PARAGRAPH-WRITING

Model Paragraphs
Laws are not masters but servants, and he rules them who obeys them.
H.W. Beecher Laws are used to ensure political stability, economic progress and material prosperity for all. In an ideal State, no one is supposed to be above law. However, it is a serious misconception on the part of some to believe that laws are supreme and human beings their subordinates. In fact, it is the man who formulates and frames the parameters of laws and rules them by consciously and conscientiously obeying them. He proves to be the most just and fair ruler, who goes by the rule book and subordinates his own and those of his kith and kins interests under the impartial and non-partisan implementation of laws, without fear or favour. The one who fails to obey laws in their letter and spirit, never becomes a good ruler, nor a deliverer of justice. If laws are not mans masters, they are equally not his slaves either, to be whipped and waylaid at the command of his personal whims and warped wisdom. Rule of law means obedience, observance and operation of laws in an atmosphere of transparency and truthfulness. temper enjoy the pride of place in matters both personal and social, unbridled credulity is an abject aberration, that brings nothing but mental torture in its train. Equally vicious is the tendency on the part of some to use craft to befool others and, thus, rule the roost at the cost of those who are taken in by sweet tongues. Manipulation and employment of cunning methods is as condemnable as an ever-readiness to believe in things unconvincing and irrational. When craft and credulity become the modus operandi of some persons, the voice of reason gets stifled. For those who are obsessed to use cunningness as a way of life, on the one hand, and blind faith, on the other, any talk of reason is like casting pearls before a swine. It is a waste of breath to convince those who are fed on superstitions and unfounded beliefs. in the past. The history of human race is replete with such men and women who embraced death with a smile on their faces, and exultation in their hearts, for goals sublime and supreme in this existential world.

Conscience and reputation are two things. Conscience is due to yourself and reputation to your neighbour.
St Augustine Conscience is both a precious as well as a personal possession, the like of which does not exist in the entire human psyche. Unless the neighbour is impressed, rightly or wrongly, an individual does not stand much chance to be applauded or even praised to the skies. Since one enjoys complete control over ones conscience, there is very little that others can do to smother or smear it. The custodian of his conscience, and the upholder of high moral values in the face of stiff resistance or titillating temptations, a person with conviction and commitment can sail safe through the journey of life with his unwavering loyalty to his conscience. On the other side of the fence, a person whose vanity is fed and bred on the charity of others, is seldom sure, both of his reputation as well as of his. If conscience keeps us on the right track, reputation turns many a head and, thus, renders the reputed or the known fellow a puppet in the hands of those who shower deserved or ill-deserved praises on him. A man with a clear conscience walks with confidence and compassion, whereas the one with borrowed reputation, wobbles about here and there.

Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.

John Heywood Deliberation, determination and finally diving into the deep waters of life is not a childs play. But for the one whose instincts, impulses and intellect are in tune with his/her concepts, nothing is impossible to achieve. No chagrin or challenge is big enough to thwart a heart from taking the bull by the horns and subduing it to such an extent that the difficulty becomes a bed of roses. None can mould an unwilling heart to chisel the stone and make a statue out of it that is a master piece. If mountains have been shaken, rivers tamed and all inimical and hostile forces chastened, it is due to the risks that willing hearts of pioneers, pathbreakers and adventurers had taken
906 s MAY 2002 s THE COMPETITION MASTER

Between craft and credulity, the voice of reason is stifled.

Edmund Burke Craft and credulity are the two extremes of human perceptions and practices which crush the voice of reason and render life a perpetual piece of ridicule and ribaldry. In an age where science and scientific