Good, Evil, Or Gray: The Modern Perspective

Every choice becomes a consequence whether it is good or evil, and every consequence can serve a different light in a situation. As a society in an age of technology and social media, we hear everybody's story, see everybody’s struggle, and feel everybody’s pain, based on events, actions, and words. Being an African-American female, I may be judged based on the color of my skin because sometimes people can have a tendency to hurt others in a way to give themselves power, so,“What truly defines a person’s nature or state if we do not go by what we already know or think we know? The answer lies in the ability to understand their intentions towards us and the world. Good, evil, or gray areas are a part of everybody’s lives as we question life itself. Writing about experiences that have been shown on television or in a movie, discussed on the radio or broadcast on social media, shows how a person can be truly good, truly evil, or fall in between the two in the gray area.

The term flight or fight is a response that represents the choices that our ancient ancestors had when faced with danger in their environment (Cherry par. 2). In my opinion, flight vs. fight is a response that is most likely to happen around the world. Everything, Everything is one prime example of how gray areas can be seen. The film is about how a teenage girl, Maddy, was curious about the world and imagined how it could be, but due to her illness, severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), her mother holds her in the house all day and all night in order to protect her. As the film continues, she meets a boy next door, Olly, and ends up falling in love with him. They soon realized with the connection they formed with each other that the love they have is worthy of risking her life to explore the world with him. Maddy doesn't spend time being sorry for herself. She realizes she should not let that deter her from pursuing her goals and being optimistic even though her condition has some limitations. Maddy also has a great relationship with her mom because she is truly honest with her. Then things started to change over time due to the doctor’s discovery. Maddy finds out that she never had a disease, and her mother just lied to her after her brother and father died, so she wouldn't be alone. Maddy’s love life tumbles out of control after she visits the hospital. Olly decides to move far away from Maddy to New York City. However, Maddy buys a plane ticket and flies to New York, and she meets him in an old book store and eventually forgave each other. We would think that Maddy is disregarding her mother’s wishes, but in the midst of the fog she truly finds out herself by experiencing the real world. Her mother isn’t an evil person for lying to her the whole time about having a disease. She did what any other mother would do to keep her family alive at any means. Everything, Everything demonstrates how gray areas apply in movies or televisions to portray different viewpoints that are not good or evil. In every situation, we either should fight or escape, the physiological and psychological reaction to stress enables the body to react to the danger in either situation (Cherry par. 2). What we see in a movie or television embarks on how we handle certain circumstances when under pressure.

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Since flight vs. fight is also discussed on radios in today’s world, biracial man, Colin Kaepernick was an NFL player who took a knee during the national anthem. He felt that the country’s treatment of racial minorities was unfair towards African Americans and other races. Kaepernick proclaims, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.” (ESPN. com News Services par. 2).There are always two sides to every argument because many people may agree with him and many people may disagree with him. So from people who support Kaepernick, he is doing the right thing because he is standing up for injustices such as police brutality and people of different races committing the same crimes but getting different sentences. Then from the other point of view, it is disrespectful to kneel because they should stand tall and respect their country, and even if they do disagree with the things going on in the country, they should just get out; the national anthem is not the place to make that kind of protest. Kapernick sacrificed his entire career and decided to be more active and engaged in more civil rights for people of color. Many players such as LeBron James, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and WNBA players use their platforms to set a status by raising awareness across the world on issues that affect their way of living and even affect other people’s way of living. Kaepernick’s situation proves how a gray area itself is where something can be right or wrong depending on our point of view. His strong feelings about standing for what is right comes with commitment and determination which strives others to stand for what is right in their eyes.

Moreover, social media plays a big part in our society such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Celebrity, Kim Kardashian West made a major impact on Cyntoia Brown that changed her life forever. Brown is a thirty-two year old woman who looks back on how life has taken a turn for the worse over one decision. Looking back on her earlier years, she was a sixteen year old teenager who had been a victim of prostitution. Brown was a troublesome teen that was in and out of juvenile detention center due to her parents not being in her life as they should be. She was living out of a room at a motel in South Nashville at the age of sixteen and at the time was seeing a twenty four year old drug dealer known as “Cut Throat.” Cut Throat would often send Brown onto the streets of Nashville to make extra money to support their lives, offering sexual favours. She experienced numerous amounts of abuse and Brown states, “I was beaten down after being raped by several men and saw “Cut Throat” as the Clyde to her Bonnie.”(Iati par. 10). On the night of August 6, 2004, Brown met a man, Johnny Allen who was a real estate agent at Sonics in Nashville. He asked her for her pleasure and then she went to his place with him. As the night proceeds on, Allen and Brown engage in small talk which eventually leads up to the bedroom. While laying on the bed naked, Brown suffered many years of abuse and was a sex trafficker who eventually shoots Allen in the head killing him instantly; she robs him during the process as well. After her arrest, she told investigators during the altercation she feared for her life and claimed self-defense in the murder. Brown was found guilty after the trial and was sentenced to life in prison. Seeing her story broadcast all over social media drew many celebrities’ attention towards her case, especially Kim Kardashian West. With her position, she has the ability to help Brown in which she does. West hires a top-notch lawyer to defend Brown in her case. Governor Haslam granted clemency for Brown because he saw that the case was cruel. Cyntoia Brown is now a free woman with strong deeds trying to help out other women in the same situation. Brown states, “Writing down her experiences brought her back to difficult moments and reminded her that she had not fully healed from them.” (Iati par.13). She killed Allen in order to stop the abuse happening to her, but was she really a bad person for killing someone in order to defend herself? She was considered evil for murder back then. However, her situation seems to be a gray area because what she did was not necessarily evil, she did what she felt like she had to do in regards to protect herself.

In conclusion, flight vs. fight experiences are all around us even if it is on television or movies, discuss on radios, or even broadcast on social media. I think everything in the world is a gray area. There are never any specific laws or restrictions that can keep us from doing the right thing, or us from doing the wrong things. It almost always comes down to personal judgment. Looking at life through a black and white filter, our vision and point of view will be restricted from others effective forms of thinking or moral perceptions. Consider all possibilities, do not restrict the ability to do or see new things.