Abandon Ship

In class we did an activity called abandon ship, based on a true circumstance. Through out the activity we either volunteered or were chosen to take the role of a character and classmates had to fight for their chance to stay alive. I couldn't really imagine how those people must have felt years ago when this took place, having to either live or die because a boat can't hold everyone is a tough and awfully sad situation. I was one of the observers while classmates had to decide who should stay and who should leave and although I didn't help decide I still think it was rather unfortunate that who survived was based on others selfishness. For example, they got rid of all elders and ones with health conditions (epilepsy and obesity) because they felt that these people would danger the others chances of survival; however, anyone with ship knowledge, education, and families got the privilege to live. Yes, having a family would absolutely give you a reason for survival and that may have been a less selfish choice, this represents how our last week we spoke of sociological mindfulness in class and how what matters is how we influence something-- being educated in a specific major you're interested in really comes in handy when peoples' lives are at risk. For example, the Nobel prize winner for physics and ship operators were kept so they can help save the lives of others on the raft, regardless if they took up two spots, they helped save our classmates in the raft. This can be connected to everyday life, specifically when there are partner quizzes in classes. Haven't people ever noticed that when you can choose your partner often times people go for the "more intelligent" classmates so that they can receive a good grade rather than pairing up with their friends? We're all guilty of doing that, myself included and we do these things in order to receive better grades. By that we influence our younger siblings, perhaps motivate people to work harder, but we really do it for better reactions from teachers and parents. however, in the end it does motivate us as individuals to get better grades in the process and it does tend to make us more responsible, by studying the next time.