Was All Really Desingned For The Best?

How can we live the best of all possible worlds when disasters happen to us? I admire those people who still after they have experience the worst have a smile on their faces and say that we have to appreciate life and be thankful. It would really help if people thought like that instead of never detaching the bad things and staying in the past. In the book Slaughter House-Five, this is what Billy learns to do. At the beginning it seemed weird that Billy addressed war in such an indifferent way, as if it was not a big deal. Towards the end I learned that Billy does this in order to detach from the horror he lived. The bombing of Dresden clearly impacted Billy’s life, but if Billy was not able to try and leave that behind in the end it would be worst for him, because he would be the only one that would be affected. By remembering that and focusing on how that ruined his life, he will forever continue to ruin it. Referring to war as if it were not important allows Billy detach from trauma in order to continue his life.

Pangloss is always saying how “all was designed for the best.” Since Candide admires him so much, he believes this philosophy. At one point an earthquake occurs in the book, and then comes another earthquake. It is at this point where Candide questions this philosophy. “If this is the best of all possible worlds, he said to himself, what can the rest be like?” (page 37). Candide saw how not everything was perfect and that bad things occur that harm people, but if this is the best then you would not want to imagine the worst.

Voltaire uses this to show how absurd it is to believe this. “But when it comes to my dear Pangloss being hanged-the greatest philosopher (…)”(Page 37) By living life based on this way of thinking Pangloss ends up dead. Ironic isn’t it? How the person that most encourages us to follow this ends up dead. We have to learn to be realistic, and that in order to live a fine life we must find a balance in what we believe. We have seen how thinking that everything is perfect may not always lead to the best. The again thinking about the worst and allowing memories to ruin our future also does not work, we must find a way to think positive in order to achieve what we want, knowing that not everything is perfect and that we actually have to overcome certain obstacles.

Now I tell you, we must continue reading Candide to see if he will still follow this philosophy or if he will find the balance between both.