Question 3

[kailync]

When Hammurabi was king of Babylon he developed a law code called the Hammurabi Code. This law code was the basis of the phrase “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. I believe that Hammurabi’s idea of justice was correct. If someone strikes another I believe that person has every right to strike back .If someone is provoked the person who has provoked him or her should have to learn the error of their ways. However, I believe the person who was struck or provoked first should only take revenge in a way that is equally as malicious as what they were dealt. In the novel Nineteen Minutes a boy by the name of Peter Houghton was teased and excluded all his life and one day he takes a stand. Peter kills 10 students at Sterling High the high school which he attends. I do not think this was a just revenge. I believe the worst thing you can do is take a human life. The phrase is an eye for an eye not an eye for a life. What Peter did was extremely wrong, there were other ways he could have taken revenge; other ways that would have made him come out to be the better person. What I don’t understand about Peter’s case is why no one tried to help him, nobody told the bullies to stop. When a person sees something that is morally wrong they should do something about it. Sadly, many people don’t, and unfortunately nobody tried to help Peter, or comfort him. The fact that nobody did anything might be the reason he snapped. To think that lives may have been saved if someone had tried to help him just completely blows my mind. I think it is a moral obligation to help or comfort someone who has been wronged.

[scness10]

I agree with you because I feel that if someone is teasing you, you shouldn’t just sit there and accept it. I believe you should stand up and defend yourself. If it happens to come down to hitting the person then so be it. If you don’t want to get punched then don’t bully anyone, as they say, “Treat those the way you would want to be treated.” People should think the next time they bully someone, how would you feel if you were getting bullied. And for Peter, maybe no one had the guts to stand up to the “cool” jocks and tell them to stop. Some one definitely should have tried to stop the bullies. Would you tell an older, popular jock to step off and mind their own business? A lot of people think if they do try to stop a bully than they are just going to get bullied.

[alexandranoel]

I agree with your opinion because even bullying shouldn't be tolerated, but if it does happen something should be done. I also agree that Peter's form of revenge was way too violent and blown out of proportion. If someone is bullied once, I think it is understandable that karma will take its place and being the bigger person will make that much stronger, without revenge. In Peter's case, he completely lost contol because something should have been done about this problem in kindergarten, when he started being bullied. If that was the case, it is true that all of the lives of people in the book would have been saved. I do not believe the shooting was Peter's fault at all, like you said something should have been done to stop all this.