P3+CChapin

Life is extremely competitive and as a result groups of people tend to gain too much power and others lose power which caused many conflicts. Humans often become greedy and lose focus on what is right and wrong when they gain an excess amount of power. In the capitalist based society this power is often associated with a surplus of money. Unclarity as to what is wrong and what is right oftentimes encompasses injustice. When distinguishing what is right from wrong it is essential to balance the benefits of the action to the harm that it may cause. It is in the case where individuals do not compare the benefits to the harm when society is confronted with injustice. The ultimate goal of injustice is to eventually bring every individual out of the situation of having to face injustice. In order to reach this goal it is the role of every individual to aid those facing injustice by helping one individual at a time until there is no individual facing injustice alone.

An excess of power distinctly shows how different groups of people end up in a competition and how it is common for humans to do what is wrong even when it defies how to choose right from wrong by harming others greatly. The dominating class who does not have to struggle for power often make wrong decisions by choosing their own interests despite the harm that it causes. If the dominating class made all of their decisions based on the balance of having less harm than benefit less hardship would be caused to humans by humans. When examining the relationship between owners who have enough money to survive comfortably and serfs who are in desperate need of money to survive owners did not compare the benefit and harm or else they would have noticed that the cheap labor they were receiving was causing great harm to the serfs. Serfs were, "...beaten and frightened and starved until some went home again, and some grew fierce and were killed or driven from the country." (Grapes of Wrath Ch 19) The serfs were treated completely unfair as a result of the owners wrong judgment and not only were the serfs being treated unfairly but the farmers who are now beggars who had lost their farms were also a part of the struggling class as are the serfs. Plantation owners killed their surplus products in order to keep their prices high instead of feeding starving individuals with those extra products. (Grapes of Wrath Ch 25) If the plantation owners had tried to do the right thing they would have realized that the benefit of keeping their prices high was not as strong as the harm of helping to starve human beings. The same greediness applied to the plantation owners also applies to the tractors which were being ran by the government. The tractors were taking homes from the farmers in order to gain land for cultivating. "...Suddenly the machines pushed them out and they swarmed on the highways." (Grapes of Wrath Ch 21). and again, the dominating class containing plantation owners and the government is making wrong judgements because only a minority of individuals are gaining anything from an increase in plantations while a majority of the people are homeless and jobless. Unfortunately greedy people have themselves as their priority and do not make the right judgements.

As certain individuals use greed as an incentive for their decisions some individuals use survival as the benefit to their judgements. As a part of the struggling class these individuals are forced to lie, cheat, and steal to gain the basic necessities of life. A Car salesman for instance was forced during the Great Dust Bowl to manipulate his customers in order to make a sufficient living for himself. Those of the struggling class view people as, "People are nice, mostly. They hate to put you out. Make 'em put you out, an' then sock it to 'em." (Grapes of Wrath Ch 7) In the decision the car salesmen make to manipulate their customers even though they are mistreating individuals by selling them an unreliable car for an unfair price in order for car salesmen to be able to survive they must lie to earn enough money. If car salesmen were honest about the cars they were selling and their value car salesmen would quickly be another group scrounging for a job. One group of individuals who struggles for mere survival is the beggars who, "...splashedout through the water, to the towns, to the country stores, to the relief offices, to beg for food, to cringe and beg for food, to beg for relief, to try to steal, to lie." (Grapes of Wrath Ch 29) Beggars are the true victims of wrong judgement because they are unable not only homeless and jobless but continue to be controlled by individuals with more power. Both the car salesman and the beggar have survival as their benefit outweigh any harm that may be caused. Unlike the owning class who is greedy, the struggling class is fighting for survival and even though they both may lie, cheat, and steal survival is definitely a stronger incentive.

When an individual judges right from wrong there is a challenge to not only cause more benefit than harm but to also confront any injustice one may be faced with as a result of wrong judgement. For example, the homeless is one group of individuals who are unable to survive in this competitive society. As a result of greedy decisions by owners all individuals have been unable or unwilling to fight for their bare necessities which is completely unjust because they have been intentionally pushed out of society so far. As it is everybody's responsibility to relieve the amount of injustice in our world, the homeless should be getting taken care of first because, "...atleast seven of ten street people have either a mental or chemical problem." (Homeless-Expose the Myths) Since most of the homeless haven't intentionally caused harm there is no reason for them to receive such unjust treatment. Those individuals with a reliable income and enough food for their family should be reaching out to those who are lacking the bare necessities. In order for, "The necessities of daily life I began to extract from Dumpsters." (On Dumpster Diving) to not be the result of so many individuals in our society. Considering that a majority of the population is well nourished and has a roof over their head it is injust for struggling individuals to barely have the bare minimum. According to Homeless by A Quindlen by just helping one individual at a time eventually greed will decrease and so will injustice.

It is up to individuals to prevent harm onto other individuals by making the correct judgements in spite of greed for money and power. Simultaneously injustice will continuosly be lowered because once every individual puts two hands into helping those facing injustice such as homelessness eventually there will be enough participation to end society from being a competition for mere survival.