- One paragraph summary of the key idea summarizing the topic of the week.
We began morality discussing what morality was and why we should study it. In the next semester we will try to ask ourselves not only what is right and wrong, but why it is right or wrong. Morality concerns all of us and many ignore it, but we must continue or start to examine our lives and find out what we are doing right or wrong. Morality is reflected in history (Challenger disaster, lynchings) stories (Lion and the Mouse, Berenstein Bears, Aesop's Fables) and literature (story of David, Harry Potter)among other things. We are all faced by many moral issues where we must make a decision. Through this section on Morality, we can find out the ways to make our moral decisions.
- List and explain three of the most important ideas you want to remember from this week.
- First, I want to remember Buddha's ideas about right speech and lying. Although we don't realize it, we lie very often, and if we take the time to figure out why we are lying and for what reasons, we can discover truths about our identity and what we strive to be. Buddha states that we must examine our speech and try to move towards speaking with both truth and charity.
- Second, I want to remember the lynching photography that took place in our country during the 1860s-1900s. Lynchings were common back in that era and were in fact a popular place to be. They were a form of entertainment and the whites conducting them saw nothing wrong about them. Today, we see lynchings as horrific reminders of our past. We can only ask the questions of whether the whites thought this was wrong or not. Did they have any sense of morality? If we say that they thought lynchings were not wrong, then it is possible that today in the present we too may think something is morally acceptable when in truth it is not. When we look at lynching photography, we must use that as encouragement to always decide what is right and what is wrong in any moral issue.
- Lastly, I want to remember George Carlin's comedy on euphemisms. He makes it aware to us how our country is flooded with euphemisms. He concludes that euphemisms "hide the truth" and "conceal reality" because we "have a lot of trouble facing the truth." In a world of facts and figures, we shy away from the truth or reality when that truth scares us. Euphemisms allow us to talk about something in words that detract from the reality of the "something". Concerning morality, we must learn to accept the truth no matter how scary or hurtful and possibly do something besides renaming our fears.
3.) One image of that reminds you of the topic. Attribute, link, your source
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4.) One good question you should keep with you to ponder.
Where do my morals lie? What are my stances on the controversial issues of the day such as abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, etc?
5) What should you try to do to make you a better person, a more faithful person, from this study?
I will try the right speech experiment more in my life. I will observe when I lie or deviate from the truth and try to figure out why I lied and what that means about my character. Do I really need to lie as much as I know I do? Would'nt it be better to be charitable as well as truthful?
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