<p>Yepp... I probably should have researched some more before I jumped right into writing essays.</p>
<p>It's a bit wordy. But yea. Grade it and critique it! As usual I did not have time to revise it. :(</p>
<p>Do people need to compare themselves with others in order to appreciate what they have?</p>
<p>Its all relative my stepfather would always tell me. Whether it was from comparing or contrasting one thing or another, he would always tell me the same thing. It is peoples nature to compare themselves with others in order to appreciate what they truly have. Recent Disney Pixar movie Braves main character realizes how much she should have appreciated her mother after comparing with one of her ancestor. Several examples from film and personal experience show the need for people to compare themselves with others to appreciate what they have.</p>
<p>Demonstrated by the problem Princess Mediath had to face, the only method for people to appreciate what they have right now is to compare themselves with that of others. In the beginning of the movie, it shows a daughter and a mother constantly fighting. Her mother, the Queen, does not believe princesses should be playing with bows and arrows. She forcibly try to obliterate her tomboyness. One night, the Queen proposed that it is time for the Mediath to find a man. The Queen did everything the princess didnt want to do, ending the opening ceremony night with an argument and a princess running to a witch. Mediath told the witch she needed a potion that could change her mother. The result was just a piece of cake. Mediath rushed home to make her mother eat the cake, which turned her mother into a bear. After days of finding a cure, she accidentally meets up with another ferocious bear, who did the exact same thing Mediath did with her mother. Comparing the two lives and the results of the angry bear, she finally appreciates her mother regardless of her firm and feminine ways. This shows that one of the only ways people can learn to appreciate what they have is to compare with someone elses results.</p>
<p>Another example of how comparisons can allow one to enjoy the current things one have would be from experience. When I was young I always thought I had the most terrible life out of every one of my best friends. My mother was divorced. Im not rich. I dont travel to Asia every summer. And so on. This belief continued to middle school, until my mom remarried. When she remarried, we moved across the country to a new state and home. While I was trying to bond with my new stepfather, we started talking about best friends. He, too, had the same belief that he was the poorest and worst life out of everyone else. I didnt realize it at first, so I tried to make him feel better by comparing it to the poor kids who lost their parents in an earthquake or other disasters. By being relative and being compared to someone else made both him and me realize how our lives dont really stink as bad as we believe it to be. This, again, demonstrates how relativity and comparing to others can help people appreciate what they have in life.</p>
<p>Demonstrated by several examples in film and personal experience, life actually does not suck as bad as we may believe it may be. For example, true I am poor, but at least I have a family who supports me on my goals in life. Princess Mediath learned the hard way after losing her mother. Like my stepfather always said, Its all relative!</p>