Do circumstances determine whether or not we should tell the truth?

     The truth could either be beneficial or harmful. He types of situations depend on whether the truth should be said. When dealing with the truth one of the persons in the situation gets hurt. The circumstance where one should tell the truth is when that person needs to help another and the time he should lie is when he is the one who needs the help. For example, if one needs help with their homework they should receive the correct way on how to solve it rather than learning the wrong way to solve it. If a lie were told no one would benefit from this; therfore, making this lie useless. An example for lying is when working with a bad guy because if one were to say the truth and the guy didn't like the truth that person would have bad things happen to him. Certain circumstances determine whether or not one should tell the truth.

Is the knowledge of the past no longer useful for us today?

     Knowledge is and will always be useful. Knowledge is what created the human race. Without knowledge homosapiens would no longer be a species. We would've been extinct a long-long time ago. With the help of knowledge we were able to build up our species and eventually become the ultimate species.
     We were able to build up ourselves through the use of knowledge, knowledge that was learned from our past experiences. The past is full of lessons we could learn from. Such as lessons of not playing with fire or not to anger/disturb a wild animal. These mistakes can help us better correct our lives and keep us from dying for stupid reasons. Knowledge from the past is what has kept us alive all the years.
     The knowledge from the past is our future. The future is affected on decisions made in the present about the lessons learned from the past. Thus, making knowledge of the past useful for us today.

Do success and happiness depend on the choices people make rather than the factors beyond their control?

The choices people make effect their future. Success and happiness depends on choices people make in their lives. Based on my past experiences and other people's experiences , I learned that the choices people make will most likely effect their future. If one does good in school they will probably be in a job they like and receive a decent salary. If one does not do good in school they will work in a place which does not give as much money and happiness. For example, my friend Mario's dad went to college to study Aerospace Engineering and became a successful and happy worker for NASA. This turned out very well for Mario's dad and family as they were a very happy family. An example of a negative future based on negative choices is one about a person I know named Lauren. Lauren desided to slack of in school and do bad things that effected her body negatively. Once she dropped out of school she had to work at McDonalds where she receivied minimum wage. She lived a sad life based on the decisions she made. Success and happiness is dependedepended upon the choices people make rather than the factors beyond their control.

Can books and stories about characters and events that are not real teach us anything useful?

     Messages can be learned in any type of story. It doesn't matter if the story is real or fictional, one can learn from it. An example, of this can be seen in one of the books of the series of "Clifford the Big Red Dog." One of Clifford's little dog friends decides to steal a ball from a neighbor's yard. They take it and play with it until they are done playing. Once they finished they return it but the owner of the ball (a dog) was mad beacause he didn't get to play with it the whole day. This ball was his favorite. Clifford and his friends learned that stealing has consequences. They had to give up their favorite toy for a whole day to feel the same way the other dog felt. Books and stories about characters and events that are not real can teach us things that are useful because they can be events that could happen in real life.

Is it necessary to limit or put restrictions on freedom of thought and expression?

     The human mind is capable of coming up with several thoughts. Thoughts are not to be restricted unless it is a bad thought about another person. Freedom of thought should not go beyond the point of when someone feels depressed due to the thought. The human mind should not be limited to the thoughts created but if it's something that would harm another person the tought should be kept private.
     Freedom of thought should remain with no limits. On the other hand freedom of thought should be restricted on what is said outside of the mind. For example, a man sees this fat woman in public but rather than telling her she's fat he should keep it to himself so the woman wouldn't get her feelings hurt.