Mains Practice Questions

Approach

• Explain the quote in your own words.
• Give examples of people who showed strength in the face of adversity.
• Conclude.

Introduction

The ability to think, understand and differentiate the right from wrong makes us human. This ability ceases to exist in death. Weakness is death, as it does not allow us to do what is right and virtuous. So being weak can be similar to being dead because in both cases, we are not able to do our moral duties. The given quotation highlights the significance of having the courage to stand by virtue. Strength essentially means the ability to face adversity.

Body

Plato has described Courage as one of four cardinal virtues, which help a person to live a just life. Similarly, as per the deontological theory of Kant, moral acts are based on a sense of duty and sense of right, and a weak person can not fulfill his/her duty and hence does an immoral act.

In the battle of Kurukshetra, when Arjun stands confused whether to fight against his own blood or not, Krishna guides him through his moment of weakness, when he is unable to judge the right and the wrong. It is then that he takes a call to stay by what is right and virtuous and picks up his weapon to fight again. Weakness can collude the mind and can produce more weakness. The dilemma of following a just path, or giving in to the momentary weakness of emotions, is faced by us even today. It, therefore, becomes important to understand and overcome the weakness in order to evolve as a human being. It is evolution, the constant learning, that resists stagnation and death.

There are several examples that reflect resistance to weakness. Gandhi Ji fought with the mighty British empire even in the most adversarial situation and succeeded in getting India its independence. Similarly, Nadia Murad who was held captive by ISIS and was used as a slave discarded weakness and used her strength to get free. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize because of her bravery and her initiatives to help women trapped in warfare.

Conclusion

We can avoid all weaknesses by having the right attitude as 'our attitude, not our aptitude will determine our altitude'. We should also train our cognitive aspect i.e. we have to accept the fact that weakness is a bad thing and its a sin. This training can lead to the development of right attitude. With this right attitude, one can emanate positive energy based on the right behavior of strength.