Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Courage

A moving story about courage and kindness at the BBC website (here).
Back in 1996, Keshia Thomas, then a teenager saved the life of a man believed to be a white supremacist affiliated with the KKK from an angry mob (see the pic above). Her explanation is revealing: "When people are in a crowd they are more likely to do things they would never do as an individual. Someone had to step out of the pack and say, 'This isn't right.'"
Today, Keshia keeps committed to make a difference:
"The biggest thing you can do is just be kind to another human being. It can come down to eye contact, or a smile. It doesn't have to be a huge monumental act."

5 comments:

  1. What Keshia Thomas did in 1996 was incredibly courageous. Her actions expressed the idea of Virtue Ethics. She manifested the idea of courage and righteousness through her actions and her response. She was courageous not to gain anything but out of pure benevolence. Another topic expressed in this article that we covered was situationist behavior. Keshia stated, "When people are in a crowd they are more likely to do things they would never do as an individual." This is one of the characteristics of situationist behavior. We explored situationist behavior in the beginning of the year and saw video clips that expressed how unusual and difficult it was for an individual to "do the right thing" or do something different when others/a crowd chose not to act that way. This makes Keshia's actions even more courageous than before. Although she does not want to be praised for her actions in the past she should be. Her actions were not only courageous and compassionate but they have had such a result on others its inspiring.

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  2. Keshia Thomas' act of saving the life of a man is truly commendable. Through this, she points out an interesting notion that "when people are in a crowd they are more likely to do things they would never do as an individual." This notion is a notion that I am inclined to agree with as I believe that an individual's judgement is impaired through the pressure of trying to do what is acceptable in society. Thus, if a group of individuals try to act in a certain way, another individual will be inclined to act in the same manner.

    Perhaps, this article can be related to situationism in the fact that individuals will be more inclined to do an act that others are doing. Earlier in the year, we studied experiments such as the "good samaritan" experiment, where an individual pretended to be hurt on the street to see if other individuals would come in his aid. In that experiment, we saw that individuals were more inclined to help if others were doing the same - instilling validity in the notion that others are more likely to do things (in a group) they would never do as an individual.

    It is important Thomas was able to recognize this notion, and was brave enough to act upon it as this article emphasizes the importance of morality - as morality in this case, was able to save the life of one man.

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  3. I think this was an incredible act of kindness. In this case Keshia made an important moral decision, as she probably saved the life a man who was associated with the KKK. This case is also related to situationism. It was difficult for Keshia to act against the crowd , as in some cases individuals would conform to group behaviors. Albeit this was an incredible gesture.

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  4. I think this was an incredible act of kindness. Keshia Thomas made the right moral decision to save a man's life even though he was probably associated with the KKK. Keshia was strong enough not to conform to group influences and she was able to save a human life.

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  5. This article is not only encouraging, but very honest and eye opening. I really enjoyed reading this because it shows that there are still people looking to be genuine, and make the world a better place. Keshia Thomas is a special example of this because her actions were unplanned and instinctual. It shows a great amount about her character and her ability to make a rational decision, even in a chaotic situation. A story like this one proves that treating people with respect and kindness can have a great impact on those around us.

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