<p>I am new to cc and i really have no idea of how to post these things. Please grade this essay as I will be taking the SAT two days later.</p>
<p>Prompt: Do people need to compare themselves with others in order to appreciate what they have?
Essay: Comparison is a psychological tendency that one cannot avoid no matter how hard one tries. We are always comparing ourselves to others, sometimes without even realizing it. But does this tendency to compare teach us to appreciate what we have at our disposal? I think so. I was led to believe this due to what happened to me a few years back.
My parents and I were out at a restaurant one weekend. We hadn't had dinner out at a fancy restaurant for quite a while, and I was extremely excited. So here we were at the restaurant skimming through our menus. I really wanted to try the beef steak as it was a specialty of that place. But my mother, who was pregnant at that time and immensely hormonal, insisted on vegetarian food. Her condition made her wishes a priority for my dad and we settled on having plain old vegan instead. I must admit I was furious at having to make this sacrifice. Hence, the entire time we were there, I picked on my food.
Why I was sulking, I noticed through the glass windows next to me that a waiter of the restaurant was giving away some food in a Ziplock bag, perhaps leftovers, to a shabby looking man, presumably a bum. That was when my perspective started to shift. I compared myself to that beggar. I was much better off that he. At least I had a plate full of food right before my eyes. That poor man probably didn't even know if he could have breakfast the next day. He had to rely on luck.
The incident with the beggar got me thinking and I forgot about my desire of having a steak. I was rather grateful to God for at least having a plate fool of expensive food, whereas that man was presumably eating mere leftovers, sitting in an alley or someplace worse. This comparison made me appreciate the food in front of me and I immediately began chomping it. For some reason, the vegetable dish tasted ethereal to me at that moment.
If I hadn't compared myself that evening to the poor man, I would never had realized the importance of what I had at my disposal. I believe that when human beings are depressed over what little amount of belongings they have, they should compare themselves to others who are far more deprived than than they are. This instills a sense of gratification in them for what they have rather than lamenting over what could have been. Indeed, comparison helps us appreciate our possessions.</p>