P3+ABasurto

Confronting injustice may be one of the hardest things one might have to do. This is because it forces one to decide what is right from wrong. In //Grapes of Wrath// by John Steinbeck, //Homeless-Expose the Myths// by Joseph Perkins, //Homeless by Anna Quindlen//, and //On Dumpster Diving// by Lars Eighner, injustice is seen which forces individuals to decide right from wrong. An individual judges right from wrong by making actions that will not harm anyone, but will instead benefit the individual. The role of the individual in confronting injustice is to fight against the injustice rather than ignore it.

Judging right from wrong can be very difficult depending on what perspective it is seen from. In //Grapes of Wrath//, Steinbeck shows how difficult it is for people to survive without hurting someone else. “It’s not me. There’s nothing I can do. I’ll lose my job if I don’t do it” (Steinbeck). Here, Steinbeck shows the perspective of a tractor worker and how difficult it is for him to do his job. Although he knows he is tearing up people’s land and forcing them to move away, he has to do it because that’s his only way of surviving. His judgment is that he is doing the right thing for himself, because if not, he’ll lose his job, which is his only way of making a living. Another way to judge right from wrong is to simply use one’s mind. “It is unlawful to eat a good rich food near one who is hungry, unless he is asked to share” (Steinbeck). Although Steinbeck is stating the obvious here, it is unbelievable of how many people do it. He writes this directing it mainly to the rich people in the book. A lot of them were forcing the poor to not eat by taking their jobs away and even their food, yet they would still enjoy their riches in front of the poor. Therefore, this judgment should be an easy one for everyone. Judging right from wrong may even be for eating out of the dumpster. “Eating safely from the dumpsters involves three principles: using the senses and common sense to evaluate the condition of the found materials, knowing the dumpsters of a given area and checking them regularly, and seeking always to answer the question ‘why was this discarded?’”(Eighner). Eighner talks about his experiences here and what he had to deal with every day in order to eat. Just simply the thought of even looking in the dumpster might gross some one out. But people don’t realize that there are people every day eating out of them. Therefore the ‘dumpster divers’ have to use their judgment of what is right from wrong regarding food. Just as people make judgments about what is right from wrong, people often do what is wrong simply because it might be easier.

Many people do what is wrong even if they can judge what is right from wrong. In //Grapes of Wrath//, “The works of the roots of the vines, of the tress, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all….A million people hungry, needing the fruit—and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains”(Steinbeck). Steinbeck shows the greediness of the rich people and how selfish they were. Carloads of fruits were going to waste just so that the price of them could be high. Yet there were millions of people starving because they couldn’t afford the fruit; and the rich were too greedy to sell it for a couple of cents less. The rich obviously didn’t judge right from wrong because they were worried more about earning money than allowing millions to eat. Homeless is an issue everyone talks about, yet no one has really done anything for it. “If we really wanted to help the homeless, we would pay far more attention to their mental health and substance abuse problems” (Perkins). Rather than doing something about the problems homeless people have, society doesn’t really do anything about it. Instead they are quick to judge them of why they might be homeless. Steinbeck also writes about the difficulties the poor immigrants faced when they came to the United States. “They imported slaves, although they did not call them slaves: Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, Filipinos. They live on rice and beans, the business men said. They don’t need much. They wouldn’t know what to do with good wages. Why, look how they live. Why, look what they eat. And if they get funny—deport them” (Steinbeck). Here it seen how the rich knew they were taking advantage of the immigrants. The immigrants were expected to live off of rice and beans and work very hard for a little bit if money, yet if they did something wrong, they were deported. Again, the rich didn’t make the right judgment because they were doing what was best for them. Not making the right judgment, often times leads to injustice.

Injustice is very easy to do if one is not able to make a judgment of what is right from wrong. “They said, these goddamned Okies are thieves. They’ll steal anything. They’ve got no sense of property rights” (Steinbeck). Steinbeck shows how the rich knew they were taking advantage of the poor. Of course the poor had no sense when it came to property rights; how were they supposed to if they weren’t given a chance to have an education. It was very unfair of the rich to take advantage of the poor like that. Many times, when there is injustice, people don’t do anything about it. “We turn an adjective into a noun: the poor, not poor people; the homeless, not Ann or the man who lives in the box or woman who sleeps on the subway grate” (Quindlen). In her article, Quindlen shows how people many times don't confront injustice, instead they just ignore it. In today's society, problems such as homelessness aren't confronted; they're simply ignored. People refer to them as a thing, rather than a person. Therefore, it is very important for society to start confronting the injustice of homelessness and stop seeing it as another issue resulting from a person who wasn't able to judge right from wrong.

Unfortunately, an individual is forced to decide what might be right from wrong. Because of greed, selfishness, or simply ignorance, individuals don't know how to deal with the confrontation, which might lead to injustice. Individuals should therefore make decisions that will not harm anyone, but will instead benefit the individual. Also, the individual should confront injustice by fighting it, rather than ignoring it.