Freshmen: Today we continued to focus on the rhetorical device of argument. In preparation for the next step of the Capstone Project, you should be gathering sources related to your topic and you need to have these sources in hand on Friday. Remember, vocab is due Thursday, not Friday this week. Your homework is to read for 20 minutes tonight and Wednesday. Honors students should begin The Count of Monte Cristo. This needs to be finished by 5/27, when we have our next seminar. Because we will not meet before then, we're going to meet online every so often and discuss elements of related to the text. So, please post a comment tonight related to the following prompt, and please address each other's comments and ideas in your post. Multiple entries create a dialogue and earn you more points. Prompt: Is it ever acceptable to exact revenge upon a person you feel has wronged you, or should we categorically forgive those who trespass against us?
Sophomores: Today our focus was on six standard archetypes. Your task is to research your archetype, and come to class with five new facts about it, from at least two different sources. These are due Friday. Remember, vocab is due Thursday, not Friday this week. Continue to read.
CNF: Today we talked about the Voyager project, listened to some audio from the Golden Record and saw some images those involved with the project sent out to ET and all his pals, and listened to a segment from Radiolab about the project.
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I think that in a perfect world I would say that you should forgive everybody. The problem is that we live in a world where there're people that do bad things, things that can kill or seriously harm others. I think that we don't have to forgive because there are somethings that are unforgivable. I also think that punishment and not forgiving can help us as a society. Can you imagine if we lived in a world where our justice system forgave criminals, we would be overrun with villeins. I also think that there are plenty of cases that someone would do something and I would not be able to forgive them. In the hope of not being a hypocrite I would have to say that I think that there are cases that people are unforgivable. Lastly some people have the ability to forgive much easer and we should not fault someone for not being able to forgive something, even if we could forgive it.
~ Katelyn Brimhall
As humans, I believe that we should forgive those who trespass against us. I say this because I think forgiveness allows our society to work. If there was no forgiveness in our world, we would be angry at each all the time. Therefore we wouldn't want to interact with each and possibly share ideas that can help us grow together. Personally, I forgive people because I know, like everyone else, I wouldn't to have another human being holding a grudge against me.
Katelyn, I understand your point that forgiving criminals who have done horrible things can be a hard decision because of the risk the society around them will be put at. But I disagree with what you said that if "our justice system forgave criminals, we would be overrun by villeins." I think criminals should be forgiven because they too are humans and share feelings that we all have. For example, if you, Katelyn, did something wrong to your best friend that you dearly love, wouldn't you want to be forgiven? I think we should look at forgiveness from two endpoints: one's own point and from another's point.
-Aluwet Deng Period 5
Honestly, I think it depends. Like Lula said, if you did said against your best friend, you would want to be forgiven, but, where does this forgiveness reach an end? If one does something truly horrible to a loved one, I think it's alright not to be forgiven. If you, to go to extreme lengths for an example, killed your best friend's sibling, do not expect to be forgiven. But, for smaller trespasses, we should forgive. If you and your best friend get in an argument or fight over something ridiculous, forgive them.
-Abbi Mancini
Revenge is not an action we should strive toward as we try to be good humans, but there is definitely exceptions to this principle. As Katelyn said, in a perfect world we should forgive everybody for their wrongs. I agree with this, but we cannot hesitate to put someone back in their place every once and awhile. A one time wrong deserves criticism and forgiveness, but repeated offense requires action. Sometimes people need to learn before they are forgiven. I don't see this as a bad decision because it's protecting your own interests first, forgiving the offender second. While forgiveness is a great tool of redemption, it is not guaranteed to stop people from crossing you again. Revenge crosses the line into a frowned-upon act when it exceeds the damage of the original offense. You can slap the person on the wrist, put them back in their place, and forgive them, but retaliating full force and bringing more damage than was done to you is not an appropriate response. Forgive the offender as they serve their punishment, but do not exceed the damage done to you.
-Will Ryan, Period 5
It is normal for us to be tempted to get back at those who have trespassed us, but it is never the right thing to do. As Christians, we should forgive others no matter what it is that they have done to hurt us. We should show everyone love and compassion and remember that they might be going through difficulties in their own lives. However, it is easy to get caught up in the thought of revenge. Like Will said, sometimes people need to be put back in their place so they can realize what they have done wrong. This is something many people think they can do- get bak at someone and teach them a lesson about hurting others. My problem with this is that doesn't really solve anything. Doing to others what they did to you does not make the situation better. I think it is understandable to want to set people straight but renege is not the way to do it. Telling people you are hurt and that what they have done upsets you is a better solution in the long run than getting back at them. When we get revenge on someone we are being hypocrites. What they did to us made us feel wronged and we want to do the same to them? The easiest way to avoid being trespassed by others is not trespassing anyone. Most people get revenge and if you have wronged them in any way, you become a target. I believe that we are not meant to get back at others but to forgive them for we all sin and have hurt someone, but the easiest way to get over it is through forgiveness.
Savannah Miller
I think that forgiveness should be absolutely necessary in today's world, no exceptions. Without forgiveness, everyone would end up hating each other. For example, my mom had a fight with one of her best friends over a ridiculously simple wrongdoing. To this day, they still do not talk and cannot even be in the same room together. The craziest part is that my mom does not even remember what the fight was about. Do not get me wrong, forgiving someone can be extremely hard, but to go from best friends to never speaking is way over the line.
Katelyn brought up the point of the justice system not being forgiving, but it is not their job to forgive. It is the job of the victim or the victim's family to forgive the offender. The justice system simply punishes the criminals and there is a difference between revenge and punishment. Punishment is merely the sufficient treatment due to a certain crime committed. There is no getting back at or avenging the criminal.
I think the best revenge is to forgive. Oscar Wilde agrees with me when he says, "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much" (goodreads.com). It sounds unusual but hear me out. Imagine you were a bully and the kid you always hated and picked on came up to you and simply forgave you for all you had done to them. If that were me, I think that would really push my buttons. You try really hard to make this kid miserable and he says, "Oh, don't worry about. I forgive you." All your hard would be for naught and the bullied would win.
Humans were born into sin and so we all carry our sin around with us. Nobody can say that hey have never wronged a person before, so when we wrong a person, our first instinct is to fight back or get revenge. That is also part of our original sin because we can't be the bigger person and try to forgive them. Getting revenge feels good to a certain degree, and then it gets exhausting because you have to keep at it, you can't let your guard down. Revenge is the easiest path to go down because it doesn't require your conscience, just your brain and the initial thought of hurting somebody. Just as Savannah said, we as Christian must learn the act of forgiveness because it will get it much father in life.
Also Will mentioned that when someone does hurt us, we feel the need to put them in their place, as if we are doing them a favor. But really we are just stooping down to their selfish and mean level, when we could rise above them and forgive them. Then thought of "killing them with kindness" always comes to mind when it comes to forgiving. The reason why these people hurt you is to get a rise out of you, because they feed off of your insecurities even though they have much more than you, which is why they do it in the first place. Forgiveness is always the right direction you want to go down because it makes you feel better for rising above and as Christians it is our duty to forgive, just as Jesus forgave us for our many sins
Anna Lower
Per. 5
Boomer has a good point that punishment is a sufficient form of revenge for criminals. Serving their punishment and owning up to their actions is the most genuine was to elicit forgiveness. At this point, forgivness of the offender is necessary.
I think that in the world today, it is impossible to forgive everyone, but we should try to forgive as many as possible. If someone just makes you slightly upset than I believe they deserve to be forgiven. I think that the saying "forgive but don't forget" is a very true one because we shouldn't hold grudges against people. Even if is something truly horrible, if you look into yourself you can find forgiveness. If you listen to interviews with victims of crimes, almost all will say that they forgive whoever hurt them. I think letting it destroy you, and holding it against them only hurts yourself. I do not think it is necessary to ever get revenge on someone. It is almost like they win then because you are dwelling. Like Lula said, forgiveness helps make the world a better place, where people can get along. Without it we would all hate each other. So I think it is necessary to forgive, and not take revenge on someone.
-Mae Rodgers
Boomer, I do have to agree with you on the point that it is not the justice system's job to forgive the criminals. I think for a criminal to feel real forgiveness they need t be forgiven by the person they've directly wronged. I also, too, believe that forgiveness is something absolutely necessary in the world.
Anna, I also agree with your idea of all humans being inclined to sinning. Everyone sins;no one is perfect. You said that if a person wrongs us, "our first instinct is to fight back or get revenge." Thinking about what you said, I'm reminded of myself and how I sometimes seek revenge against people who have wronged me. I think it's better I forgive instead of seek revenge because by doing that I can make my situations better.
-Aluwet Deng Period 5
I agree with Lula that we should not take revenge on people that would make us almost as bad. But I think that revenge is a conscious at on our part to hurt someone for a preceved wrong they inflected. However, I think that not forgiveing someone has to do with our emotions and we can not really control our emotions.
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