Conscience

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

A mistakenly cynical view of human behavior holds that people are primarily driven by selfish motives: the desire for wealth, for power, or for fame. Yet history gives us many examples of individuals who have sacrificed their own welfare for a cause or a principle that they regarded as more important than their own lives. Conscience – that powerful inner voice that tells us what is right and what is wrong – can be a more compelling force than money, power, or fame.

Is conscience a more powerful motivator than money, fame, or power? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.




People tend to think that they strive to success by possessing the privilege comprised of money, fame, or power – sometimes all – through capitalism. Nevertheless, the truth is that, the more potent motivator towards any directions is in fact conscience. James Cash Penney had founded the department stores under the basic understanding of shoddy business practices and fair services for the community. Spider-Man, one of the superheroes designed by Marvel Comics, is also an example of someone who undertakes to be responsible in fighting crimes, for he seizes a great power.

JCPenney, a company in the United States that operates retail centers well-known for serving the American consumers, is a great example of an entrepreneur’s accomplishment through acknowledging what is right and what is wrong. James Cash Penney grew up in the farming field under the strict raise of his parents. Throughout his early childhood years, he learned the value of service to others by the examples in the way his parents lived hard lives for the benefit of him. Eventually, Penney learned that serving emptor with great expectations, such as standardized pricing and friendly customer services, to have monetary gains was not what his inner voice was telling him. Instead, he did it with fair dealings and an honest value for he knew what was right for him. Driven by this thought, his retailers received recognition among consumers nationwide.

Unlike Penney, Marvel Comics’ friendly neighborhood, Spider-Man, had his ups and downs after his miraculous change into an amazing superhero. When he was given spider-like abilities, Peter Parker’s wishes were granted: A great deal of money to afford cars to impress Mary-Jane Watson, a girl he had always liked, renowned fame to erase his unpopularity of being a geek, and a solid power to endure his life as an orphan. Due to the necessity for keeping a secret identity, he was embroiled by the conflicting sides of his life; both being a hero and living a normal life. He realized that his previous motives of money, fame, and power to have what he want was sad and untrue; but after a period of time contemplating, he learned that he could impress any girl, saving lives and fighting crimes at a time just by knowing the right and the wrong. He is right to have the privilege to possess a great power, but under circumstances of wrongdoings, he must have the responsibility, as a powerful hero, to face them. Through this acquired conscience, he lead his life where “with great power, comes great responsibility.”

Motivators are those that drive us towards a direction we yearned for. Money, fame, or power can be those motives, but both the real and fantasy world had proven that being conscious of what is right and what is wrong is stronger than any of those to constrain ourselves to attain what we want, but that can only be done if we have the courage to do so.