The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
In essence, this writing is a thought experiment in ethics, similar to the well-known trolley problem, masquerading as a melancholic short story. It poses a question: if you could make millions of people permanently happy on the condition that you also torture a single person, would you? Would the happiness of many justify the suffering of one?
When I first read this in 9th grade, I couldn’t answer these questions. For me, it was a hard question and, with the way it was presented, an emotional one. For some time, I kept thinking about this question long after reading The Ones Who Walk Away From The Omelas. Over the course of my ponderings, I would learn about utilitarianism and relevant philosophical theories (its variants, thought experiments to illuminate its shortcomings, utility monsters, etc.) This short story sparked my interest in moral philosophy.
Link to story: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/92625.The_Ones_Who_Walk_Away_from_Omelas
