The Alligator River Story

This story is about a woman named Abigail, who is desperate and in love. She wants the chance to be reunited with her lover, Gregory. The only thing that separates the two is an alligator filled river. When her friend, Ivan, refuses to help her across, she is then faced with a boat captain’s offer. In order for Captain Sinbad to help Abigail across the river she would first have to perform intercourse with hem. At first, Abigail refuses the offer but then decides to take the boat captain’s offer. Once Abigail is reunited with her lover, Gregory, she confesses her wrong doing. Gregory gives Abigail the boat and she is left heartbroken. She then tells her other friend, Slug, about what had happened. Being the compassionate friend, Slug beats Gregory brutally while Abigail watches while laughing.


The person that I would choose as number one is Gregory, the boyfriend. I respect him the most simply because of the way and manner that he handled Abigail cheating on him. There were so many other ways that the story could have portrayed him with anger. Instead, he simply refused her love and sent her back to the other side of the river. He did it with respect and good taste.


Abigail’s friend, Ivan, gets my number two on the respect scale. He did not play much of a roll in this story. Being a friend, I would have hoped that Ivan could have helped Abigail get across the river. When Abigail came up to him for help he simply did not want any part of it.
Slug gets third on the respect scale. I do not care how compassionate he was for Abigail. It does not give him the right to take it upon himself and beat anyone up because of Abigail’s broken heart. The fact that he did this knowing what she had done makes the situation even worse. When Abigail was laughing and cheering while Gregory was being beaten, Slug should have opened his eyes and realized that she did not really love Gregory in the first place.
Number four spot goes to Sinbad, the boat captain. This man does not deserve any respect. This whole situation that Sinbad started was what we call an "Indecent Proposal." The moment that he requested for Abigail to have sex with him before taking her across the river showed that he did not have respect for her. Some people may call this situation sexual harassment or prostitution.


Abigail reaches the five on my respect scale. Five may be higher on the number scale but it is the lowest on the respect scale. Abigail took me by surprise. When beginning with the story I felt sorry and desperate because all she wanted to do was get to the love of her life. She could not cross the river by a bridge because it was under construction, she could not swim across the river because of the alligators, and her friend turned her away for his own reason. When Captain Sinbad told her his price for taking her across the river, she should have stuck with her first answer, no. No matter how strong you declare your love, it does not exist if you are willing to have intercourse with another. Abigail cheated on the love of her life in order to get to the love of her life. It just does not make sense. If cheating was not enough for her, then she cheered when the love of her life was getting beat up. What kind of respect does she deserve?

Human Rights v. Majority Rule

I could probably be one of those people who is considered "riding the fence." Am I or am I not against abolishing discriminations in the work place based on a sexual preference? There are so many factors when making that claim. My thoughts are based on moral and social philosophy and that is why it is hard for me to say Yeah or Neh. The political aspect does not really play a role in this decision for me.


Morally, I feel that it is wrong to be gay. Some claim that people are born with the gay genes while some others are stating that it is a choice that people make. Everyone has their own attraction whether it is race, body build, gender or even as simple of hair color. I have chosen my preference. I have asked a close friend of mine, who happens to be gay, for his opinions on other couples that are straight. He cannot understand how we think our attractions are the only ones to have. My parents’ moral values were one of the reasons that has given me my opinion. I was raised with the thought that being gay was not acceptable. My church was an influence, also. The church never spoke of gays. It was one of those subjects that was never spoken of but everyone knew. Although morally, I think that being hay is wrong, I also know that this is only my opinion and preference.


Socially, I do not feel that gays should be discriminated when in the workforce. If people abided by the rules of most employers, conversations of personal lifestyles should not be brought in to work. Whether my examples include talking about what happened last night at home, what you are cooking of dinner or if you are gay. We should all be professionals in our careers. If you are or if you are not gay should not be a part of conversations. It reminds me of the saying "don’t ask, don’t tell." In my opinion, it should say "Just don’t ask."


I have asked myself how I would feel and react if a child of mine had a gay teacher and to be honest, I would have questions. Only my questions would be the same no matter who my child’s teacher was. I would want to know their credentials, how they perform in class, and if my child is getting a valuable education and such. When I first began this paper, I said that I was unsure of my decision but after thinking and rethinking my ideas, I have persuaded myself to be in favor of abolishing discrimination based on sexual preference in the workforce. Being gay in the in your chosen profession should not influence a negative opinion. If anything, it should be an example of how our country is slowly but surly doing away with diversity.