Throughout everyday life we encounter many problems that we solve using our own individual belief systems. Rarely do we stop and think about how these decisions will affect society as a whole. More often we think about how these choices will affect us and the people closest to us. Choices like Joe Keller and Chris Keller have to make in All My Sons. Joe Keller believes in family first. To Joe, supporting his family was above all, as he clearly states, “For you, a business for you!” Joe uses his family as justification for sending out the defective airplane parts. He is clearly wrong because he didn’t look at bigger picture and 21 pilots lost there lives as a result. He must suffer the consequences for his actions, but instead he shoulders the entire load on his partner. Unfortunately for him, his story begins to unravel. His own son doesn’t want any part of this business especially because he was in the war. Chris was out there fighting for his life and his men’s life while his father was letting defective airplane parts slip through with the false hope everything would be already because he was doing it for his family. Chris looks at the larger picture stating, “For me! I was dying every day and you were killing my boys and you did it for me? What the hell did you think I was thinking of, the Goddam business?” Chris knows that family is important, but being in the war has shown him many things. He doesn’t care about his father’s business because he knows that it is wrong to kill people in order to have a profitable business.
I think that everyone makes mistake sometimes; we put family and career before society, and that almost never ends well at all. We can take a look at many major bankrupt corporations. It may be a nice thought to go to bed thinking that you and your family will wake up to $10 million dollars like the major CEOs, but honestly who needs that much money? How many more major corporations are going to put there and there families’ well being before the public before we put an end to it? Enron is a great example because the people up top ruined hundreds of peoples lives to make some extra dough, but just like Joe they didn’t get away with it and had to pay the price. Don’t get me wrong putting family before society isn’t always bad; it’s just immoral when you have to take out other families to satisfy your needs.
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2 comments:
I like how you connected a real world example into the post. It made me, as the reader, connect more with the point that you're trying to make. I agree that society should come before family for the large majority of the time. There are a few scenarios where family must be taken care of before society, but in general, you hit it on the button. Well done.
Good analysis Kyle. I agree with you in the sense that human nature typically looks at the needs of our families before society. Interesting insights.
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