B) Choose the morals from list below to match the fables.
a) Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything.
b) Better humble security than gilded danger.
c) Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.
d) Self-conceit may lead to self-destruction.
e) Never trust a friend who deserts you at a pinch.
f) Cunning often outwits itself.
g) It is easy to despise what you cannot get.
h) Wealth unused might as well not exist.
i) Vices are their own punishment.
j) Nothing escapes the master’s eye.
k) Ah, people often grudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves.
l) Nature will out.
m) Greed oft o’er reaches itself.
n) Kindness affects more than severity.
C) Think of the situations from your own or your friend’s life experience illustrating the vices and virtues described in the fables.
XX. Evaluate people, their moral virtues and /or vices from the following cases. Discuss them with your partners.
Case 1: One of “Us” or One of “Them”
The professor in Mustafa’s political science class had tried to be fair. The class had been discussing the global effects of terrorism, and she had been active in moderating the discussion. When a student, glaring at Mustafa, expressed anger about “those crazy Muslims and Arabs who are trying to destroy the West, “ she quickly pointed out that “of course we must remember that not all Muslims or people from the Middle East are behind acts of terrorism; only a fringe minority is”. And when another student asked Mustafa to explain “why your people do these things,” she had stepped in to say that it was not an appropriate question. But the teacher’s attempts to protect him weren’t enough, Mustafa thought; he had still felt that the whole discussion was very much “us” against “them” – with him being the sole representative of “them”.
The class had never paid much attention to him, and Mustafa had liked it that way. (He usually sat by himself toward the back of the room and rarely spoke, out of shyness about his slight stutter). Today his anger and embarrassment were extreme as the other students kept turning around to stare at him during the discussion. Didn’t they know how stupid they looked? He was as good an American as they were; maybe better. Why pick on him? But he thought it wiser not to try to explain their ignorance to them.
What followed after class was worse. The discussion had so stimulated the students that several of them hung around talking outside the classroom door even after the professor left. As Mustafa walked down the hall, he overheard a voice behind him say, “We should make all those towel-heads leave the country.” Another replied, “Yeah, we’ll never be safe until we’ve bombed them all.” Mustafa’s ears burned. Were those words intended for him? He didn’t wear a turban, but the remarks seemed to follow from the hostility in class. He wasn’t sure who had spoken. Should he turn around and say something, or just keep walking? Either way, he couldn’t see ever going back to class.
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Case 2: Cheating
Nick and Katie have been a couple for two years, and despite some minor fights, they feel firmly committed to each other. They often talk about getting married eventually and have even planned many details of their future life together. One night when Katie went out with her girlfriends, Nick met Olivia at a party. Olivia was very sexy, exotic, temperamental, and rather wild-everything that Katie was not. Nick and Olivia began an affair almost at once. Nick knew, even while he was “in lust” with Olivia, that he had no intention of dropping Katie for her. Katie was the person he wanted to marry someday, and Olivia was merely the person with whom he wanted to do unprintable things right now. Therefore he took great care to avoid making Katie suspicious, and he saw Olivia only on the sly, when Katie thought he was studying or out with his friends.
In fact, no one knows Nick’s dirty little secret except for Linda and Omar, mutual friends of Nick’s and Katie’s who saw Nick and Olivia embracing passionately under a tree. Linda and Omar argue about whether or not to tell Katie what’s going on. (They don’t know Olivia, and they feel no loyalty to her). Omar thinks it’s none of their business; perhaps Katie already knows about it and has decided to ignore the affair until it blows over. “We’ll just embarrass them both if we tell her what we saw,” he says. “And maybe this is something Nick just needs to get out of his system.”
Linda disagrees. “He has no right to treat Katie like this! When I see Katie with Nick, I’m sure she doesn’t know. And she would never forgive us if she found out that we knew and didn’t tell her.”
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XXI. Work in groups. Discuss the following thesis using the instructions given below.
Thesis: In a battle all you need to make you fight is a little hot blood and the knowledge that it’s more dangerous to lose than to win.
(Bernard Shaw “Man and Superman”)
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