What will I Defend?

I am Jared Chua (11) from 2A.

What will I Defend?

Many people say that in the event of a crisis, they would defend their family, loved ones and such. However, in reality, some would rather selfishly defend themselves even if their loved ones were in a difficult situation. I, myself, also feel that way, and such, I will defend myself, anybody that is accompanying me during the crisis, and (if possible) my family.

Why do I say that defending yourself is important? That is because, if you care much about others around you, you will neglect yourself, and that would be harming yourself. Although your loved ones are happy to see that you want to defend them during the crisis, they would be able to see that you are hurting yourself in the process, thus worrying more. In a worse situation, you could overstress yourself which can lead to illness, and which other people would have to take care of you, which causes even more stress to the people. So, in order not to add on to the burden of my loved ones, I would firstly take care of myself, and if I am capable, then help the people around me.

Treating the people who are following you during the crisis is also important, as they are able to encourage you whenever you feel like giving up. This motivation is needed during a crisis so that people will not succumb to suicide to end the misery. If disputes happen, it will cause a extra weight of stress onto the survivor which will lead to illness and such.

Of course family is the main priority of a person as it is the main source of comfort and peace. However, many fail to defend it. At the start, people are determined to protect their family no matter what the costs are, but, at the critical moment, they will panic and defend themselves instead of his/her weak family. In my point of view, family is the most important thing to protect, and it is also the hardest to protect. It is also the main source of motivation (other than the other people accompanying you during the crisis) and could really boost your confidence in surviving. Saying, "I will definitely defend my parents, friends and country" is pretty easy, but is doing it the same?

Response to Bosco's post:
You said that, "There is actually not much choice of defending who you want because we are all boys and if war broke out all of us have to go to war and protect the country and its people so there is not much choice for us to make." But in actual fact, some people, who are cowards, run away on the battlefield to defend themselves rather than the country. This is a choice that they made, which is to defend themselves rather than the country.