Please tell us what you found meaningful about one of the above mentioned books, publications or cultural events. (columbia)
what intrigues you? i chose a book (NYU)
During the summer of this year, I had the fortune of encountering "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston. The novel itself cannot be accredited for its storytelling nuances nor its creative content, for it tells of true accounts, historical tales made possible in light of human existence. The uprising of filoviruses, namely the Marburg Virus and the Ebola Virus, was the centerpiece of discussion, and their respective outbreaks around the globe were dramatized.
Amidst reading the Hot Zone, a sobering, sermon-esque quote from Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot, a coinage derivative of a telescopic photograph taken of the Earth from 6 billion kilometers away, came fleetingly into memory.
"Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity - in all this vastness - there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves."
It is axiomatic that the human race is as dispensable to the entirety of the cosmos as an iota of a mote of dust is to our perceptions; from a meager 6 billion kilometers away, we are already projected as nothingness. So fragile and futile is the foundation of our species' survival that entities smaller than the naked eye can see have managed to challenge our biological dominion on this "fraction of a dot". From as far back as the middle ages to contemporary times, Nature has reincarnated as the Black death, as smallpox, as the Spanish Flu, as the Avian flu, as AIDS, as Ebola, as a means to an end. It is suspect if we could withstand any more impending waves of evolving viruses and multidrug resistant superbugs that inundate us, acting as intrinsic mechanisms of order and correctness. The ultimate reality is that our very own existence is relevant solely to ourselves.
Despite this, we still pertain an inherent drive of self destruction, be it through warfare, hubris, or other iniquities of our humanity, all of this is made possible through our failure to acknowledge our frivolity in the cosmos and our growing vulnerability to the forces of the world that will soon outcompete us. The history of man is and will be no more than a faint and ersatz sparkle across the vacuums of space, and yet every second of that sparkle has been marred by conflict, by conquest, "to become momentary masters of this fraction of a dot."
The Hot Zone was but another reminder among countless others of our poignant transience on this Pale Blue Dot, our remnants and our imprints bound to be forgotten next to every supernova, every galactic collision and every dying black hole. As I finished the last pages of book, a humble moment of lucidity dawned on me, shattering every notion of self-importance I've ever conceived of myself. However little time we have as individuals, or as a species, to exist, and however insubstantial the event of our existence is, it is our breadth to coexist that matters. After all, we are creatures of sentience, relevant and indispensable only to our own kind. The fundamental insignificance of us lies in our inability to become a singularity in a volatile world that requires us to be. Speaking as a fellow earthling, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us. Whatever the circumstances that stifle us, remember that we will have to seek comfort and refuge within each other, even if in futility and desolation.
PLEASE HELP ME I FEEL LIKE I TOTALLY CONFUSED MYSELF OVER.. AND I DIDNT KNOW HOW TO END MY ESSAY. THANKS FOR ALL INPUT
I think that you have a great topic for your essay, and you have great reason to write an essay about this book. I think that you get a bit off-track in a few places, because you seem to ramble in a philosophical sort of way. I'd change the extremely serious tone to one of curiosity and desire for knowledge. The purpose of this prompt is to reveal something about your personality and the way you reflect on literature. So, I'd suggest for you to connect the theme of this book to what your goals are, and besides your catharsis, what have you learned from this book that you can apply to real life, how will this book inspire you to lead your life in a new/improved way. Try to connect it to what you intend to study in school/your plan for the future. Good luck in school :)
Not gonna lie. This essay is intimidating. haha overall, its pretty darn good. I would just suggest that the last sentence, don't direct it at the reader as if it was a command. Other than that, its all good! Good luck
Read mine? Also doing NYU :)
Same as Jennyflower81, I guess you could make the tone more personal.
I could REALLY see the depth and maturity of philosophical thinking in your essay but I couldn't see how this topic relates to your own life or aspirations clearly.
Just my opinion, good luck!
