Abandon Ship

This week my class did an activity called "Abandon Ship" based off an actual event that occured in the late 1800's. There were 16 people on board which included sailors, officers, Nobel Prize winners, poets, husbands & wives, medical students and more. What happened was their ship was sinking and a bad storm was approaching. The only lifeboat they had was designed for 9 and with 16 people on it they would have all died. Our job was to decide which 9 should be able to stay on the lifeboat. The thought of having to decide who should stay alive was a hard task and made me feel very uncomfortable. Everyone should be entitled to life and no one should have to choose for them. But unfortantley that is what happened. The ship's officer got to choose who stayed and who left. I don't know how people could do that kind of thing and not think of themselves as a killer. It was also sad to see how society views each other. The officer looked at everyone in a 'micro' view. As Americans there are many things we value such as education, youth, intelligence, etc. This was how people were picked to stay or not. Although they could have had such amazing qualities, if they didn't fit what the officer thought of as an 'ideal' American they were left behind. This activity showed me how judgemental and critical Americans are of each other. We like to judge before we get to know a person and make faulty assumptions. It is also sad how the Officer was so willing to choose people to leave behind and for the reasons he did. Americans also tend to have a sense of selfish-ness where they are willing to hurt others to get by in life. People should really step back and accept each other for who they are and learn to get along and help out their peers.