P3+TMcClanahan

Everyday in life people have to make decisions that are based on their own judgment of things. These decisions are usually made according to what the person is taught and what they have learned in their life. When coming to a conclusion on a decision, such as confronting injustice, it is your first instinct to try and do what is best and easiest for you. When deciding on what is right from wrong, individuals usually use what they have been taught, along with life experiences, to make their decisions. Lying is one of these decisions that people have to make every day even more than they realize. It is said that you should always tell the truth, but sometimes lying can be judged as doing the right thing in certain situations. By “telling a friend he looks great when he looks like hell,” you are giving a compliment (The Ways we Lie). In this case a lie would be considered the right thing because you are making someone feel better without hurting anyone else. People also judge right from wrong based on what they are used to. For example Quindlen says, “The thing that seems most wrong with the world to me right now is that there are so many people with no homes.” This is an opinion that shows that the right thing would be for everyone, or at least more people to have homes. It shows that Quindlen is used to living in a home and that the right thing would be for more people to have this luxury. Another way individuals judge right from wrong is through research. After researching the issue, Joseph Perkins stated that, “Clearly their homelessness owed not to economic dislocation, but simply to self-destruction.” In his view it is wrong to think that economics is what causes homeless and he has come to this conclusion through researching the subject. When an injustice occurs, individuals tend to respond either by trying to avoid it, just dealing with it as it happens, or by taking an action to confront it. Depending on the circumstances each one of these actions, or non-actions, may be the right decision. For instance in //Civil Disobedience//, Thoreau asks, “Must the citizen ever for a moment… resign his conscience to the Legislator? Why has every man a conscience the?” This is stating that people should think for themselves and have a say in what is going on. They should make sure that the government is making just laws and that they should speak out if they are passing unjust laws. Other question such as, “Can’t we just hang on? Maybe next year will be a good year?” are in response to injustice with the banks (pg 32 The Grapes of Wrath). The people feel they are already in a bad enough position and they can’t do anything to help themselves except hope for a good future. In this case, considering that they have so little they don’t have much to lose, the people should have more of a chance against the bank if they are able to join with the other people that are in their same situation. In other situations in //The Grapes of Wrath// the people aren’t left with a choice of confronting the injustice because they need what is sold, like in the car industry when a seller says, “I might a made three sales while I been talkin’ to you. I’m disgusted. Yeah, sign right there” (pg 64). The buyer can’t confront the injustice because he has to have the car otherwise he can not make his way. When people do confront injustice they need to know how far they can go before its too far so they can keep themselves in a safe situation. When the owners strike in //The Grapes of Wrath// they end up “striking at the immediate thing, the widening government, the growing labor unity; striking at new taxes, at plans; not know these things are results, not cause” (pg 150). This shows a condition where the people do not know how to confront what they believe is an injustice. Instead of taking a little time to think things through and educate themselves of the circumstances they take action too soon. This results in an action this is not confronting the actually injustice of the whole thing which in the end will not help them at all. All in all, individuals should use knowledge when judging right from wrong, and when confronting injustices. Being able to do these to things enables people to make good decisions and it certain cases it helps to keep friends and even make someone’s day better.