Not long ago in my english class, we read a story call " A modest proposal" by Jonathan Swift. It is a satrical piece riddiculing the treatement of the poor during the Irish potato famine. It is one of the most ingenious pieces I have ever read.
In the story Swift offer a proposal about how to deal with all the poor children who are out, beggin on the streets. His solution for this; eat the young. Swift goes on to provide a perfectly logical reason for why his idea would work. And, if you can look at the proposal with pure logic, like that of a computer, you come to the realization that he's right. Swift, of coarse, doesnt mean what he's say, he uses the idea to show how imhunanely the rich lords were dealing with the poor.
The idea of it stood with me. We live in a capitalist society. Capitalism is a grand thing, it allows people to go rise up from abject poverty and become millionares. There is a reason American is called the land of dreams.
Yet at what point along the path to riches and glory, do we loose our humanity? At what point do we loose sight of our values, and become focused on money and nothing more? At what point would we devour our own young if it means we'll make a profit.
Theres no real answer for those questions, for everyone has their own opinions. I believe that people should strive for their dreams, and all too often sacrifices have to be made in order to reach them. I understand that sometimes you have to be ruthless. But there has to be a limit. Should the CEO of a sucessful company make 500 million a year, when the workers cant even afford to buy the products they produce? Yes, the CEO deserves to make much more that a factory worker, but should they be making that much more?
We need to remember our humanity in all we do. The luster of money and fame is strong, and its okay to give into the lust. Just dont forget your humanity. Dont crush other peoples lives just to bolster your own. For if that is how we were to live, then we might as well be eating our own children.
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I really liked your last line. It was a great way to drive home your point. I completely agree with what you're saying, and I think that you got the essence of what Swift was trying to say. People like to compare the things they do to other immoral acts and think, well, that's not as bad. But if you refuse to allow people the means to provide for themselves and their children, you are killing them, and you might as well do it directly!