SAT II Writing ~11 (timed essay - 20 minutes)
People are often wrong about means and ends. While many think of them as two seperate things and try to figure out if there is a relationship between them, they forget one important thing; there are no ends without means. In this aspect, it is doubtlessly right to say that ends do justify the means to a large extent, because the ends merely serve to tell more about the means.
Thomas Edison, the inventor of light bulbs, is famous for his 20000 experiments, of which he failed 19999 times. Discovering a light bulb and finding the right material for the filament were not only hard, but also were extremely novel and underdeveloped. The fact that he created one of the greatest inventions in history, in other words, the "end," not only represents his success, but also truly proves and gives more credit to his perseverane and effort; the "means."
Henry David Thoreau's book Walden is regarded an excellent and original work by book critics and readers. He is now extremely famous for his novel and adamant ideas that he had developed during his life in the woods. However, imagine that he did not write Walden before he died. He will still be an ingenious person with clear and profound ways of thinking. However, without the publication, nobody in the world would have gotten a chance to know what a brilliant thinker Thoreau actually was. Walden, his end product credited him for his unique way of living. Without this end, he might have been an anonymous American who preferred woods to civilized cities to live in.
Both Edison and Thoreau tell us one important lesson about our lives; ends are important just as the means are, perhaps even more. As a final product of means, ends tell more about the means, remedy for past mistakes, and five a greater credit for the effort. In this aspect, ends indeed do justify the means.