The Right Thing To Do: The Ones Who Walk Away From The Omelas

In the short story "The Ones Who Walk Away From the Omelas", people live in ultimate happiness. No one is dissatisfied. They are given no rules whatsoever. In another words, they live in paradise. However, to maintain the society's happiness, a child is sacrificed. The child is locked away in a squalid room. He is covered in filth and all he could do is hope. After people started to find out, they start leaving Omelas. 

I think there is an obvious irony about the modern society. Only people choose not to take in the truth. For example, when people buy diamonds, they know that one diamond cost thousands of lives and excruciating work. Although we are aware of the blatant problem, we never try to solve it. This issue can be used anywhere. When we're buying a fur coat. We know that hundreds and hundreds of animals were killed in order to produce this merchandise, however we choose not to mention it and we blindly walk away from the problem. Which brings me back to the short story. The people who walked away from Omelas only walked away to avoid the problem. They never tried to save the trapped child or fix their way of living. They simply walked away. This only means that they were afraid of the consequences so they left to avoid the reality. 

Reading this story made me despise the people of Omelas. However, it is hard to say because many of the people who live in this society depict a lot of their characteristics. Although I find the people of Omelas cowardly, I feel that even I lie to myself to find convenience. Even though I know that the oil underneath the earth's crust is slowly depleting, my family choose to fill up our cars everyday for the convenience of our needs. I buy fur jackets even though I know that hundreds of animals had to be skinned in order to produce it. Although it is hard to admit, I think the short story is a depiction of the selfishness and the narrow-mindedness of humanity.