OP1 (Example): My deepest fear and greatest hope

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Emotions are a fundamental part of being a person. Two of the strongest empotions - fear and hope - exist at the core of all people and in many ways comprise either end of a continuum representing our emotional state of mind at any given moment in our lives. I am certainly no exception to the influence of fears and hopes. The thing I fear most at this time in my life is being somehow unable to provide for my family. However, it is also my family that drives my greatest hope, in that I hope with all my heart that they will have all available opportunities for happy and prosperous lives.

Fear is a primal emotion that we experience from the day we are born. It lurks in the deepest parts of our minds, creating doubt and uncertainty as we go about our everyday lives, or stalking our dreaming moments to forge the strongest nightmares. For me the deepest fear is the eventuality that I cannot, for whatever reason, provide for my wife and son. By "provide" I do not just mean financial support. I think husbands and fathers need to provide a variety of things: emotional support, time to listen and do things together, a calm and understanding influence, those sorts of things. The thought of not being there for my family to provide these crucial things fills me with an icy dread that is almost too strong to even contemplate. However, it is a healthy exercise for me to do so. It makes me consider my career, health and family life in a collective, balanced way. As I have gotten older, I have started to come to grips with a certain kind of comprehension, and I am beginning to understand that things like work, wealth, family time and health are all interwined. I am not always able to "provide" each of these things quite as perfectly as I often aspire to. Yet by taking care of each aspect in patient moderation, I can provide a "full package" as a husband and father. There is of course the prospect of something negative happening that would in turn affect my capacity to deliver these things. However, I have come to the realization that most of the dread can be controlled or averted through my own thoughtfulness and positive (or even preemptive) actions.

On the other side of the coin we have hope. Whereas our deepest fears feel like they have heavy claws that drag us down into murky darkness, it is our capacity to hope that allows our spirits to soar in clear, unrestrained skies. My greatest hope of all is that my wife and child will have lives filled with gladness and opportunity. I imagine my wife getting her chance to live in her dream home, increase her education and put her artistic talents to work, and I cannot help but smile with true contentment. I picture my son growing up in a peaceful and loving home in a good and safe neighborhood, going to a school he enjoys, getting all the time he needs to play and learn happily, and that is like a beacon of light. It is these hopes that inject extra vigor into my life's pulse. When I am exhausted after weeks of endless work, I often wonder how I was able to do it. Sometimes it does not seem possible to do so much based on just physical energy. I now know that the extra ingredient was (and is) the overwhelming hope for a better future for my family.

I sometimes hear people say they have "no fear" or "no hope." I think both assertions are lies on a grand scale, basically because I believe it is nigh on impossible to live and breathe as a human being in this world without either of them. Considering my own examples of deepest fears and greatest hopes, I've also come to see them as two sides of the same coin. It is perfectly normal (and even essential) to experience both emotions, and they will often stem from the same consideration. In my case it is absolutely comtemplation of my family that drives my personal fears and hopes.

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Proffesor Jason,

I enjoyed your essay. Your essay says that you are happy with your family.
Good for you. You have to show your essay to your wife. She wiil be happy.

All the husbands and fathers will agree with you. Your writing makes me miss my husband all the more, 'cause he can't have the time - whether it is good or bad- with the family. Enjoy your time with your family. Just being with your family and sharing goods and bads with them is the beginning of hapiness. Thank you for sharing your essay with us.

I am sure your family members think that they are very lucky to have you as a husband and father who prioritizes family and works for them.
What a beautiful wife and a cute son you have! They deserve your love and care.

As I follow your essay, I once again appreciate your devotion to our composition class. As far as I concern, writing should be difficult even for English speakers. As a result, I can learn more and more. You are basically warm-hearted person that I can see how you're making efforts for each of us. Based on your born good nature you could be a more lovely father and husband for your son and wife. They must the apple of your eyes. I hope you will always keep your love for family in mind forever.

Bye,

Namsook

Before I wrote down my essay, I asked this question, the deepest fear and hope, to my husband and his answer was exactly the same as yours.

Reading the classmates essays as well as yours, now I got to know I almost forgot to appreciate all the happiness that I'm recieving from my family.

Your hope is what I really want to achieve in the future; you've really awakened me!