The Impact Decision Making Has on the Society

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Moral decisions can be difficult to make if it goes against your beliefs. You could choose to either follow your orders or follow your instincts. The stories “Gregory” by Panos Ioannides and “The Day of the Last Rock Fight” by Joseph Whitehill, both have endings that results in a negative outcome; both the protagonists are conflicted whether they should be loyal to their leader or friend, or follow their instincts. The soldier from “Gregory” is conflicted to whether he has to kill Gregory or not, and Ronnie is in a situation where he has to make a decision to whether he should have reported his best friend Peter or not. These protagonists are negatively affected from the decisions they make. In “Gregory”, the soldier regrets killing “Gregory”, and in “The Day of the Last Rock Fight”, Ronnie is heavily burdened after making the decision not to tell the detective of how Gene Hanlon dies. Furthermore, both the stories portray how it can be difficult making decisions when you know that your decision could have a great impact on the society and yourself.
The stories “Gregory” and “The Day of the Last Rock Fight”, involves a theme that relates to the conflict a person has when they need to make decisions. In “Gregory”, the soldier has no problem to follow his leaders’ rules and kill people that are assigned to him. When it comes to Gregory, the situation is different because the soldier has a special bond with Gregory than any of the former prisoners. They both become close friends, and when the leader tells the soldier to kill Gregory, he feels guilty. In the story, it states “How the devil could you kill such a friend? Even though his name is Gregory and some people on his side killed one of ours, even though we had left wives and ch...

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...ory will hold guilt for the rest of his life from killing Gregory, and Ronnie goes through an emotional state where he needs help from professionals to help him overcome the guilt he has for lying to the sergeant.
Therefore, making one decision can have a huge impact on others. This is why it is important to think of the consequences that could occur before you make any decision. Both the soldier and Ronnie face challenges to make the decision whether they should be loyal to their leader or friend, or whether they should do the opposite. They later regret the decision they make and face the consequences that come along with it. Ronnie goes through an emotional state from lying to the sergeant, and the soldier feels guilty for killing Gregory. This is why you should think of others before you make any decision, and be loyal to those who you trust and think are right.

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