One of my areas of interest is human behavior on several levels. I am always concerned that my input will “infect” the recipe as it unfolds. In this case, the various entries that are being made in response to the initial entry, “Are ethical values culturally relative?”
Many moons ago, I was taking a class for credit and was instructed by the professor to write a response to a question that had been previously written on the “white board.” She said that the only requirement was to address the question in a clear and concise manner.
No paper limits or minimums applied. Write a paragraph, write a book. But, stay on point and write clearly and in a concise manner.
Well, the following week we all were asked to read our papers in front of the class. Good God! After hearing the first three responses, I broke out in a sweat! Could I have misunderstood the board question? Did I stumble and hit my head? Was I on drugs or alcohol or both that night!
After everyone read their paragraph, paper, or papers, (no books, ha ha LOL), the professor then had us examine what she had written down in the back of the room on the “electronic white board” that she could manipulate with a mouse or pointer.
Needless to say, in some manner, several managed to address the question with some reasonable sense of “relativity.” On the other hand, much was a jumble of sub-topics that left many of us wondering when it was time to go home.
“Write clearly and in a concise manner,” said the professor as we rose to go home the previous week.
What is the next step here. I have copied all entries including my own in this thread into Word 2003 for later review as of 5-7-07 3:00pm.
What I am asking of everyone is to go and look back at the original first entry. Then look at your own entries. Are they clear and concise? Do they stay on point? More so, does it appear that they may represent the very nature of being human? That we say what we are thinking at the moment vs. read carefully the text and then formulate a clear and concise answer that reflects the original question.
To me, our answers/entries reflect the very stuff of which society is made up of and acts out everyday on any given topic. Making us wonder, what the heck is going on in the world? Nothing seems to be clear and concise anymore. Not that things were ever really “black and white,” just that lately it appears that we are as a culture, bogged down in quagmire after quagmire with conflict and disagreement.
Hugs
Danielle Marie

