GRE Issue Topic 9

Sample 1:

“In the mid 1970's, San Francisco supervisor, Dan White, killed Mayor Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk. White had become despondent over the actions of the mayor and the homosexual activist, Milk, to change the laws pertaining to homosexual rights in the city. White's lawyer claimed that White's deepening depression led him to eat foods high in sugar, which affected his behavior. One of the reporters during White's trial coined the term, "the Twinkie defense", named for the well–known snack cake. That phrase is resurrected every time a defendant in a particularly heinous crime claims that some circumstance beyond his control made him behave badly. History provides shining examples of when circumstances did not reduce humans to use excuses to behave badly.

In 1944, a teenaged Elie Wiesel, his parents and sisters, were forced from their home in Hungary and transported to the infamous concentration camp, Auschwitz. At the entrance to the camp, this Jewish boy and his father were separated from his mother and sisters. Elie was just fourteen years old at the time, but another man in line told him to lie and say that he was sixteen; otherwise, he would be considered too young to work and would be sent to extermination along with women and children. During the ensuing months, Elie and his father endured harsh living and working conditions and starvation. When his father became ill, he tried to convince Elie to eat his ration of food, but Elie refused to sacrifice his father to ensure his own survival. Even when the prisoners were ordered to abandon the camp ahead of the Allies imminent arrival, Elie did everything he could to see that his father would survive. He watched as other fathers or sons abandoned those who could no longer endure the enforced race throughout the cold and snowy landscape but declined to forsake his own humanity.

History has recorded the deeds of others who, during the Holocaust, chose the high road rather than take the easy way out. Miep Gies, at great risk to herself, hid and supplied provisions to the family of Anne Frank while they hid in an attic in Amsterdam. Oskar Schindler made it possible for Jewish workers in his factory to escape the horrors of the Nazi regime. These heroes could have succumbed to circumstances, and history would likely have excused them. People can be the masters of their own destinies. Neither Twinkies nor "the devils made me do it" are acceptable excuses for relinquishing that mastery.

Sample 2:

People develop their behavior depending on the way in which they have been brought up, their environment and the society in which they live. The behavior of people is determined by external elements, but people have the liberty of making the choice to behave in a particular manner and they are solely responsible for their behavior. The external forces do not determine the behavior of people in a major way as people can take the decision to fight the external forces and behave in a manner that opposes the forces. Therefore, it is true to an extent that the behavior of people is influenced by forces that may not be under their control, but it is highly unjustified to assume that the concept of ‘individual responsibility’ is a necessary fiction.

Individual responsibility plays a very important role in determining the behavior of people. Take for instance the behavior of students. External forces like the requirement of doing well in one’s studies for getting a good job play a significant role in determining a student’s behavior with respect to his studies. However, it is ultimately the student’s individual responsibility that will determine the exact nature of his behavior. A particular student can choose not to be influenced by this external force and he may decide not to devote time to his studies despite the irreversible effects it may have on his career. On the other hand, there may be a student who chooses to be influenced by this external force and he puts in his level best in studying for doing well in his life. Thus, it can be seen that the behavior of students with respect to their studies is not influenced as much by an external force as compared to their own individual responsibilities.

It is true that external forces like those pertaining to society, schools, parents, law etc. determine the behavior of people to a significant extent. People stay within a set of laid down norms as per the laws that have been enforced. People of a particular country may be more responsible towards cleanliness by not throwing garbage on the streets as the laws of their country prohibit them from behaving in such a manner. When the same people go to another country where there are no such laws, it is their sense of individual responsibility that will come into play and they may choose to behave in a particular manner depending on how responsible they are towards keeping their environment clean.

There are people who choose to break the laws that have been enforced and this is evident by the crime rate that exists in almost all societies. What about the effect of external forces on these people? These people may have no control over the external forces like law and order, but they have decided not to let the external forces determine their behavior. Moreover, they have taken the decision to ignore the responsibilities that they should shoulder and so they alone are responsible for their conduct. No other force can be held responsible for their behavior.

A society which chooses not to blame the individuals for their actions can never thrive. There will be mass disobedience of rules and the framework of law and order of the society will break down. Therefore, it is essential that individuals be held responsible for their behavior as they are the ones who have chosen to behave in that particular manner. In sum, it can be said that more than external forces, it is the individual’s responsibility that determines his behavior.