Cycle 16 Paper

For this cycle, we had to address a question regarding morals and values. The question was:
Are
morals and values so different from country to country, person to
person, that there can be no common values? Do you think there should
be some universal common values? If so, what do you think they should
be?

I believe that each individual is unique in this world,
which is great because it allows for our world to be completely diverse
and exciting. However, it’s this very blessing that causes me to
believe that common values cannot exist among all people. Even
generalizing it to countries seems unlikely to me. You can pick a
subject that seems to have one normal stance, like how nobody should
commit murder, and find that as you travel across the world, you will
get multiple stances on the subject. Even in this country, our values
differ. We are generally raised to believe that we should respect one
another, but meanwhile in this very same country, someNeo -Nazis are
raising their children to believe that Jews are bad and should be
erased from this world. Also, it is common belief that one's own family
should have a higher priority over anybody else. However, in the
writing, "The Gift," Salinger said, "I don't know where I'd set it, but
I would not let many children die so my kids could live" (60). How can
we expect to have any common values between different countries, if
there is so much dissent in our own country? People, in general, have a
natural tendency to fight for what they believe in, and since there are
so many different beliefs, an endless war is created. An example of
this is religion. For as long as religion has existed, different
religions have fought over which religion’s teachings are more correct.
These wars have been caused by small details like whether one man was a
messiah or not, but have resulted in the deaths of countless millions.
It is because of these ridiculous quarrels that I do believe that there
should be universal common goals, even though it is very unrealistic. I
believe that our differences will prevent us from ever uniting as one
race, but if we were to settle upon something so trivial as respect
towards each other, we could stop global strife, which takes the lives
of millions each day. With this one common value, every human being can
live as an individual, but yet still live in complete harmony with one
another. This way of living doesn't call for self-sacrifice, like in
"The Singer Solution to World Poverty," where it says, "Therefore, for
a household bringing in 50,000 a year, donations to help the world's
poor should be as close as possible to $20,000" (4). Instead of being
required to fix the world, like it suggests in the writing through
donating to the poor, all you really need to do is fix yourself. If you
think about it, you can see that religious wars are caused only because
one religious groupdoesn ’t believe that another religious group’s
values are correct, and as a result, tries to force their own beliefs
and values on that religious group. If that same group could respect
the other group, than the two groups could live harmoniously even
though they would live by separate beliefs. Because of this, I believe
that in order to achieve a world that lives in peace, but still
maintain the individuality that makes it special, we should hold
respect as a common value.