Meaning of life:
Life has been defined in many different ways, and it always comes down to what that particular person’s belief system is. Whether, it be Christianity, atheism, Darwinism or even Buddhism, every person will have a slight difference in their own meaning of life.
Many pondered about when life begins, whether it is at conception or only when there is a heartbeat or in some cases only once the person is born. But looking past that, what is life according to how we live it? Are you alive if you are unable to properly function? Are you alive if you can’t walk, or talk or serve a purpose? These are all vital questions which have many answers but none of which are solid provable answers.
According to NASA, life is “A self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution.” While this is a broad answer, there are many, many people who do not accept Darwinism or evolution as an ongoing event which has taken place. (Benner, 2010)
While the Britannica defines life as living matter and, as such, matter that shows certain attributes that include responsiveness, growth, metabolism, energy transformation, and reproduction. (Sagan, Margulis, & Sagan, 2018)
However, none of these definitions encompasses the quality of life that people live. If we apply these two definitions to a person life, it doesn’t cover the emotional aspect of a person’s being.
In my current clinical placement, there are many different types of cerebral palsy children. While many of them have small amounts of impaired intellect and moderate functional problems there are 3 particular children with serve disabilities in both intellect and function.
Their quality of life is extremely low and everything from feeding to wheeling in their wheelchairs needs to be done for them.
One particular learner has dystonic cerebral palsy, he is able to move his arms and legs, but is unable to talk, feed or wheel himself. He also has quiet an aggressive side, as he will grab hold of whatever he can and hold on tight. Due to this no other children want to be near him, and even the teachers place him away from everyone in the classroom and playground. He is not allowed to take part in any group sporting activities that all the wheelchair children participate in due to his behaviour. Unlike the other two children who are severely disabled, he doesn’t seem to give any indication of understanding what is being told to him.
Looking at the above definitions of life, he does fit both statements, however, his perception and quality of life is so different from everyone else. Mainly, I think humans are slightly different from other beings which have life as they have a certain level of emotional intelligence which distinguishes us as higher beings. Therefore, in this child’s situation, how do we know his meaning and purpose of life. His life is so different from the conventional sense, so how do we fit him into a definition. (Sagan, Margulis, & Sagan, 2018)
4 thoughts on “How we define life.”
Hi Sonali.
Good opening paragraph. I think that you covered the topic of life really well and supported your statements. Its sad how people are often pushed aside for differences they have not control over, like in your example of a child. Surly things like that only decrease his quality of life even more.
As suggestions, in paragraph 5 “..definitions to a person life, it doesn’t cover the emotional aspect of a person’s being.” person should be persons, but otherwise writing is good and flows really well. I would also suggest elaborating on the other aspects not only the physical e.g the emotional aspect you have mentioned here in paragraph 5, or social aspects. You could also include something on other varying disabilities and how people with them can make adaptions in everyday life to improve their quality of life and people around them can help, but on the flip side is someone who is constantly on a ventilator or is unable to have control over their own bodies leading a meaningful life. At what point is life considered meaningless?
Just suggestions. Hope it is helpful.
Hey Sonali! I hope you don’t mind me commenting on your writing piece, two of the student’s below my name has not posted a URL and I therefore had to find two additional student’s work to comment on so here I am! I will use the rubric that Michael attached to comment on your work.
Content: I think the topic of the meaning of life is relevant to our ethics subject as we deal with individuals with varying QOL’s in our practice on a daily basis. I liked how you were able to link your experiences in clinical practice to the literature in this writing piece. However, I think the use of images and/or videos could help add more depth.
Argument: I think it was easy to grasp the claims in which you were trying to get across in this writing piece and I liked how you considered more than one religious view on this topic.
References: I did not see many references in your content and, therefore, feel that it would be better to add a few more to your literature. I know that this is only a draft and am confident that you will have more references in your final submission!
Writing: There are a few grammatical errors and I think it would be best to read through it again before the final submission to resolve these errors. I, however, thought the flow of each paragraph was written smoothly and the content was set out in a logical manner. in addition, I am confident that you will do well in your final submission!
Apologies if my comments were in any way offensive. Feel free to contact me should you need further assistance, keep well! 🙂
Hi Sonali,
I really like your opening paragraph. I also really enjoy the topic that you have chosen, as it is obviously very relevant to our clinical practice. I also liked how you liked it to clinical practice in your writing. It was also cool to see you compare various definitions as this forces the reader to think themselves about what life means to themselves and how they would define life.
I think it would be nice to see you use more references in your writing, and try to pull more information from literature, in order to create a well rounded piece of writing. Other then that just a few spelling and grammatical errors that were already mentioned by Carla.
I think this is a great piece of writing! Well done!
Hi Sonali,
Let me start by saying well done, it is a nicely written piece and an interesting read. I’m going to try to not repeat feedback, so here are a couple of suggestions and comments:
I think that these questions you ask are very important and need to be talked about. I think it is something we all come across and for me personally it is not easy to work with these children. I guess you realize how unfair life can be, and how lucky we are.
I couldn’t find any changes needed that are not already mentioned. Maybe you could say a bit more about what your personal feelings and thoughts were?
You prompt the reader to think and reflect, especially when we can relate to your experience.
Well done.