduková, kvinta B
Essays – Older students (Category II)
IS IT WORTH FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM?
To be able to answer this question, we must first understand the difference between freedom and democracy. Democracy is, at least from my point of view, undoubtably worth fighting for. Especially when you live under the rule of a regime that oppresses human rights, destroys families, sends people to prison for something they have not even done.
A regime that gives you a simple choice: you either yield, or we will force you to yield. That is how our parents and grandparents lived, or at least that is what we are being told today. And standing up to that, fighting shoes who have been ruining lives for decades upon decades, risking your own life so that your children can live freely and happily is, in my opinion, definitely worth it.
However, democracy does not necessarily have to mean freedom. Nowadays we live in a society built on democracy, we are allowed to ravel wherever we want, we can vote for a political party of our choice, we can even choose our head of state. Are we free, though? In some ways, yes. We are free to say whatever we want, for example, among many other things.
We are not completely free, though. We cannot just go and murder someone without consequences. I know, that is a bit extreme, but you get the point. There are rules we have to obey, and that is good. Without any rules, the society would fall into chaos and anarchy, and eventually destroy itself from the inside.
Or maybe it would not. I do not know what total freedom looks like, no one does. It might not even exist. So, is it worth fighting for? That is, in my humble opinion, a question nobody is able to answer.
Matěj Bureš, septima A
IS IT WORTH FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM?
Given the fact that many influential and clever people stated, that democracy is the best political system, we have, I believe, it is safe to say that it is a correct assumption. Furthermore, since the core idea of democracy is freedom, I suppose fighting for it is honourable, if not necessary. Had our ancestors not done just that, the world would not look much alike.
So why should we fight for freedom? I am convinced that society as well as culture is only able to bloom under a respectful liberty providing regime. After all, people often express themselves more when they are not constantly threatened with execution or imprisonment for their beliefs. On the other hand, bad times often influence people to create some spectacular works of art.
However, people are radical, unpredictable beings. History can unfortunately prove it. During times of terror, they strive for freedom and the ability to express themselves. After they achiever it, they enjoy their newfound world. For some time. Though, as the generation that lived through those hard times passes away, some younger people start calling democracy flawed and weak.
These same ones then usually help create the regime that their ancestors fought so desperately against. Had they listened to the lessons meant to be learned from the suffering, many great wars and disasters might have never happened.
Filip Vacek, sexta A
IS IT WORTH FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM?
Short answer: yes. Long answer: Of course, it is. Freedom is the fundamental right of each living person. The freedom of choice, of speech, religion, travel, sexuality… Nowadays, we can´t imagine living without these, but in the past, or even now in some parts of the world, you were not guaranteed any of those.
You wanted to travel? To see Paris, to visit your relatives in England? Well, if you were lucky, they let you, but most of the time you were only allowed to visit specific countries, like Bulgaria or Croatia.
You wanted to go to university? If your parents were not in KSČ, you did not have much of a chance. I might be mistaken, after all I did not live in that era, but I think living like that is unacceptable.
In my opinion, it is very important to fight for what we believe in, to voice our opinions and views of the current issues. One of my favourite bands, Billy Talent, summarized it well in their song “Red Flag”: “Speak for yourself or they´ll speak for you”.
You can see more and more people have the same opinion as I do – as seen with events like climate protests, Greta T. speaking publicly, and most importantly the Hong Kong protests. You can see that the need for freedom is stronger than the instincts of self-preservation. People are willing to risk their safety, health and even life to make the world a better place not only for themselves, but also for the generations to come.
Tomáš Hartl, sexta A
IS IT WORTH FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM?
Everyone has at some point heard this question and each person has different opinion. Some say fighting is futile because we will not achieve anything, some do not care and some would spill blood of anyone who would stand in their way against them. People would kill for freedom.
But in the long run, it does not matter. Fight if you want, try to change whatever is bothering you. You may succeed, but just for limited amount of time because when one threat to freedom is eliminated next one will eventually appear. And these threats can appear from places we would not expect them to. Threats that appear this way are the most dangerous ones because we cannot prepare for them.
Taking down someone or something that has the advantage of surprise is very difficult, even more when we are talking about political regimes. And what if the regime has support from outside the country? Then it would take very long to overpower it. Exactly what we have seen with USSR and our communist regime.
Fight for freedom is an endless battle because people always feel the need to overpower someone. People use regimes to prohibit one another and revolutions to end them. So as long as people feel the need to be something more than the other ones, this will keep on repeating. The fact that
homosexuals cannot get married is a great example from today´s politics.
Kateřina Sosnarová, sexta B
