The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

This is my reflection on the short story we read for class. In the story we can see that they author is trying to portray how society justifies happiness with the misery of some others. The author shows how even in a somehow perfect society, their is always suffering on the inside. I believe the author is trying to express her opinion on how suffering is an unavoidable part of this world, and there are no perfect societies. She also expresses how there is another option besides leaving the community, and that is to stand up and speak out against the community. But that would only be possible if someone had the courage to stand up to society and become a leader against such crimes. It is tough for someone to come up with that amount of courage, as we can see from the story that no one has ever stood up to the society. 

A present day example would be the Sierra Leone Conflict diamond struggle of the 1990's and early 2000's, where hundreds of thousands of people went through a terrible civil war for the control of the countries plentiful diamond fields. These diamonds were used as fuel for the war effort by being traded to supply capital to the rebel forces to overthrow the government. During this time, it was estimated that 30-40% of the worlds diamonds were conflict diamonds. So when a rich couple in the United States had a beautiful wedding and ring, tens to hundreds of people could of been killed for that diamond. It is a paradox the suffering that goes through to attain these diamonds and the beauty of them afterward.