And Brutus Is An Honorable Man…

When dealing with moral decisions, one has to be extremely cautious and has to make sure that they are doing the rightmost thing. This is especially critical when it involves handling someone’s life. One has to make sure that they have enough supporting evidences, information and reason to make the decision. In Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Julius Caesar’, Brutus a member of the Roman Senate and Caesar’s closest and most trusted friend, is cleverly tricked into joining the conspirators in a plot to assassinate Caesar himself. Although Brutus is left at a crossroad for some time he manages to rationalize his choice by telling himself that the conspiracy is necessary for the good of the Roman republic and its people. This makes Brutus a tragic hero, who killed Caesar not out of personal greed or ambition, but out of patriotism and honor.

Brutus’s patriotism and desire to conserve the Roman republic played the main role in building him into a patriot and making him choose to kill his closest friend for the good of the general. When Cassius, the mastermind of the conspiracy recognizes that they need Brutus on their side in order for the assassination to be successful and brings up the idea to him. However, Brutus is strongly against the idea of killing his close friend. Desperate, Cassius decides to send Brutus fake letters from the people of Rome asking him to take action against Caesar. Only then Brutus is convinced that the assassination of the soon to be dictator is critical for the sake of Rome: “ ‘O Rome, I make thee a promise, If the redress will follow, thou receivest Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus’ ” (II.i.56-57). Now that Brutus has seen the letters sent from the public, he knows in his heart that he must sacrificing Caesar for the republic. Later on after Brutus, Cassius, and the conspirators assassinate Caesar, they confess and explain what they have done to the public. Brutus, once again, rationalizes his intentions to be patriotic. “ ‘If then that friend Demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more” (III.ii.19-21). This segment of the speech that Brutus made at Caesar’s funeral clearly shows that he was indeed a great patriot.

Although Brutus’s patriotism was the key factor that drove him to the assassination of his beloved friend, it could have turned into an extremely brutal and immoral bloodshed if it wasn’t for Brutus’s honorable character. In Act II Scene I of ‘Julius Caesar’, the conspirators arrange a meeting with Brutus to plan how Caesar’s assassination will take place. Then Cassius, the mastermind of the plot, suggests swearing an oath of loyalty to each other. However Brutus stops this, and claims that an oath is not necessary at all: “‘If not the face of men, The sufferance of souls, the time’s abuse If these be motives weak, then break off betimes And every man hence to his idle bed’ ” (II.i.114-117). Brutus tells them that the conspirators, having pledged their words as Romans, do not need any incentive, other than their cause. This quote clearly shows that as a noble Roman, honor is the most important thing to Brutus who cares about Rome more than the life of his best friend. As the meeting of the conspirators continues, Brutus is fully convinced that Caesar has to be removed from his power, but is unable to think of a way to do so except for assassinating him. However, he had some ideas on how to proceed with the assassination that suggest his honorable motivations. Brutus mentions that the conspirators must be “sacrificers” and not butchers and shows his disappointment that they are unable to seize Caesar’s spirit without killing him because Brutus respected and valued Caesar as a friend: “‘O, that we then could come by Caesar’s spirit And not dismember Caesar! But, alas, Caesar must bleed for it.’” (II.i.169-171).

When it comes to making a moral choice regarding a person’s life, seeking for enough information and evidence is extremely critical along with the repeated revisions of the idea. In the famous tragedy ‘Julius Caesar’, Brutus’s patriotism and honor had driven him to assassinate his good friend Caesar, but he had only achieved his goal partially because he was only able to save Rome from dictatorship but instead, created a massive conflict and havoc within Rome, causing its people to suffer. Thus, Brutus was indeed a tragic hero who valued and loved Rome much more than one man’s ambition. And therefore, I believe that Brutus’s goal was nobler than it was worthy.

Image From: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/m/michelan/1sculptu/2/8brutus1.html

They Lost Everything, All, But Hope...

Think Creatively...

One of my creative elements in the collage is the part that describes the lost boys' journey to the United States. I thought that this journey of stepped migration was a very significant part of their story. Therefore, I decided to have that as a "big" part of my collage. I attempted to include information in as much informal detail as possible and I also tried to describe the people's feeling the best I could. I also added in a bit more "texture" at the center of my collage, where my 6-word memoir was in order to show the viewer that it is the main idea of my collage. As well as that, while creating my video, I started my voice recording after about 15 seconds into the video so that the viewer would get some time to take a look at the collage closely and think about the conflict of the lost boys for themselves first.

Communicate Effectively...

By putting in many visuals of the civil war in Sudan, I believe that I effectively communicated the horrifying time the Sudanese had during the war and how they suffered. I made sure that my collage would raise awareness of the violent conflicts in Sudan and I think the way I created my collage was enough to evoke the empathy in my viewers and to make them take action in order to help the refugees of the terrible war. Also I used my 6-word memoir to communicate the overall lives of the lost boys of Sudan to the viewer. I described how they lost a huge part of their lives

Live Ethically...

As people look at the contents of my collage, they will realize how much of a suffering the Lost Boys went through. This is sure to evoke empathy in them since some parts of my collage show the terrible and unimaginable experiences that the Sudanese people had to endure as a result of the horrifying civil war. It would give them a sense of what it feels like to lose one's whole family to a violent and merciless war. I think my collage, overall, will do a pretty good job in creating sympathy in the people and inciting them to take action to help the lost boys of Sudan overcome their horrifying past.

Reason Critically...

I reasoned critically when I was picking my images for the collage and when I was writing up my 6 word memoir. I needed to find the best images that would send a clear message to the viewer on what the lost boys of Sudan went through and how devastated their lives were. I picked a good mixture of pictures of the horrific results of the civil war and the new hope that the refugees found in America. When I was creating my 6-word memoir, I tried my best to represent the refugees’ whole life as it was and how they found a small, yet reliable hope in their unfortunate lives.

There's No "Heaven" On Earth

The Lost Boys of Sudan are a group of over 20,000 boys and some girls, who had to flee from the civil war in their country and traveled hundreds of miles across the African desert in hope to escape the conflict going on in their home and to have a peaceful life. Many of these boys were orphans and were left to live on independently because their parent(s) have been killed or lost in the raids. Many of the boys also died during their long journey, and in desperate search of a safe "home", the Lost Boys arrived in kenya, where they were placed in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. In the camp, the boys spent some 11 years with their fellow refugees and grew up into adults. One day, 4000 Sudanese boys were chosen to migrate to the United States to find a new and better life. Peter is one of the boys in this camp that have been chosen to migrate to the United States. The boys expected America to be like "heaven on Earth" but found out that there's no heaven on Earth due to their incapability in the beginning to cope with the culture shock. While Peter was trying to assimilate to the new life, he was faced with a lot of difficulties regarding education and racism. From the beginning of his life in the United States, Peter left Texas and drove to Kansas City in order to work for himself and become more educated so that he could go back to Sudan as a successful man and help out his fellow refugees in the camp. Looking for some type of education but not knowing his actual age, Peter applied for high school. But Peter said that he always felt that he wasn't able to fit in with the rest of his peers because he was "different". As well as school, Peter also found a job in Wal-Mart, where he was able to earn enough money to pay his rent and support himself. Examples of racism and prejudice can be found in these two places where Peter spent a lot of his time in. First of all, a slight hint of prejudice can be noticed when the ESL teacher in Peter's school does not respect Peter's background culture and asks him a question which he is unable to answer: 'what would you do if you had 1 million dollars?’ This is a question that is hard to answer for even some of us. One could possibly imagine how hard it would be for a refugee to answer that question. Second of all, Peter was told by his boss in Wal-Mart that he should collect shopping carts out in the parking lot. His boss assumed since Peter was African and Africa is a hot country, he would be used to working in a hot climate and wouldn't have to worry about being "burnt" out in the sun. Lastly, in school, Peter wished to apply for an ACT testing and sought for advice from the school counselor. However, the counselor told Peter that he should just go to a "lower-rated community college". But he is soon shocked to find out that Peter has a letter proving him to be an Honor Role and that he already had his biography written up and ready for submission. Peter experienced difficulties and challenges assimilating into a whole new culture and lifestyle but was determined to successfully "embrace" the American culture. Although there may be many more challenges that Peter has to face in the future, I think that he had already begun a successful life.