Cultural Relativism

            The contrast between different and cultures and their moral standards is often met with controversy and conflict. Every set of moral standards is almost always defended by its people that it represents because it describes what they believe, or what they have been taught to believe, as being morally good. The quote from Herodotus describes this concept:    

“For if anyone, no matter who, were given the opportunity of choosing from amongst all the nations of the world the set of beliefs which he though best, he would inevitably, after careful consideration of their relative merits, choose that of his own country. Everyone with exception believes his own native customs, and the religion he was brought up in, to be the best.

Every group of people with a set of beliefs has the instinctive quality of believing that their beliefs are superior to those of other groups, and this thought process often leads to the further assumption that they are also “better” people, and that they other groups are inferior to them, and even savage.

            Personally, I witness this in a variety of ways during everyday life. We are surrounded by a community of people, the Amish, who have a completely different belief system than us. We often ridicule and belittle their way of life because we naturally believe that ours is better. For example, the Amish do not use modern technology like cars and electricity. We are so against the thought of living in this manner, but most of us have never experience the possible advantages of refraining from such things.

            In my opinion, I do not think there is a perfect belief system. All of them have their flaws, but again that my vision for perfect moral codes or based off of my raising and experiences. The way that I would establish my judgment of other cultures would be by examining the harm that is enforced on others through their way of life. Eating the bodies of their dead fathers, while it is unappealing, does no harm to the society. Cremating bodies does not either. However if a culture believes that a portion of their society is inferior to the rest and they treat them harshly, then that would be an example of a moral code that I would feel comfortable with justifiably disapproving.

Soul Mates

Recent statistics have discovered that the divorce rate for first marriages in the United States has climbed to around 50%. With such a staggering percentage like this there must be an explanation for why so many marriages are failing to succeed in our society today. One explanation that comes to mind is that maybe these couples that are getting married, and divorcing at such a quick rate, were not really meant to marry in the first place.
On the day that Kirsten and Shelby led class, we discussed the topic of "soul mates", and how it related to Wuthering Heights. Many of us agreed that Heathcliff and Catherine were soul mates, despite the fact that Catherine ended up marrying Edgar. Catherine chose to marry Edgar in order to improve her social status, and because Edgar was a safe choice. This points out that many marriages occur for without the presence of love, which I believe is very similar to the relationship that Edgar and Catherine had. This could explain the rise in divorce rates.
Returning to the topic of soul mates, our class discussed the question of whether or not you can point out the qualities that you would like, or that you could see your soul mate having. Now lets just say that the majority of people marry their soul mates, and a sould mate is the perfect spouse. I don't believe you can actually plan out or visualize what kind of person your soul mate is, partly because many of us have distorted views of what a perfect spouse (or our soul mate) would be. So many people today describe what they want their future husband or wife to be like or look like. Alot of the qualities we search for are not ones that will sustain a lasting marriage, and therefore when things get tough, the qualities first seen in that person no longer exist and meaning of the marriage is not the same. I do believe that we all have a soul mate, and I do think that that a person's spouse must also be their soul mate in order for the marriage to last. Catherine decided to marry Edgar, who was not her soul mate. The events that followed leading to her death resulted from that decision.

Hero?

         While discussing Beowulf, we tried to determine who a hero would be in our society today. We often debated whether or not the motives behind a person’s actions affects whether or not what they do is heroic, and if therefore they should be labeled a hero. Today in America most people would agree that the men and women in the military are heroes, even if they never face combat. They volunteer to sacrifice themselves and protect our country. A new incentive that the military is now using to recruit is the promise of a fully paid education in exchange for service in the military. So my question is, are the people that only join the military so that they can go to college for free heroes?

            I relate this situation to that which happened in Beowulf in the fight against Grendel’s mother. Beowulf brought 12 soldiers along with him, but when the time came to fight, all of the men except for one, Wiglaf, left Beowulf. It is not clear what those men were motivated by, but their main goal was obviously not to help Beowulf protect the townspeople.

            So today, if an 18 year old realizes that he has no money for college and joins the military solely for the promise of a free education, is he a hero? If that is his only motivation, then when the time comes to face combat, his drive could fail. This instance, for me, is easy to discern that this 18 year old is not a hero. Another example though, which I think relates to Beowulf himself, is if that same teenager then performs valiant acts. Going to college for free and helping himself out still only drive him, but at the same time he is saving lives and protecting America. The poem Beowulf, doesn’t give a lot of insight about the man Beowulf. What I did infer though was that Beowulf was mainly fighting Grendel and his mother so that he could gain glory for himself. When he was about to die he asked to see the treasure, which shows me that he wanted to assure himself that he would have the glory of winning the treasure. That is why I think a lot of people debate whether Beowulf is a true hero. My opinion is that Beowulf and the 18 year old performed heroic acts, but should not be called a hero. Hero’s need to possess the quality of selflessness, and I don’t see that in these two instances.

Unity

               In The Power of One, I saw racism as a main theme. Peekay experiences racism firsthand, because he is a rooinek, when he is bullied by the Boer children at the boarding school. Racism is later displayed in the way that Borman treats Geel Piet, eventually murdering him. I don't wan't to discuss the fact that racism is wrong and sickening, because it is. What I want to point out is how racism is dealt with to create unity, and how unity is sometimes being interpreted incorrectly today.
              In The Power of One the native African tribes are discriminated against because they are different culturally, and mainly because they have a different skin color. Peekay does not agree with the racism, and he encourages the inmates to be proud of their heritage and culture. When all of the inmates sing the song that Doc composed, each tribe is highlighted, and is noticably different. They all embraced their difference and unified to create beautiful music.
             The United States has become a magnet for people from other countries. America has become a cultural mosaic, and a mosaic is a compilation of different pieces. That is what I love about America. I love being able to see so many different cultures around me. A comment that I hear a lot is, "We all live in America, so that is what we all are: Americans." While this is partially true, many people often interperate this by thinking that everyone should throw away their cultural roots for a new "American mask". This mindset completely shatters the idea of a cultural mosaic. It would be like cutting up a bunch of pieces of red paper, and then just gluing them back down all together. We need to have the Peekay mindset that created the amazing scene at the jail. Every single group of people that make up our nation is a piece of artwork that contributes to one unified masterpiece.