The quotationWe are the cause of our own obstacles,? by Meister Eckhart is very representative of how life is. The quotation means that the problems in one's life are caused by that person's actions. I partially belief this statement because I belief that yes, your actions affect you, they also affect other people as well, causing problems for them that they did not bring on themselves. If I decide to put a coin on a railroad track, when the train comes it will derail. Sure I may go to jail for my actions which shows that I brought the trouble to myself, but it also affects the people who were on the train. It was not their fault that I put the coin on the track and because of me, I possibly killed or hurt many people. In this example, I have caused some minor obstacles for myself, but have caused monumental obstacles for the people riding the train and also their family and relatives. Arthur Miller illustrates this interpretation of the quotation in All My Sons. In this play, Joe Keller ships some cracked cylinder heads during the war and they are placed in some planes. The planes crash and kill twenty-one men. Joe Keller does go to jail for a little but he is set free because he was not at the shop when the heads were shipped. Instead he had his partner, Steve Deever, send the cylinder heads and Joe stayed home to maintain an alibi. Steve, however, is punished much more severely. He was charged with the crime and was sent to prison because he was the actual one who gave the order. This shows how Joe Keller's actions didn't really effect him much. It affected all the ones who were killed and their families. It also affected Steve Deever and his family. In the process of punishing others with his actions, Joe also affected his son Larry. Larry couldn't belief what his father had done. To punish his father and make him see what he had done wrong, Larry kills himself. This action shows Joe the error in what he did.
