“What society has thought to be its greatest social, political and individual achievements have often resulted in the greatest discontent.”
The issue that some of the greatest discontent that has reached mankind are what initially the society thought would be its greatest achievements is not entirely logically convincing. On the one hand, I believe some of the greatest achievements have been attained due to the support received from the society and this has further led to the betterment of the society. On the other hand, there have also been evidences in history that supports the issue that some of the greatest social, political and individual achievements have often resulted in the greatest discontentment of the society. Like every coin has two sides , I believe that each achievement meant for the betterment of the society, may have had a positive and a negative impact on the society.
One of the breakthrough in the history of sciences was the development in the nuclear sciences. Though, the scientists who spent most of their time researching on the nuclear science, they did not , obviously see their knowledge being developed as weapons of mass destruction. However, one of the black marks in history, was the bombing attack on Japan’s towns Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This wiped out the entire town and killed over lakhs of people. In this example, there was an individual achievement, i.e the development of the nuclear sciences, was definitely a remarkable progress in history of science. However, when used in the wrong way, they cause a great discontent in the society.
However, not all the achievements in the society have had a negative impact. For example, the development made today in medical sciences. Let me illustrate with a few examples. In reproductive sciences, there are methods in which a couple who could not bear a child, due to various reasons , today, can have a child which have the parents genes. This method called test tube baby, where the child is conceived outside the womb of the mother. Also, procedures like invitro fertilization helps a couple to bear a child. Another example is the advancements to develop various vaccines to cure diseases. A century ago, the small pox disease was widely prevalent. However, today, the disease has almost completely wiped out. This is due to one of the greatest achievement made by researches that have had a positive impact on the society.
For past hundreds of centuries, there has always been a greed for power, power in terms of the land conquered. It was considered the pride if a king won a war or a battle. For example, Alexander, the Great, was renowned for his conquers of the world. Though, this made the people unhappy, it did not affect his greed for more power. A number of wars led to the increase in the number of ‘his’ kingdoms. However, this caused a large amount of blood shed. When he realized this, the damage was already done. There were a large loss of lives of men, women and children. Though this was a great political achievement for Alexander this caused a large discontentment among the society.
On the other hand, one of society’s great political achievement was seen in India. Gandhi, father of the Nation, helped in accelerating the freedom of India from the British rule, by following the path of ‘Ahimsa’ or non-violence. This changed India’s future. His idea of non-violence obtained the support of the entire nation. The people of India followed him. It had a positive impact of the society. And the achievement was seen on 15th August 1947 when India obtained its freedom and thus the reason for content, joy and happiness in India’s society.
Thus, I believe that every achievement has a positive and negative impact on the society. An achievement also depends on the people in the society it affects, the perspective of the people and the prejudices of the people (if it exists). If a achievement does more harm than good to the society, it will obviously cause discontentment in the society. But if the impact is good, then it helps in the advancement of the society. Evidences in the history are the greatest teachers. Just like everything in the world has a bright and a dark side, a social, political or individual achievements may help for the better or the worse of the society.
TOEFL listening discussions: What upsets the young man’s mother?