Prompt:
In the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the possibility of requiring universal military service through a draft
has once again come under consideration. Write an essay arguing your position, for or against the draft. Your argument
may or may not include a discussion of a system of national service that extends beyond military service. Please note, this
is not a litmus test regarding political views; Bard seeks diversity and originality, not conformism.
If we ask why people should be drafted into the army, some might say, 'because we would be prepared in case a war breaks out'. But it is easy to imagine that, once we institute the draft, how the public would become more and more prepared for war, both financially and psychologically. While preparing for war, people would begin to regard war as a probable eventuality. What people expect to happen is more likely to come true, according to The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, one of my favorite books. I am quite convinced of the so-called Law of Attraction introduced in this book, which says that, whatever you have thoughts about, no matter whether you are for or against it, you are attracting it into your world, which is also everyone's world. Now, since I am against wars, I disapprove of any actions that might lead to or prepare people for war, and drafting is certainly one of them. The best way to prevent war is to remove the thought of it from virtually everyone's mind. That has obviously not yet been achieved, which is why we still have wars now. When people eliminate negative thoughts like those of wars from their minds, they would gradually allow more positive and neutral thoughts to come in, such as the thoughts of peace, love, and courage. As people think of the good things, they would, consciously or unconsciously, bring it about through action. Therefore, for the purpose of peace in the world, we should never allow the introduction of universal military service through draft. Otherwise, people's minds would be full of the thoughts of war, and the breakout of war would be 'guaranteed'.
On the other hand, though I see how to utilize the Law of Attraction for the purpose of achieving world peace, I do understand that making nearly everyone expel the thought of war from his or her mind is very difficult. Therefore, as a student interested in psychology, I would like to work as someone who inspires the mind, as far as I am able to, by spreading my ideas to as many people as possible.
I like Bard very much, and this essay prompt belongs to the most interesting ones I have ever encountered. But since I am a supporter of the Law of Attraction and against war, I would suggest Bard to change this essay prompt next year to something about peace instead of war. By doing so, Bard would be preventing more thoughts about war from entering the minds of us prospective students, some of whom will become future world leaders. That would be a small helpful step towards preventing war. Thank you.
It's really a weird response. I think it might work because of Bard's weird nature. Anyone feels that I should elaborate it further?
