The Lottery

      Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" concerns itself with the concept that it can be acceptable to require the individual to sacrifice for the greater good. A quote I found for evidence that this theme is present in the short story is "lottery in June, corn be heavy soon."
      This theme is present in almost every book and story I find. Movies like "The Purge" and "The Hunger Games" portray this undoubtedly. but in other shows, it is more subtly put in scenes where someone must stay behind so that others can live. just a few of numerous examples: a person is hanging off an edge holding on for his/her life, and another person is grabbing on to that persons feet also hanging on for their life. 2 or more people running from zombies, and they can't outrun the zombies, so one person shoots another person to keep the zombies preoccupied allowing at least 1 person to live instead of no one.
      An example of this theme  in families/schools/neighborhoods would be if a family is struggling financially, a father or mother might work extra hours, sacrificing their time, to provide for their family. If a student isn't fully understanding the material, a teacher might stay afterschool, sacrificing their time they could be spending with family or some sort, to help the student. And finally, if a house is hosting a BBQ, and they run out of ketchup, a neighbor could hand over their own ketchup.
      the comparison between my examples for school/pop culture/families/neighborhood and the short story, is a person or a group of people must sacrifice something so that someone or a group of other people can benefit from it. the difference is that doing a good deed such as giving a neighbor ketchup, doesn't overly burden the person/people sacrificing; the neighbor can also do a good deed back in return, making things fair. where as in the short story, sacrificing your life is a detrimental to that person and his/her family/friends; and it's nothing that can be repaid.