3.+Confronting+Injustice

=Confronting Injustice =



=Justice! =

===Barbara Lazear Ascher's "On Compassion," states that it is the role of the individual confront injustice through acts of compassion. In "On Compassion," numerous individuals are found in confrontations of injustice. As the rugged looking man approaches the mother with her baby, "others in the corner, five men and women waiting for the crosstown bus, look away." The mother confronts the man and gives her money and the man, confused, then walks away. This is a common characteristic of modern society, to look away if an action is not directed towards you. Most people situated in the same event witnessing a possible threat would look away as well unless the problem was imposed on them.===

===As Ascher then talks about the mayor of the New York City who moved all of the homeless off the streets into Bellevue Hospital, she believes that the mayor acts on an honest and kind gesture. "Raw humanity offends our sensibilities. We want to protect ourselves from an awareness of rags..." Although the mayor took an initiative by confronting the injustice of the poor and homeless forced to live outdoors during the cold winters, his ulterior motive could of been to avoid the possible confrontation of the homeless.===

===Both excerpts demonstrate how individuals tend to stray away from possible confrontations yet by attempting to prevent the confrontation they may sometimes solve an injustice. Ascher believes that although they may not act on true compassion or wish to truly solve an injustice, people will act when required to solve an injustice.===

===A main injustice is seen in the way society strips the homeless of their humanity, they are no longer seen as humans. Instead they are seen as something to be feared. An individual can confront this injustice by offering help not based out of fear but out of compassion, which restores the homeless' humanity.===

=The Grapes of Wrath =

===In Grapes of Wrath, all of the locals in California as well as the many salesmen throughout the story demonstrate a strong lack of compassion. The majority of the locals completely lacked any compassion. Instead of attempting to put themselves in the "okies" shoes in order to empathize with their ordeal, they did the opposite and attempted to separate themselves from them by labeling them as a different species.===