Harmony within diversity must be nurtured and cherished . In order to figure out why or how it must be nurtured and cherished , first we must know what is harmony , and what is diversity in itself. Literally , harmony comes from the Greek word “harmonia” which means somewhere between join and to fit together . In the context of Malaysia today , I would like to think that we achieved a certain level of harmony. There are no major civil wars , riots and clashes occurring in our society today . If we look slightly north towards Thailand or Vietnam, we will find that after all these years, harmony is still not achieved . There are still differences that lead to clashes between different religions in those countries . That brings us to the next …show more content…
If we study that quote, it seems that to have harmony nowadays, we need to be one and the same entity, which is the opposite of our topic today, which is variety, diversity. Personally, I believe it is not impossible to have harmony within diversity, albeit challenging. That brings me to my next point, in order to achieve harmony within diversity, we have to find a point of similarity. Just to clarify, differences are beautiful. Assimilations in cultures are what makes our country unique. But, the truth is uniqueness does not mean peace. And in order to achieve peace, we have to have a similar mindset. Our Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak realized that, and he subsequently launched a campaign with a tagline of 1 Malaysia, implying that no matter our race , be it Malays , Chinese , Indians or indigenous people , at heart, we are ALL Malaysians. And the 59th Malaysia Independence Day motto is also “Sehati Sejiwa” meaning “One Heart, One Soul”. All of this suggests in the midst of celebrating differences, we need to cooperate as a society and as the people to achieve
A Separate Peace begins when Gene Forrester returns to Devon boarding school, the school in which he attended during world war two. It had been fifteen years since he had been there. Walking through the campus Gene remembers his time spent there. The one he remembered a lot was the summer session in '42 when he was 16.
Chapter Five From what Jayden could observe upon landing on this planet, was that there was no law. No order. Like Molly earlier said, Gavin is the so called “self-proclaimed king.” If there was any form of actual government, it would be a very primordial one, at best. Most likely, that would mean that the leader would be the biggest and strongest.
In A Separate Peace, John Knowles uses the universality of jealousy and envy to develop a theme based upon man’s inhumanity to man. Fifteen years after attending Devon, an elite military preparatory school located in New Hampshire, the narrator, Gene Forrester, returned to reflect upon how fearful he was during the time he spent training and studying for World War II. He then decides to visit the places or symbols on the campus that were closely associated with his fear; a marble staircase and a tree placed near the bank of the river. As Gene visits these key symbols of fear, he flashes back upon his time at Devon. He remembers his best friend, Phineas or Finny, as a very superior athlete and charming young man.
A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, tells a story of a 16-year-old boy, Gene Forrester and his various feelings that he harbors for his gifted best friend, Phineas. Throughout the novel, Gene is constantly living in the shadow of Phineas in which he grows to breed resentment, envy, and even hate. The juxtaposition Gene Forrester is caught up in is dealing with a love and hate relationship that causes him to enmesh in personal misgivings. Thus, people can be their own worst enemy if they don't learn to accept who they are. For in striving to be that, it can be said that insecurity is an invisible weapon that oftentimes kills our self-esteem.
A Changed Life: Pessimism to Optimism Just like no one can escape death no one can escape the aftermath of a traumatic event. Even though trauma isn’t escapable it is overcomeable. The traumatic events that occur throughout A Separate Peace would lead most to say that it is a pessimistic book, but there are much deeper findings that is optimistic in the book. The optimistic view of the book is looked upon and isn’t the most obvious choice of the two but has many provable points.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, often referred to as PTSD is a mental health disease that people develop after experiencing and or witnessing a traumatic event in their life. When diagnosed with PTSD your personality can drastically change. In the book A Separate Peace, the author John Knowles establishes a character, Elwin Lepellier to be a prime candidate for post-traumatic stress disorder. Lepellier appears to have PTSD due to the many symptoms he was expressing.
Part of friendship consists of accepting a friend's shortcomings. This theme, generally associated with A Separate Peace, means that friends should embrace each other's imperfections. Some people seem perfect with no flaws at all while others seem hopelessly imperfect with many flaws, but the truth is everyone makes mistakes. Friends should accept each other's shortcomings because unrealistic expectations can damage a relationship. In A Separate Peace, both Finny and Gene had difficulty accepting a friend's shortcomings.
A loving friend turns murderer after his retched jealousness and overanalyzing pushes him to new lows. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the true character of Gene Forrester is shown as he narrates his point of view of the story. Gene Forrester is a relatable ever changing, humanistic, and someone who is always in contention. Although at points Gene seems mentally unstable, he is a round, dynamic character that adapts and is generally mentally sound. Gene being the narrator of his own story shows from his perspective just how he views people and their interactions.
Envy creates tension in friendships and this trait is what leads to a lack of trust and end of the friendship. Envy can be healthy to an extent, but when envy overcomes rational thoughts it becomes unhealthy. When envy interjects itself between friends, it can lead to terrible events. A Separate Peace by John Knowles shows this fact throughout the story. In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, envy leads to lack of trust, as illustrated through the thoughts, actions, and interactions of Gene and Finny.
Differences in A Separate Peace Novel and Film Everyone at some point has felt envious of their bestfriend. In the novel, “A Separate Peace”, envy leads to many problems and changes in the film. Phineas is a main character that is bestfriends with Gene; he is athletic, a leader, and goes by Finny. Leper is a student that is viewed as weird. When he came back from the war he is portrayed differently in the film than in the book.
In the essay, “ The Role of Religion in Modern Society”, Dalai Lama, The preeminent religious authority in Buddhism reveals the reason behind why religion has been a major source of conflict throughout the history, and how inter-religious harmony is the key to overcoming conflict of the first sort. He goes deeper into the similarities between different religion and identifies the obstacles that obstruct inter-religious harmony by developing ways to overcome them. He believes religion plays a vital role in the modern society by shaping the person's spiritual qualities rather than making him a better religious person than the other. Dalai Lama expounds that religious practice can help a person cope with adversity than those who don't.
Friendship A Separate Peace has a very unique description of friendship. Throughout the book, Gene is jealous of Finny’s looks and what he is able to do. Gene has a lot of ambivalent feelings toward Finny. He wants to be Finny, but at the same time he is jealous of him.
One man will always think that he is godlier then another man is so peace isn’t possible between the two.so in the future if I see peace everywhere I see people being held in curfew behind barred
In John Knowles’s novel A Separate Peace Identity is shown as what defines us and makes us be placed in other peoples perspectives. An author can use identity to place characters in the readers mind to portray them a certain way, just as John Knowles did in A Separate peace. An identity can be defined as who a person is inside and out.
(Analysis) This quote shows that if one joins together with a community, everyone will benefit rather than trying to stand