E.

(4) Mannat Arora 16

th
September 2014
Theme: Morality

I dont know what Londons coming to the higher the buildings the lower
the morals.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well
written or badly written. That is all.

The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not
between right and wrong.

One of the greatest tragedies in mankinds entire history maybe that
morality was hijacked by religion.


Survival. It is the one thing that is innate to all human beings. The human coding of
the human brain as well as the wiring of our entire system affects us in such a way
that it commands we find an escape route or a way to ensure our safety when
encountered with a conflicting situation. However, in modern day society, this so
called animalistic instinct which is somewhere omnipresent in all of us, varying in
degree, has been hidden under the faade of ethics and morals; factors that have
begun to affect us ever since education became large part of our existence. Thus,
perhaps it is due to the construction and retention of this faade that humans
somewhere adopt a pretentious attitude to the situation promising themselves and
anyone else concerned that if a testing and harsh situation were to arise then they
would firstly evaluate and then decide on the right from the wrong thereby ignoring
the power of the intrinsic compass; failing to realise that the pendulum oscillates
between sense and nonsense, not being right and wrong in a testing situation.

When placed in a situation of conflict, it is almost certain that the individual
concerned will opt for the most sensible option. This may option may be the option
which ensures a comfortable circumstance for them as well as safety; at this point
deciphering the right from wrong may not even be a fleeting thought when survival is
in question. Shin Dong Hyuk, a ex prisoner and the only known escapee from prisoner
camp fourteen a group of concentration camps run by the North Korean
government as a form of punishment for the alleged wrongdoers exemplified the
aforementioned animalistic instinct when he sacrificed his own mother and brother
and placed his life above theirs hierarchically. Born into the concentration camp as a
result of the reward of love making his parents received, Dong was raised in the
coarse and strident environment of the camp where manslaughter and bloodshed
were daily occurrences. The moral compasses of the prisoners were non-existent and
hence they served as a representation of a human on a very basic level, subtracting
the ethics and morals that have become a part of modern society. Hence, when
questioned by the guards regarding the secret escape plan made by his mother and
brother, Dong chose to give away the lives of his mother and brother if it meant
saving his own without flinching.