A tale of tragedy!

[Sculli]

There is this married couple, the woman has a high paying exec job that commands 65 hour work weeks and frequent travel. The man works too, but is often home alone.

As time goes by the man meets another woman at the grocery store, they become lovers without the man's spouse knowing about it.

One morning the man's cell rings, his wife is returning early from a business trip. The problem is, the man is in the lovers bed, half way across town.

The man rushes to grab his things, in order to get home he must cross a river. Unfortunately there is a Mad Man on the only bridge that leads across. That Mad Man is shooting to kill everyone who tries to cross the bridge.

The husband decides to give the ferry that is a few miles upstream a try. The Ferry Operator wants $30 for the passage. The husband doesn't have the cash, and the Ferry Operator says no go.

The husband calls his lover and asks her to lend him $30 so he can get home in time before the wife gets home. The lover refuses.

The husband then drives to the house of a friend of many years. Confesses to the friend, and asks for $30 so he can get home in time. The friend refuses to front the cash and instead throws the husband out because he can not stand to be in the presence of such a dispicable person.

The husband returns to the ferry operator, explaining his whole situation, and everything he tried to get the $30. He offers to leave his watch (worth several hundred dollars) behind and return with cash later. The ferry operator refuses.

The husband then returns to the bridge and speeds across.
The Mad Max fatally shoots the husband.

Which is the greatest tragedy in this story, and in which order are people to blame for what happened?

 

[Alyada]

I'm not exactly sure, Sculli.

On one hand what the man did was wrong. Even if your wife has a demanding work schedual, he did marry her. It kind of goes without saying that cheating is a no-go. There are always options if the man is feeling left out of a social loop and is unhappy with his sex life. Communication would be key. If you have a problem with a marriage or relationship, you communicate and express your problems to the other party and try to work out a solution. If they can't agree... there is always divorce. Not the most sound reason, but statistically 1 in every 2 marriages fails so it wouldn't be out of the ordinary.

Aside from the husband, could we blame the wife? I think not. Some people are career orientated, and if she's willing to work the 65 hour work week then she must love her job.. or love the cash flow. Regardless, she probably did not sense a problem from the man and continued life as it went.

The mad-man? Well, he did murder the husband in the first place so I'm sure we could blame him for the tragedy on a surface level. He did kill another person and without him life would've went on. However, the husband and wife were living a lie and it would've probably surfaced eventually.

The best friend? Hm. This is a toughy. If it were me I probably would've kicked him out too. It's wrong to cheat on anyone. Period.

The ferry operator is just doing his job. Can't blame him for that. People say they will blame me for an accidental death in the case of their cell phone not working. I say (in my mind, of course): "Your dead. What are you going to do about it?"

The lover could also be blamed, but we need to know if she is aware of the cheating taking place. Sometimes it's a simple mistake. Though if she did, it's her fault too. You don't help someone cheat on someone else, even if you are getting pen0r for it.

Morale: CHEATING IS WRONG. YOU WILL DIE.

Tragedy: I don't see the tragedy. The man got what was coming to him.

 

[Kahlaan]

I dont understand the huge hurry to get home. Cant he just tell her he stepped out perhaps to the grocery store, visiting with a friend or to a florist to pick her up some flowers? (and then make sure he really does stop to get flowers) Is he not allowed to leave his house while she is out of town? I understand he might want to be home for her when she gets there but not to the degree he would go through all that. And how is it a grown man, especially with a wife who works 60+ hours a week can not come up with $30? No debit or credit cards?
The only people to blame here are the man and the shooter. Nobody else was obligated to give him money.

 

[Mokk]

The tragedy greatest is the man couldn't be honest when confronted with the certainty he was going to be caught so many times without simply coming clean and taking the heat.

Everything leading up to his death and the event of his death was to subvert the truth at all costs when coming clean wouldn't have wrecked his marriage anymore than he already had.

Course .. that's just what i got out of it.

The wife can't be held accountable and is moreso the victim.

The friend, while some might say he was being to morally convicted, can't be held accountable for the husbands actions.

The ferry operator has higher people to answer to than himself when it comes to his cash income for the use of the ferry, surely. If not then he's in a catch 22 on accountability in a fiscal sense for the cost of running the ferry vs wether or not the husband would have come back to pay, you can't pay for gas for yer boat with a watch.

And the madman is simply that, a madman. In the wrong place at the wrong time subjectively for the husband.

What psych book did this come out of?

 

[Sculli]

It was actually an in-class excersise in a human relations class. Six people per group, and we had to agree on what the greatest tragedy was and who was to blame in which order.

I convinced the group I was in that the by far greatest tragedy was that the man didn't have life insurance.

 

[Mokk]

It was actually an in-class excersise in a human relations class. Six people per group, and we had to agree on what the greatest tragedy was and who was to blame in which order.

I convinced the group I was in that the by far greatest tragedy was that the man didn't have life insurance.

Lmao, touche.

 

[Shaunessy]

Well if you have a cell phone, a job, married to a woman with a high powered exec position, a car.....and no atm card.....hmmm well then he is greatest tragedy in the story.

 

[Anttaru]

[quote="Sculli]"Which is the greatest tragedy in this story, and in which order are people to blame for what happened?[/quote]

[Greatest tragedy in this story is the husbands death.]

-Physically and mentally, death is the highest price anyone can possibly pay.


[Order of blame i would say]

1. Husband: He knew there was a mad man killing people on the bridge, and when he failed to find a way around it, he settled to risk his life by attempting to cross the bridge and ended up getting killed. If he was smarter, he could have got off by lying or geting caught. That is a far less tragic matter than death.

2. Mad Man: He's killing everyone he sees, and the husband was aware of this. The Mad man is to blame for the husbands murder yes, the husband on the other hand was aware that this was most likely to happen. Husband even tried to avoid it at first.

---

3.As for the Lover, the Friend, and the Ferry Operator.

Who would have thought the husband would have been so dumb as to try to cross the bridge while the mad man was there.

-The Friend: Has a distaste for the Husbands ways, and refuses to give $30 dollars, which in a way would contribute to what the friend dispises in the first place. The Friend not lending the money is the husbands doing.

-The Lover: As soon as the wife comes home, the husband leaves the lovers bed. Of coarse this will upset the lover, her choosing not to lend $30 to the Husband is pretty much the husbands doing again.

-Ferry Operator: Yes he's heard the story, but this dosn't mean he would assume the husband would go get himself killed. If the Operator had the power to see the future, garunteed the operator would be in the top 3 to blame.

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4. [And as for the wife]

She's clean, she's a hard working woman, and being just that does not mean she planed for her relationship with her husband to crack. She may or may not find another husband, due to her work. It's up to her to look for one if not.

If she was cheating too, it would not make a difference as to what happened to her departed husband.

 

[Bigboy]

I convinced the group I was in that the by far greatest tragedy was that the man didn't have life insurance.

So true, and she would have gotten double indemnity on that for sure. Not quite an accident, but still qualiffied for the accidental death reward.

 

[Darkdante]

Greatest tragedy is that the wife will not know the "truth" about her husband.

There really is no one to blame but the husband. You don't like your marraige? Get a divorce.

 

[Sculli]

I was also able to convince the group I was in that the greatest tragedy was that the man didn't tell his wife that things are not going too well. Basically I am with Alyada saying that the lack of communication is the greatest tragedy.

We were also the only group who only blamed the husband, and no one else. The rationale was that if the husband hadn't done what he did in the first place, none of the other stuff would have happened.