HOw does being in a role of power cahnge an individual?

Student 's Name

Street Address

City , ST ZIP Code

e-mail

phone

fax

Title of

Student 's Name

There are times in our lives , when each of us faces difficult decisions , when we weigh our morals against the ebb and flow of society There are times when we don 't get to make decisions , as the law and society will make them for us . Even in positions of power or authority there is a system that each of us works within that may not match our own value

systems

In as much as that is true , our lives can be made simpler by not having to make hard choices because it 's the law ' Most of us would agree that is immoral to take the life of another human being . But there are times when it is necessary , such as in war

When faced with an enemy that would eliminate members of our community it is necessary and just that we take their life , as our soldiers are currently doing in Iraq . That 's what war is about , defending your rights or the rights of those you support . The death penalty serves similar purposes . When an individual is sentenced to the death penalty it is because they have harmed someone in our community . The death penalty and war both serve a purpose , to keep us safe from those who aim to harm

George Orwell , as we know him now , in his essay A Hanging , describes the process from a front row seat . Orwell was born Eric Blair and served as a Burma police officer for five years . A Hanging is the result of his work as a police officer and the witness to an execution . Orwell describes the execution in a detached , unemotional manner , that is until he realizes the man about to be executed is human just as he is . Orwell describes the condemned man as a puny wisp of a man ' as though he recognizes the vulnerability in the prisoner . Orwell , when he saw the man about to be put to death , side step to avoid a puddle , realized the common ground they shared

It is curious , but till that moment I had never realized what it means to destroy a healthy , conscious man . When I saw the prisoner step aside to avoid the puddle , I saw the mystery , the unspeakable wrongness , of cutting a life short when it is in full tide (Orwell , 1931

Orwell was in a position of authority , even power over this condemned prisoner , but he struggled with his death

This man was not dying , he was alive just as we were alive . All the organs of his

body were working - bowels digesting food , skin renewing itself , nails growing

tissues forming - all toiling away in solemn foolery . His nails would still be

growing when he stood on the drop , when he was falling through the air with a

tenth of a second to live . His eyes saw the yellow gravel and the grey walls...