Social Identity and Moral Responsibility

Since the moment of an individuals birth, the world is imposed on them. The world that is imposed on them of course, differs from culture to culture. From childhood you try to emulate what your caretakers display. From the beginning you are taught what is good and what is evil. A child's reality is limited to what the individual is exposed to. As the individual grows up and starts to discover new experiences he finds himself in a contradiction.

For example lets say that the individual observes another person stealing. Now the individual reaches a contradiction. The individual was taught that stealing was evil. The individual then has a choice to continue to believe that stealing is evil; which was imposed by the environment growing up. Or denounce what he was taught, and give into doing evil. This I believe is what creates a persons identity. The decisions that the individual makes, and the way the individuals interprets the world is its identity. The identity is defined by the factors in society which the individual was exposed to growing up. Individuals are a product of their environment, however they do have the choice to change.

Growing up my father was in the military. Ever since I could remember I wanted to serve in the military; after all I wanted to be like my dad. As a result when I turned 18 I joined the military. A choice that completely rearranged the way I look at the world. Joining the military exposed me to things that I wish to never see, or experience ever again. Things that I honestly would not even wish on my worst enemy. This for example, was a choice that I did on my own will. Influence by my environment. In turn, this choice defined the way I now think and conduct myself.

War is hell. It is almost impossible to construct in words what is felt during war. Love, joy, pain, sorrow, and death are all but parts of the emotional roller coaster in war. Being in two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, I learned some truths about humans. One truth was that we as humans are so powerful, we could create such amazing things, yet we could destroy them with a single finger. This helped to understand how important a persons life is. If I were to ever be elected in to congress, I would be the one that would vote against war almost every time; unless it was absolutely necessary. Experiencing war, taught me that we as humans are evil by nature. We will do what ever it takes to keep ourselves alive and hold on to what we believe, killing anyone that doesn't believe in our values.

War also taught me about love. How a person can sacrifice his life for his fellow Marines. When you go oversees, politics and government goes out the window. All you give a shit about is the person to your left and your right. There is no greater feeling in the world knowing that the people standing to your flanks will lay down their lives for you; and that you would do the same. It's a moral responsibility that we upheld to one another. We call it “Death before dishonor.” This just didn't carry for the guys that shared the same trench, but to everyone who was over there. It felt great to be part of a society that had this sort of unselfish love. People are willing to sacrifice their lives so that our country will continue to thrive on.

It's funny when I think of it that way because, in essence we fought for America. America includes the ones who hate me for the color of my skin, or where I came from. The ones that hate me for worshipping a different God. Truth is, that we are one country, one people, one culture. We have a moral responsibility to take care of our own people in our society so that we can continue into the future. I put my neck on the line for people that never helped me, and people that I will never meet. So to me giving money to the poor, helping out the elderly is nothing compared to be asked to give your life. United we stand, and divided we fall. I guess I just want my children to be born into a world that is not as jacked up as this one.