Punishing Differences

"If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity" (John F. Kennedy). Differences and the inability to accept such differences have always thwarted the worlds attempt to convene in a harmonious manner. Everyone is unique, there is no two exact things. The color of ones skin and ethnicity have always been a main way of distinction, but there's also ones sexual preferences, they're manner of thinking and viewing the world, characteristics (both external and internal), and thousands of others. Just because someone can't comprehend someone else and their differences does not give that person the liberty to discriminate and essentially "punish" that other human being for something that is out of their control.
In The Stranger by Albert Camus, the protagonist, Meursault, has a very unconventional thought process in which he is mostly governed by his physical condensations. It is out of his control because that's just how he is, at the same time his actions could be taken as a punishment towards the Arabs because of their current conflict with his own ethnicity. Regardless of the motives, the ambiguity of the situation is open to people's own interpretation which again correlates to how everyone is different and what one may see as innocence others will see as a guilty crime. You can't punish someone because they seem different, because you can't understand their motives. No one understood Meursault for his actions, but maybe that's just because he's clearly not mentally stable if he lets his emotions be governed by his atmosphere, it's out of his control. The death penalty he was sentenced to was to me an extreme, taking into consideration that the Arabs were also a non innocent party on the beach.
Currently, in the United States people are being discriminated against for their differences. Dark colored skinned people are being discriminated against because people automatically view them as criminals doing suspicious activities. The Latino ethnicity are automatically seen as "aliens", they also get unjustifiably punished for supposed suspicious activities. The middle eastern people are automatically viewed as terrorists. We don't give them the opportunity to prove that they're actually not so different from us, we're all one and the same. People that seem different are seen as inferior human beings, but why should this be permitted? Why is it that we can't accept each other's differences to reconcile with one another? We need "to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences."

Self Destruction

"Some things are more precious because they don't last long (Oscar Wilde). People in the United States are faced with self image conflicts everyday that can essentially destroy them. It is vital that these issues of lack of self esteem and self image are obliterated. It doesn't matter whether it effects one person, thousands, billions, it should not even be an issue.
In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde explores the functions of vanity and image of oneself and image in society. Dorian Gray is the prime example of vanity and image. He attempts to maintain a perfect image in the eyes of society in the beginning of the novel, but his self image is far more important to him than that of societies image on himself. His ambition for eternal youth drives him to his destruction and his inner turmoil is eventually shown externally.
All over the world, thousands and billions of individuals are confronted with the dilemma of self image. It is demonstrated in hundreds of ways as well; through illnesses such as eating disorders and depression or even bullying. "Nearly a quarter of girls age 15-17 would consider undergoing plastic surgery and 7 in 10 girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way including their looks, performance in school and relationship." These are serious situations that should be taken as such. People fall victim to self image, their self esteem diminishes and can lead to suicide. "In 2013 (the most recent year for which full data are available), 41,149 suicides were reported, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death for Americans."
These health issues can affect anyone around us, your friends, your family, and even yourself. We should know how to detect these negative connotations on self image in order to protect those we care for. Perfection is a facade, that cannot be reached, or implemented because it is not real, and there is no ideal for anything, especially when it can effect your health and mental stability.

Abuse

"Like a compass needle that points North a mans accusing finger will always find a woman. Always." Abuse comes in many different ways, physically, emotionally, psychologically.  It is understandable that not all inflictions come from males, females can inflict harm on the opposite sex just as equally. But most prominent in our society is the abuse of men on woman. Woman all over the world are harmed, in some countries it is seen as a norm. Is it normal to see your own mother beaten in front of your eyes--sometimes to death, and by someone nonetheless than your father?
In A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Mouseein we witness the story of Mariam and Laila, who's lives through chance of fate bind them together in their endurance against their negation of rights and the abuse of man. Mariam's mother and her are rejected by her fathers families (his five wife's), and after a turn of fate is forced to marry a man almost thrice her age. She later has to endure the abuse of her alcoholic, masochistic husband and there is nothing she can do because society and the government is on her husbands side, woman are to be treated as property, nothing more than dogs. Along comes Laila who also becomes tied to Mariam's world and her husband Rasheed. She is at first treated as a trophy by Rasheed, but after she fails her husbands expectations she is thoroughly beaten and abused just as Mariam is and was abused since she was fifteen years old.
Woman are publicly abused to the extremes in a lot of third world countries just like in AnThousand Splendid Suns. In Afghanistan alone, "An estimated 2,000 Afghan women and girls attempt suicide by setting themselves on fire each year, which is linked to domestic violence and early or forced marriages." But it does not just happen in other countries, we must first take a glance in our own back yards. "More than 4 million women experience physical assault and rape by their partners. Men are victims of nearly 3 million physical assaults in the USA."
Abuse and maltreatment of anybody; men, woman, and children has to come to an end. If we join forces and pay more attention to what is going on in our world and the major negligence that we bestow on ourselves we can conquer the evil that is found in harming one another.

Gender Gap

"We can not all succeed when half of us are held back (Malala Yousafzai)." Woman's rights have been fought since the beginning of time. It has not been until just recently that woman have had the chance to vote, to work, to have their own individual rights in striving for equality. Why should men be the only ones to be able to make something of themselves? Why can't the roles be reversed, the woman now being the breadwinners, the successful? These questions have been asked time and time again, but when will it truly be equal among sexes?
In stories like The Awakening by Kate Chopin and The Doll House by Henrik Ibsen we became more aware of the oppression of woman, particularly during past time periods. Even though these novels/plays are in a different time period, they are still relevant today. We have come a long way, but equality is still not prevalent in today's society. You witnessed the utter desolation that Edna and Nora went through when they realized they were not in control of their own lives, their world governed by men and essentially their society. They could not do as men do, men were always smarter, stronger, perfect in every aspect; flawless. They had to be subservient to their invective husbands who were pedals talked by society, a society governed by men.
In our current society there still continues to be a major gender gap, sometimes without most people realizing it. "According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women made up 50.8% of the population. Starting in 2010 women became half of all workers in the U.S. Yet this mere presence of women in the workforce is anything but a show of equality when men hold the top management positions in a variety of professions in extremely unrepresentative numbers." In the work force woman are also usually overlooked by men and do not even receive equal pay, even if it's for the same profession. "Approximately 70% of people in national minimum wage jobs are women." Everyone should be able to be independent of the opposite sex, not have to determine who earns more than who, but work and strive for better, together.
As a woman I believe that as we have come along way, their is still major room for improvement. I will not settle for less, I do not ask for more privileges than men, I ask for equality.

Traumitized

"PTSD isn't about what's wrong with you, it's about what happened to you." Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a serious issue that as a nation we must confront. Soldiers face traumatizing experiences everyday, wether it be directly inflicted upon them or someone else, a brother/sister, fellow soldier. So many people who have fought for our safety, risking their own lives, and do not receive proper treatment and care for their health or are homeless or disemployed.
In The Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Billy Pilgrim the principle figure in the story deals with the aftermath of his war experiences in surviving the Dresden bombing. He retells the events in a disordered fashion, which can be related to PTSD. Vonnegut's novel has several indirect anti war sentiments to show his readers the inflictions war does to someone.
Victor Gregg was also a survivor of Dresden he stated "Like Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five, I wrote as I witnessed. I have no axe to grind. I just sat down and tried to empty my mind and clear away the residues of the nightmares that I still occasionally suffered from." That's what many of are soldiers have to deal with upon coming home. They may need more than just the minimum support, they need to be understood and properly cared for. Their thought maybe jumbled, they can relive their war experiences at any second, they can be a danger to their loved ones and even themselves. "Every day, 22 veterans take their own lives. That's a suicide every 65 minutes. As shocking as the number is, it may actually be higher."
By bringing more attention to the need of our returning soldiers, we can aide them in coping, we can save a life.  Just as we have felt the whirlpool plot of Vonnegut's novel, we can come to terms with how this may be just how all other soldiers may be traumatically affected. As a nation we have to act to bring a stop to the ailments of our brave soldiers and lessen their burdens and traumatic experiences that will be reoccurring with PTSD and other impairments, physically and psychologically.

Moral Codes

"We can come to understand that our feelings are not necessarily perceptions of the truth-they may be nothing more than the result of cultural conditioning." In The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, James Rachel provides readers with the idea of cultural relativism which is the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture. We see this idea reflected in Beowulf and their moral codes. They value honor, fame, courage, and an ancestral lineage. Other cultures might not view these values as something of significance or something to die for. Different cultures have different morals and principles, we continue to have an ongoing debate on what can be considered right or wrong and by whose definition it is to be established.

            It's difficult to decide on what can be considered the "right way", we all have our perspectives, and some seem more flamboyant than others. "Eating your dead father’s body"? That would not be something I could even mentally digest. In Beowulf for example you had to retain several traditions and for go battles in order to gain honor. In today's culture in the United States, to some that would seem an exceptionally foolhardy thing to try to accomplish as your life's mission, but the principle of it is the same, people seek fame and honor, and the undergo several obstacles to achieve it. We maintain traditions and ways of living to reach an ultimate goal even if it is not the same as other cultures.

            The idea of Cultural Relativism is something that when taken in theory does seem to provide a better "insight" on other cultures. At first I did see sense in the morality perspectives of cultures, but when I weighed in the consequences that Rachel stated, I came to the conclusion that we will always have differing cultures and views, we cannot decide what is right or wrong, especially when most of us will uncertainly base it on the culture we were brought into, it blinds us from all other alternatives.

Social Classes

Oscar Wilde and Jonathan Swift provide their perspectives on social classes by ridiculing the social hierarchy of upper class England and Ireland. By using comedy of manners they showed varying sides of classes.  I believe class discrimination is of vital pertinence in today's society. It has grown to be of broader range than ever before. There is discrimination between races, religion, gender, relationship preferences, and of course social class.

In “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Lady Bracknell who is of high class society is a very pompous character.  She frequently brings up the issues of money and even more ridiculously backgrounds and characteristics when she tries to find out if Jack and Cecily are suitable spouses for her daughter, Gwendolyn, and her nephew, Algernon. The story also insinuates that marrying is sometimes about the name not the personality or compatibility. In “A Modest Proposal”, Jonathan Swift provides a fake proposal about eating babies to help feed Ireland. He voices of the problems between the people living in poverty and the elite upper class man. Both bring up ignored issues of social classes that they think should be fixed and people should pay attention to.

Although we have dealt with discriminatory factors throughout the years, more recent in society is gay rights. People are still fighting to be able to marry and be with who they wish without being judged. Those who are "straight" feel superior to those who have different sexual preferences, and discriminate them as a separate class in society. Discrimination in the workforce is also a big factor in today’s society. Because of color or status, workers are sometimes underpaid, overworked, and burdened in the workforce. The rich and elite are also hurting the poor and lower to middle classes they gain from those beneath them by taking advantage of their will less power. I see people around me going through this every day, people I know too afraid to speak up to those in power because of their status, but to keep silent is allow for more injustice in discrimination.

We can only hope to improve these problems with better solutions by enforcing more equality and allowing people to have equal opportunities. But unfortunately social classes have always been obstacles in gaining success; people go through their whole lives seeking to go up in the social hierarchy we live in. It may even appear that sometimes those esteemed as being in the higher classes have more value and control, thus giving them more power. I also believe that people everywhere want to keep moving up in life to gain better social positions; it’s a never ending system in which it is inevitable that we have social classes, but we can improve conditions.