Revised: Gulit in Omelas?

Having read Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" I have come to question the concept of guilt. Is it truly possible for one to feel constant guilt about the misery of others? Personally, I don't believe it is. Some people think that guilt stays in the back of your mind nagging at you. However, guilt is such a strong feeling that it can't stay locked up in the back of one’s mind. Guilt washes over people and engulfs them like a tidal wave so it cannot simply remain in a confined space. For example, when I’m watching TV and a commercial comes on about children in Africa I feel guilty. I feel horrible about sitting there with all my privileges while someone in the world is striving for a drop of water. However, that guilt is not constantly present with me. I get preoccupied with other things and forget about whatever was troubling me a moment ago. Out of sight out of mind. I know that it sounds horrible but it’s true, or at least in my case. Other people rationalize their minds until the guilt is expelled. As Le Guin mentions there is no guilt in Omelas. The people that come to meet the child either walk away from Omeals or cope with the mistreatment of the child. They find multiple ways to justify what they are doing. Some people reassure themselves that they are doing what is best for the community as a whole. Others dehumanize the child by calling it primitive and imbecile, questioning its ability to feel joy. These are simply excuses used to eliminate the guilt that they feel for the child. Many of us use this technique when we feel guilty about something. We would find excuses to justify any type of behaviour. Our justification of this behaviour allows us to not feel any guilt. For instance, when I am walking downtown with my friends we often pass by the homeless people. Although unspoken we all feel guilty about having a home when others do not. We may cope with this by giving the person some money or by simply walking past. Those that give money then feel better about having things that others don’t. In their minds they have done what they could and thus the guilt is expelled. By giving the money they feel like they have helped this person and that is all that is required of them. However, it is not as if they have given this person an actual home or even provided enough money for an actual meal. In this way they pacify their feeling of guilt. Another option is to just simply walk past, which many people do. These people typically believe that if they gave money the person would just spend it on drugs. In addition, they may believe that the person obviously did something wrong which caused them to lose their home. My parents and some of my friends often take this approach; they believe that the person must be a drug addict. In this way they believe that they do not need to feel guilt at the misery of this person. The idea that humans are continuously dismissing guilt may not be true for some. There may be some people who have guilt continuously festering in their minds. Guilt may be always present in the mind however, it may change forms in order for us not to recognize it. This may also apply to other emotions. Are humans always happy but they are only expressing it at appropriate times? Perhaps we always have guilt but it is hidden and thus we do not recognize it. We may only experience the guilt when the time is right. In this way it is possible for guilt to always be present with us and therefore it is able to surface rapidly when we encounter a situation where guilt is appropriate. Our brain expels guilt no matter what. It is an unpleasant emotion and we do whatever is necessary to get rid of it. No one can constantly feel an unpleasant emotion such as guilt.