Giving Thanks

Thursday is Thanksgiving, the great American holiday which is the epitome of our culture: family, feasting, and of course, football. Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on how lucky we are and appreciate all the luxuries we actually have. Now, I am by no means trying to make a sentimental blog post talking about how we should all "reflect" on ourselves more etc etc etc. No, I do have a purpose that relates to certain topics we covered in class. It's just that the Thanksgiving spirit made me think about our class discussions, and how they relate to the real world....maybe more now than I ever realized.

Thomas Hobbes believed that people are inherently evil, selfish, and only care for their own well-being.  When we first learned about this towards the beginning of the semester, I initially agreed with Mr. Hobbes. Yet, recent events have caused me to completely reverse my stance. Now, I agree with Mr. John Locke, and that people are inherently good.

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You might be thinking, "Why such a change of heart, Josh?" The truth is, a single event actually swayed me. The event? Hurricane Sandy. I don't need to delve into the details and statistics of Sandy, as I'm sure you all either read or watched something about it over the course of its week-long devastation. If not, then you live under a rock, or are from Ohio. But seriously, this storm was a disaster beyond measure. I come from the great state of New Jersey, and have lived there my whole life, so this storm not only left me worrying about my family and friends, it literally swept away parts of my childhood. My family was left without power for almost two weeks; schools were closed for just as long. Luckily, my area didn't get the worst part of the storm, but coastal areas along the Jersey Shore were not as fortunate. The Jersey Shore, the place where I spent many of my summers with my family and friends, is no longer intact. A place so beautiful that it was rated among the best beaches in the world, is no longer there. Sandy utterly decimated it, along with many parts of New York City, and the rest of the Tri-State Area. 

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How does this at all tie into the Hobbes vs. Locke battle? Surely Sandy was inherently evil, but that's not my point. My point is that after so much hardship and despair, even more good came out of it. After the storm had passed, instead of seeing people look the other way, or just try to fend for themselves, I saw historic amounts of support. The whole country swarmed in to help the East Coast, especially the Jersey Shore. The President flew in to console victims himself. Electric workers from Alabama, Tennessee, and other states traveled in to help restore power to freezing victims. I also witnessed countless food drives, "rebuild the shore" funds, and Facebook statuses of those with power offering their home to anyone in need. Inherently evil people would not even consider doing such acts; selfish people would not give it the light of day. No, these are examples of how people are inherently good. We understand that people are all members of the same tribe, and in the face of a tragedy, we stand as one.

Even the people in our government, who we would expect to uphold their partisan stances, put politics aside. Chris Christie, the governor or New Jersey, did not even care about the presidential election or that he applauded Obama for his handling of the storm. Take a look:

A person who is inherently evil would clearly only care for their self-interest, and in this case, that would be supporting his own party (and not applauding the other). This is a prime example of how people are inherently good; one of the most conservative politicians in America stepped out and put aside differences to help others.

People are inherently good. I firmly believe that following the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and I implore someone to try to change my mind. 

Therefore, on this Thanksgiving, when you're stuffing yourself with, well, stuffing, then think about good ol' John Locke. Think about how we have a holiday dedicated to the idea that in a state of nature, people are inherently good.

**Also, check out this link for some remarkable pictures from Hurricane Sandy: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-after-landfall/100396/ **