If a Plane loses an engine or for any other reason begins a rapid, unexpected change in flight, or otherwise begins to crash, the airline will have a certain set of procedures that were mentioned at the beginning of the flight, that begin to take place. When at the beginning of the flight the stewardesses will explain that should a change in altitude occur that when the oxygen masks fall, it is extremely important that you put your own mask on before helping the person next to you. Now why would airlines do this, why would airlines encourages this level of self centeredness, that in the face of possible death, they would instruct their passengers to forget about their neighbors and even loved ones, until they have taken care of themselves. …show more content…
While I would agree with Wiesel that indifference to the problems of the world, I would also argue that he calls a lack of direct action indifference, which I strongly disagree with. The oxford dictionary defines indifference as “Lack of interest, concern, or sympathy” (oxford dictionary). He says “ I don't understand. Why the indifference, on the highest level, to the suffering of the victims?” (Wiesel 421),. Anyone with indifference will almost never take action. Wiesel cites president Franklin D. Roosevelt as forever tainted in jewish history for his turning away of the St. Louis. The St. Louis was a ship coming into New York during WW2 and it had on it roughly 500 escaped jews. FDR made the somewhat notorious decision to turn away the passengers and send them back. Now when you look at this for its face value one could argue that FDR was being indifferent to the problems of the jews and that he simply didn't want the hassle. However upon further investigation we would find that FDR made this decision because of reports of nazi spies amongst the jewish group. Now in hindsight was FDRs decision the right one? Some may say yes others no and both have logical reasons to say so, however i think both sides can recognize and understand that it wasn't mere indifference that FDR had for the jews it was simply that …show more content…
This is where the question gets a little bit tricky because it varys from person to person based on their individual gifts and talents. For example some peoples are extremely gifted in fields such as medicine, so if one of these people where to run of to some poor nation and attempt to help them while only doing the bare minimum for themselves, while they would certainly help the people around them they may not have maximized their potential. If however that same person where to go thru college, followed my medical school, they could potentially have a massive impact by going to that same poor nation and helping all the sick people by providing their rare expertise. This is also where the entire principle of prioritization comes into play, it is up to each individual to decide wich actions are the best not only for the whole of the human race but more importantly to them as an individual. While everyone is called to help in some way, some people's best option may simply be never directly helping those destitute countries but starting a family of their own and raising the children to care for