<p>Topic from Kaplan SAT 2005
Directions: Consider carefully the following statement(s) and the assignment below it.
“A man walking down a crowded street noticed a dog lying by the side of the road that looked like it might be injured; but since everyone else just passed by, the man was satisfied to assume that the dog was fine. The next day he learned that the dog had been hit by a car and lay injured for two hours before a concerned man stopped and took it to the vet. The animal recovered, but the man never forgave himself for leaving it for someone else to help.”
- Narawhal Bherundi, Autobiography</p>
<p>Assignment: What is your view on individual responsibility in a situation in which many people could have reacted? In an essay, support your position by discussing an example (or examples) from literature, science and technology, the arts, current events, or your own experience or observation</p>
<p>“Everybody’s business is nobody’s business” is one of the most famous sayings in Vietnamese culture. This adage is said to have been originally stemmed from selfish persons in the obsolete society but it still rings true even in this day and age as people becoming more and more cold toward each other. However, in my view, this way of reacting is petty and one should act generously in such situations.
One of my high school teachers got a serious accident some years ago and my class had to propose three students to visit her. Unfortunately, virtually no one seemed to care. They continually declined because the time of the visit overlapped their strict schedule. As a result, we could not find all the three, therefore we have to draw lots instead. That teacher must have been lugubrious if she had known what happened that day. From my view, they obviously just want to pay attention to themselves, or may the lifestyle of this debauched society corrupt them. Their parents is another factor who always forced them to attend learning, and sole learning without giving any regard to other paltry stuff.
I remember seeing an allegory play called “Best friend” when I was still in elementary school in which there was a rabbit who had been trapped thus could not move. He told his two friends- a lion and a fox- to run away before the hunters come. The children who were seeing the play that day yelled loudly to the stage" Run! Run! Run!". The fox ran away there and then, yet the lion stayed to fight his friend back. At the end, the Lion was sadly killed but the rabbit had time to emancipate from the trap. </p>
<p>Seeing two clear examples above, you should then recognize that individual responsibility plays an important role in both situations. You can choose to get away, like the fox or my colleagues or to stand back and risk your life bravely like the lion. When somebody dies, people laugh, yet when some other’s dead, the world cry.</p>