Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “Enjoyment” Complete Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Enjoyment

Living is an art. It is the most complicated art and is based upon the scientific application of the good principles of living, which govern the behaviour and attitude of a human being. Life to some is just an empty dream and to others it is a zeal, pleasure and duty. Some live for enjoyment. They would like to eat, drink and be merry without caring for tomorrow, which they think may not come. For them, life is not a serious journey through ordeals. It is a light comedy. In actual life, however, there are very few who enjoy so easily, for life is not just a bed of roses. It has many thorns around. It is a comedy as well as a tragedy at the same time. Both these facts of life are to be faced as they come and go.

The Hindu religion, which believes in karma and rebirth, proclaims that it is rare to be born as a human being and rarer still to be free of deformities and illness. It is because of the good or noble deeds performed in earlier births and also owing to grace of God that an individual is born as a human being with good health. Having attained this rare gift of being born a normal human being what should one do with his life ? The preposition—”The principal business of life is to enjoy it”—on the face of it, appears to be sound and nice. But difficulties arise when one attempts to define the word “enjoyment”. It is also related to one’s environment, to the habits and ideas formed in childhood, experience and knowledge. It is a highly relative concept. What is found enjoyable today or was in the past, might prove to be uninteresting, distasteful or even painful at a later date. Enjoyment is conditioned by time, place and environmental circumstances. One can enjoy certain things at certain places on certain occasions, and in certain conditions only. But when the time, place, circumstances or conditions, experiences, etc., change, these may produce quite opposite effects.

Another important aspect of enjoyment is that it happens to be highly subjective. One man’s food is another man’s poison. What one individual may regard as most enjoyable, the other individual may find it as extremely boring or tiring. Take the game of bridge. To those who are fond of it, it may be most absorbing and interesting to sit for hours together at the bridge table and continue playing the game. But many find it very dull and uninteresting way of occupying oneself. Thus enjoyment is related to one’s personal preferences and interests. We have seen thousands of people, sitting in music halls glued to their chairs for three hours at a stretch listening to a musical performance. To those who love this music and understand it and are interested in it, this is an enjoyable experience; but there are millions who may regard music, particularly, its classical varieties, as mere violent exercise of one’s vocal cords. An individual, who enjoys European music for hours together, might be unable to stand the Hindustani or Carnatic music even for a short time. Therefore, the concept of enjoyment remains highly selective and subjective.

Again, when an individual lays emphasis on his own enjoyment, he may be causing misery and unhappiness to others. In his efforts to acquire wealth and power as the means to his enjoyment, an ha individual might be hitting several innocent people. He might be enslaving and exploiting hard the poorer and weaker sections of the population. A handful of S apartheid, were attempting to enjoy themselves at the cost of the African whites, by practicing coloured (majority) population. The maintenance of harems by the medieval Sultans was another glaring example of this type of enjoyment. For the Sultan’s enjoyment hundreds of helpless women, imprisoned till death, suffered throughout their lives. So the enjoyment of one may spell misery to many others. If each one is to regard that the principal business of life is to enjoy, it is most likely that they may attain this object only at the cost of the sufferings of others. This will lead to the prevalence of law of the jungle where might is right. If this is to happen, we will certainly be descending to the level of continuously inflicting wounds one others and in turn getting wounded ourselves. Where there is no law and order, no understanding and tolerance and no cooperation and coordination, there will be utter confusion and perpetual conflict. Under such conditions, no one will be able to enjoy anything for any length of time.

There are quite a few, who subscribe to the view, that one can enjoy by doing what comes to him or her naturally. This is again a sweeping statement. As long as the natural instinct does not come into conflict with the well-being of others, it may be permissible. If we interpret the phrase, “what comes naturally” as one’s inborn gifts of natural talents, pursuing those may help one to find satisfaction and enjoyment. But if we take it to signify the whims and fancies that strike one at a given moment, then it would lead to disastrous consequences and end in regret and pain for the rest of life. Everything has its price. One should pay the price and have it. If one wants to enjoy the fruits of wealth and power, he should work hard and earn them. If he is only keen to spend and enjoy, he will not be able to save, invest and acquire wealth. The exercise of power must be in the interest and benefit of the community and the country. If it is exercised in one’s own selfish interest, it is not likely to last long. Soon there will be a revolt and his authority and power will end. This is what precisely happened with the previous regime in India. If one wants to enjoy the fruit of knowledge, he has to study hard, learn and acquire it. If one wants to reach the summit of the mountain, one has to start from the base and climb up. If one wants victory, he must fight and conquer the enemy. If a student were to concentrate on enjoyments only and spend all his time in play fields, cinema halls or eating houses and neglect his studies, his enjoyment will prove deceptive. He will fail in his examinations and his intellectual development will get retarded. Smoking, drinking or drug addiction may provide some enjoyment in the beginning, but they harm one’s health and shorten the individual’s span of life.

The approach, that the principal object of life should only be enjoyment lays emphasis on material comforts and values, at the expense of one’s family, social and other responsibilities. It ignores the importance of psychological and spiritual values. People of the western countries have been disillusioned and demoralized after they had indulged themselves in various worldly and material comforts and pleasures indiscriminately. They discovered too late that life had become mere pretense and make-belief, devoid of lasting love, affection, sympathy and consideration. These disillusioned individuals are now increasingly ending up as anarchists. The principal object of life should, therefore, be to make the best use of life that has been given to one by God. Only by living a useful and meaningful life, does one enjoy it to the maximum extent, in doing his duties and discharging his responsibilities? When people are motivated by lofty ideas like patriotism, sacrifice for the sake of one’s honour or welfare of his countrymen, we find them facing death willingly and pleasure, thrill and enjoyment. Enjoyment comes when one develops interest in what he must do. He should seek enjoyment in such a way that he does not cause pain or hurt, physical or mental, to others.