Q2 Outside Reading Post 3: Miriam's Kitchen

 In the reading I did this week, there was a very big conflict where someone had to chose on what was ethically right.  Miriam told a story about how she knew that their christian neighbors were hiding a Jewish family from the Nazis during the Holocaust.  In this situation, the neighbors thought it was ethically right to not tattle on the family and tell the Nazis that the family was Jewish.  If the family would've ratted them out, the family most likely would've been killed.  This was a very brave step that the Christian family took and if anyone found out, they could have been banned from the city they lived in, lost all their friends or even worse, get killed.

If I were in the Christian family's place, I would've done the same thing.  My grandparents were in the Holocaust and so I have heard some pretty disturbing stories on how they were always trying to find a place to hide.  If hiding someone in my house meant saving their lives, I would do it.  Even if it would bring threats to me, it would be worth it because I would know that deep down I am doing the right thing and that it would pay off in the end.

On the Waterfront Post

In the film On the Waterfront, we find out about how characters feel about being tattle tales.  The biggest example in the film is when Terry rats out his "friends" in the mob.  The mob were a group of men who were very dangerous.  Whenever they found out someone was going to stand up to them or tell their secrets, they would kill them in a very sneaky way.  Terry was not afraid of them and realized that they were hurting society so much that it was worth it to tattle on them.  In the end, the mob is very angry and Johnny Friendly, the leader of the mob, beats Terry to the point of death.  Even though Terry got very hurt, he showed that if one has secrets that are hurting, or in this case killing, others, than it is better to tattle on them than to have society get more hurt.  Who knows, if Terry wouldn't of stood up to the mob, so many more people could have gotten killed.

In my personal opinion, I think it is okay if one tattles on someone else if it is hurting society or someone else.  Here is one example that many teenage girls deal with.  There friend confesses to them that they're anorexic, but makes you SWEAR not to tell anyone or else your friendship will end.  Although it could risk you friendship, if you tell someone about her problem, you will be saving her life.  If someone has a secret that doesn't hurt society, someone, or something, then there is no reason why one should rat them out.

All My Sons Post

In the play, All my Sons, we see many examples where characters chose which is more important, fulfilling the needs of their society or the needs of their family.  There seems to be so much drama that gets to the characters heads.  All the drama makes them realize what really is important in their life and forces them to make decisions on very rough subjects.  In the Keller family there is a lot of drama.  Larry, one of the sons, has died in the war and Kate, the mother, won't come to realization that he is dead.  Chris, another of the sons, plans on marrying Larry's lover, Ann.  Joe, the father, is found guilty of lying about a huge crisis.  "I'm askin' you.  What am I, a stranger?  I thought I had a family here.  What happened to my family?" (Miller 75).  This shows that the Keller family hasn't been focusing on what the needs of the family were.  They've been more worried about what society thinks and have almost forgotten that they have a family to take care to.  George, Ann's brother, in the play, put his view of his families needs first.  He hated the Kellers because he was convinced that Joe Keller was involved with the scandal that left George and Ann's father in jail.  "You're not going to marry him" (Miller 53).  George obviously loves his family so much that he is willing to take away Ann from her love, Chris, because he hates the Kellers so much.  He is putting what he thinks are his families needs first in this situation.  As you can see, there are many different scenarios where society comes first or family comes first.

In my opinion, I think it is more important to put the needs of your family first.  Your family are the ones you love and the ones who you are supposed to be there for.  If they are in trouble, you should always try to do everything you can so they can be better off.  The only situation where you would have to put society first is if your family committed some kind of crime or did something that hurt society.  Even if your families beliefs are different than those in society, you should always stick by your family.