Saturday, January 27, 2007

Prompt #2: What does the individual owe the community? And vise versa?

The individual is nothing without his/her community. What is a man with no one to talk to, no one to care for, no one to love? Most people take their community for granted, but each individual has an obligation to their given community. It is the individual's duty to contribute something to the community and work together toward everyone's best interest. The individual could not live a life of worth without a community because society and other people provide possibilities of higher joy for the individual. Given the importance of community to an individual, the individual should do everything in his power to protect the community. In the case of the Maxine Kingston excerpt, the aunt dishonored the community. This was an interesting example for this point since women were not respected equally and she "didn't have a choice," but nonetheless she wronged her community by offending the honor of their family. Given she was stuck in a moral dilemma and would be harmed either way, she chose to try and hide the dishonorable pregnancy rather than resist the rapist. Either way, she would risk her life, but by resisiting the rape, she may would be defending the honor of herself, her husband, and the community. I know it is not fair to judge, but she is still morally blameworthly for wronging herself and the community. She had a duty toward the community and family's honor.
At the same time, the community wronged the "no named woman" as an individual and her whole family by raiding their house. It is the community's duty to protect its members, and though she was a great dishonor, the raid upon the house was completely unjustified. A community is obviously made of a number of individuals. Its function is to ensure the the security of all and best interest of the majority. A community is more than just a group of people. A community is comprised of relationships that should ideally be based on empathy, caring, and love. When an individual has a problem, such as the case of the aunt, the community is suppose to come together and lift individual off his/her knees, supporting the individual through the tough times, not condemn them, ravage their home, and break their will for living. Previously, I held the aunt blameworthy for her actions, but it did in no way justify the communities extreme course of action. The community was completely unwarranted in their pilaging violence.
All in all, both the individual and the community have obligations to the other. Both sides, especially the community, must be held responsible for their actions. I say that because once the community has wronged an individual, punishment is hard to allocate; therefore, justice enforced by the community should be thought over and made sure the fit the crime. The lone human is weak. The individual will always make mistakes without fail, but community wrongdoings can always be prevented with some effort by community members.

1 comment:

Alexis "Lex" Ngo said...

I agree. A lot of people do take their communities for granted. Not many people realize how much their communities really do for them. The only reason i feel safe and protected in my community is because of the members in it. As a result, we do owe our community much for all that they provide for us.