Home Court Advantage

I have never really considered myself the typical Texas boy; my family is from Pennsylvania after all. Oh, how I “shamed [my] shallow and frail town.”[1] Growing up, I often found that I wasn’t interested in some of the things that the other guys in my grade were. Most of them bragged about their truck engines, their truck tires, how high they had jacked their truck, how loud their truck was—pretty much anything to do with trucks, they talked about. Meanwhile, I drove my ’96 Toyota Camry, got 30 miles to the gallon, and loved it. Most of the guys I knew would spend Friday nights going “muddin.” For those of you who don’t know what this is, I’m sure you won’t be surprised to find that it is pretty much self-explanatory. Essentially, to go “muddin” you and your closest friends drive either an ATV or a truck (here we go with the trucks again) through……wait for it…..mud. And get really dirty. Now you know what muddin’ is. And it was never really my thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuAO5QHQhbY&feature=related 

AHH, A GREAT EXAMPLE OF MUDDIN'. BE SURE TO LISTEN FOR THE GIRL SAYING "COME ON, YOU PUSSY!" AT THE END.

Finally, there was one more big difference between my peers and I.

            Unlike a lot of kids I knew in high school, I had never enjoyed hunting or fishing. In fact, up until about fifth grade, I never even really liked animals. I was definitely not a “little boy, full of joy,”[2]but a kid full of anxiety. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t like them as I feared them. ALL of them. If you can name it, I probably thought it was going to kill me. It didn’t matter how small they were. I was convinced that every dog, especially the one down the street, was intent on biting me, that every cat had razor sharp claws, and that every type of reptile would discover their inner T-Rex if I touched them. I constantly felt the “fear that a beast could appear out of nowhere—through a window—and snatch [me] away,”[3] much like a monster in the closet

GROWING UP, IT WASN'T MONSTERS I WAS AFRAID OF, BUT ANIMALS.

Don’t worry, I am much better now (though I still hate cats). However, I am sure that my previous paranoia of everything on four legs contributed to my distaste for the “sports” of hunting and fishing. This fact became pretty important once I started dating in high school.

            I basically had one girlfriend for the duration of my high school career, and her family was definitely a Texas family. Their living room was pretty much a shrine to dead animals: deer heads, ducks, and cow skins. 

BASICALLY WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND'S HOUSE LOOKED LIKE.

Her dad was a large man with broad shoulders, dip constantly in his mouth, and, of course, a truck. Despite our differences though, we all managed to get along really well. Yet, our differences were never more apparent than when I would accompany them on fishing trips.

            These fishing outings were always pretty awkward. For one, I hate fishing. Those days were probably the longest, most boring experiences of my life. For two, I am quite possibly the worst fisherman of all time. My official stat line up until this time: 1 fish caught, 6 broken lines, 13 lost bait, 0 fun had, and one scary experience.

            The last trip I went on with them was to Galveston in the Gulf of Mexico. For this particular trip, we got up before the sun did, tied a bucket of shrimp to our waists, and the proceeded to wade out into shoulder deep ocean water. I wasn’t exactly in my element. On top of that, right before we set out on our journey, Mr. Stetson (my girlfriend’s dad) turns to me and says “Just be sure to drag your feet. You don’t want to step on a sting ray and end up like Steve Erwin.” This, of course, made my enthusiasm for the trip go through the roof. Also, our expedition didn’t get much better, as I felt might happen. About two hours in, we were able to spot a shark fin in the distance. I found myself slowly backing away, with every brush against my leg causing a rise in my heart rate. Those shrimp around my waist weren’t exactly giving me a sense of security either. However, after many hours of waiting, I was able to catch something. Whatever it was, it felt big. I had a hard time just holding on to my pole. “I was scared. This thing did not feel like a fish at all. I knew, as I cranked on the reel, that I had hooked something powerful and hostile, something that did not want to be disturbed.”[4] Moments later, I heard my girlfriend’s younger brother say, “You got a baby shark! Alright!” “Oh no,” I thought.

THIS COULD HAVE BEEN ME, HAD I NOT BEEN SO FREAKED OUT.

With my line taught, nothing but stories from Shark Week going through my head, and trying to put on the bravest face I could muster, I managed to give the tiny shark enough time to break free and, ultimately, out of the vicinity of my legs. I have never been so glad to fail at something in my life. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfGvwCiaXTI

IMAGES LIKE THESE KEPT GOING THROUGH MY MIND.

But it was at that time that I really appreciated the power of animals, especially when they are in their natural habitat. When they have the home court advantage, we are no longer on top of the food chain, but rather just a potential meal like anything else.

---

[1] Gerard Hopkins, “The Sea and the Skylark,” X165

[2] William Blake, Spring, X141

[3] Stephen Harrigan, “The Tiger is God,” X151

[4] Stephen Harrigan, “Swamp Things,” X157

Okay, I’m done. I literally can’t and won’t write another word about animal rights. Seriously, no more. I can’t take it. It is causing me to suffer from compassion fatigue: “indifference towards the suffering of others or to charitable causes acting on their behalf, typically attributed to numbingly frequent appeals for assistance.”[1] 

KIND OF HOW I AM FEELING ABOUT ANIMAL RIGHTS AT THIS MOMENT. 

And animal topics have become numbingly frequent. I’m on the brink of just saying “screw it! Kill them all, for all I care.” Well, I guess that is a little extreme. I just feel like I am writing the same DB over and over and over and over. I don’t think any more needs to be said on the subject, at least not in the context of this class. 

ALSO, KIND OF HOW I AM FEELING RIGHT NOW. WELL, NOT EXACTLY, BUT YOU GET THE POINT.

All eighteen of us know “shall of the monstrous lion have no fear”[2] because we are on top of the food chain in today’s world, and with that position we should be more responsible. Also, I think for the majority of our class, our general attitude is “ Do I like animals? I eat them, so I suppose I must like them, some parts of them”[3]—and there is nothing wrong with having such an opinion, especially since none of us approve of how the animals that we consume are treated. Yes, we are compassionate understanding people, but that doesn't mean that we are going to stop eating meat or owning pets. Abstaining from meat is an act i definitely respect, but at the same thing I don't really believe it proves or helps anything. 

EATING MEAT DOES NOT MAKE SOMEONE A BAD PERSON OR INDICATE THAT THEY AREN'T COMPASSIONATE. 

Another thing I wanted to just get off my chest real quick is the problem I have with the argument that since God stated to Adam and Eve “Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of the heaven, and all living animals on the earth”[4], we are justified in treating animals as we please. This is just a bad argument, for after God discovers that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, he says “you shall crawl on your belly and eat dust the rest of your life.”[5] Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but I sure as hell don’t eat dust, and I definitely walk on both feet. Even if this statement isn’t meant to be taken literally, then neither should the other statement.

THERE ARE JUST SOME ARGUMENTS THAT I THINK THE BIBLE SHOULD BE LEFT OUT OF.

While I am not one-hundred percent sure all that I just said made much sense, it sure felt good to say it.

            While on the subject of the Bible, I guess I will go ahead and bring up some points that have bothered me about the whole creationist theory since I first heard it. I have never been able to understand why God created a “tree of the knowledge of good and evil [that Adam and Eve] are not to eat.”[6] Why even make the tree at all? I mean, was it absolutely necessary to have a tree in the Garden of Eden? I guess we will never know. 

---

[1] Definition of compassion fatigue, X42

[2] Virgil, “Eclogue IV,” X124

[3] J.M. Coetzee, “Disgrace,” X79

[4] God, “Genesis,” X115

[5] God, “Genesis,” X117

[6] God, “Genesis,” X115

"Time, a maniac scattering dust"-Alfred Tennyson

Throughout my first semester here at the University of Texas, my desire to become a surgeon steadily increased. The more I learned about the profession, the more people I consulted with, the more in depth my science classes went, the more certain I became that an operating room will one day be the place for me. To me, what is so exciting taking on such a calling is that it is a field that requires more than an intellectual mind. I can’t be some biology spewing, precision cutting, signature signing robot; being a surgeon requires that its practitioners “distinguish [themselves] from androids”[1] by being well-rounded individuals that possess emotional intelligence as well as a concrete set of moral values. 

I MUST BE ABLE TO BE MORE THAN A MACHINE--I MUST BE IRREPLACEABLE AND UNIQUE.

Hospitals “need whole people.”[2] It is a profession that actually necessitates one being a good person. To be a successful doctor, and to simply get into medical school, one must retain a strong sense of compassion for those in need of medical care. Hopefully, as I travel farther and farther down this professional path, my sense of compassion, and thus my entire motivation for becoming a surgeon, will grow proportionally with my ever-increasing knowledge of the field. Perhaps, if I am so lucky, my compassion will one day evolve into some for Ahisma: “the positive act of rendering service to others for eradicating their suffering”[3]. After all, what I hope will set myself apart from other doctors my willingness to “extend knowledge/experience of [my own] pain to other’s experience of pain”.[4] Another great inspiration for becoming a doctor is that my life’s work can be viewed as a sense of charity—I will spend my years helping people, not because of the money, not because of my own ego, but because I simply want to help. However, the fact that being a successful surgeon and receiving large paychecks come as a packaged deal will allow me to not only do charitable work, but give to charities or even create some type of scholarship as I plan to do one day. Yet, while these are all virtues that I need to hone in order to achieve my goal, I know that before I can become the type of doctor I want to be, before I can get into medical school, before I can graduate from college, before I even finish this semester—this week even—I must master the art of patience and its ethical applications.

            PATIENCE IS THE FIRST, AND MOST IMPORTANT, VIRTUE I MUST POSSESS IF I AM TO ACHIEVE MY GOALS. 

The old adage states that “patience is a virtue”—it is also a virtue that I don’t really possess or have great control over at this point in my life. Unfortunately for me, I am beginning to realize that it will be the most vital of all the virtues if I am to not only fulfill my goals, but become a better person. When I peer into my crystal ball, all that is now visible is the potential for twelve more years of school and apprenticeship. The only reservation I have about going through with my leadership vision is the fact that it will take so long to complete. I could be bald by the time my career takes its first few baby steps.

I WOULD RATHER AVOID LOOKING LIKE THIS BY THE TIME I START MY CAREER.

I am not sure if I, as my present self, would be able, or even willing, to put myself through this type of quasi-Chinese water torture, where the droplets are scientific information and the chair that bounds my arms and legs is school. I don’t want to have to put my life on hold—I want to be married, have a family, and be able to support them by the time I’m thirty (as opposed to making negative money). I “want to be happy and have a life outside of medicine.”[5] These are things that I want, and I don’t want to have to wait on my career for my desires, while also not wanting to sacrifice my dreams either. Obviously, this is a vocation that (ironically for me) asks its prospective members to be of the persistent, patient type. I believe that the only way I will be able to prepare myself for the daunting juggling act ahead is to start developing patience in my daily life, my daily routine.

            In my opinion, there are two forms of patience that play a heavy role in my life: short-term and long-term patience. While dealing with different time periods, and as a result different emotions, they affect me, or should I say don’t affect me enough, every day.

            My day usually begins with my shrill alarm going off—the gun alerting me to start my daily race. From the moment that god-awful noise hits my eardrum, my day becomes one giant fender bender, with things I have to do constantly running into other time slots. I have to brush my teeth, get dressed, wash my face, and be out the door in ten minutes so that I can make it to class on time, then go straight from that class to the cheap J2 cafeteria because it is only open for a limited period of time, eat quickly so that I can have enough time to read for my upcoming class, then go home and read some more, go back to J2 (it’s said that I schedule my day around a cafeteria’s hours, I know), do some homework, squeeze in some fun time, and then pass out so I can do it all over again. Whew. Just writing it out makes me feel anxious. Needless to say, when most or some or one of these activities takes too long, I tend to lose my cool. I just get a sense of being overwhelmed, because if one thing goes wrong, then so does the next, and the next, and one big domino effect later I am stressed. Even the smallest of things can bother me, like someone taking too long in the salad line or my printer running out of ink.

AH, THE SALAD BAR: A PLACE OF DAILY FRUSTRATION.

In the past, I struggled enduring these situations without feeling the weight of my backpack become exponentially heavier. However, I have tried to reduce such feelings of angst recently by through several different methods. When feelings of anxiety or anger begin to swell, I will now just close my eyes, take a few deep breaths (or a lot, depending on the causes sluggishness), and remember that the event that just transpired is out of my control. It happened, and there is nothing that I, nor any mountainous volume of frustration, can do to reverse the process. I know this sounds cheesy and even childish, but it is a technique that I have found to be quite effective.

STEPPING BACK FROM A SITUATION AND TAKING A DEEP BREATH REALLY HELPS ME KEEP THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE. 

Another technique that I have found myself using is when something goes wrong, I will begin to wonder what is the worst that can happen, and every time the outcome is less severe than I instinctively anticipated. I am (slowly) learning that “things that matter most (like my happiness and, friendships, and success) must never be at the mercy of things which matter least (like having to wait in line or look for a missing item).”[6]Through these processes I am learning that instilling a greater sense of patience within myself can be a simple task that will alleviate so much stress, anxiety, and their horrible offspring unhappiness from my life as long as I put forth the effort to control my feelings.

            Aside from day-to-day occurrences, I have grown to be rather impatient when I consider the life plan I have set out for myself. I have always bought into the idea that one must “begin with the end in mind”[7], but I struggle with not letting the thought of the end completely siege and take over my mind. Ever time I start enjoy one of my science classes, I always end up at the same thought that what I am currently learning will be of no use, other than to pass a test so that I can go take more classes so that I can take be judged some more so that I can be an operating zombie so that I can finally do what I have always wanted. It just seems so damn far down the road. I feel like I’m running in quicksand; and at the same time I can’t escape the sensation that everything has to be done now, and it has to be done to perfection. At the outset of this project, I began to truly consider how I plan on dealing with this predicament, for I know that if my disdain for waiting persists, I will never accomplish my goal. I want to look ahead so bad, even though all I ever see is a wall of work and time.

OCCASIONALLY I FEEL OVERWHELMED BY THE TASK IN FRONT OF ME.

I decided to talk to my father (who didn’t settle on a career until his late twenties) about my feelings on the future. It was decided that the best way to attack my patience problem was to sincerely live in the present moment and not concern myself with occurrences that are out of my control. I can’t worry about the biology quiz I failed or some entry-level exam that I will have to take in a couple of years. No—I must focus on the today, the now, the 11:22 P.M. While this has not been easy, my attempts at focusing on the moment have so far led to a much more relaxed me. All worrying about the distant future does is create the illusion that there is more to do than there actually is.

BEING MORE PATIENT WILL ALLOW ME TO FOCUS ON THE PRESENT MORE, WHILE ALSO MAKING IT MORE ENJOYABLE.

 I am realizing that my life won’t be ruined because of things like a bad grade and that I shouldn’t be thinking about when I want to start a family and how much money it will take to support them until the opportunity presents itself.

            I am finding that my renewed commitment to patience, to slowing down my life and narrowing my gazes into the future, has led to a much more enjoyable present life, a much brighter outlook on the future. I know that if I can continue on this rehabilitating path of deep breaths and short foresight, I will one day be able to accomplish my goal of becoming a surgeon, while appreciating (instead of dreading) the journey that takes me there.

           WORD COUNT: (WITH QUOTES)=1713. (WITHOUT QUOTES)=1631

---

[1] Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep; cited in Greg Garrard, “Ecocriticism,” E603B Course Anthology, (Spring 2009): X102.

[2] Gail Morrison; quoted in Sarah Cliff, “Well-Rounded Docs,” E603A Course Anthology, (Fall 2008): X328.

[3] Lawrence E. Sullivan, “Janism and Ecology,” E603B Course Anthology, (Spring 2009): X97.

[4] Greg Garrard, “Ecocriticism,” E603B Course Anthology, (Spring 2009): X98.

[5] Morrison, X328.

[6] Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (New York: Free Press, 1989), 146.

[7] Covey, 99.

PHOTOS

1. CYBORG, http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w98/AarghNed/cyborg.jpg

2. STEPPING STONE, http://adventurecenter.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/stepping-stones1.jpg

3. BALD MAN, http://www.iseebaldpeople.com/images/bald.jpg

4. SALAD BAR, http://www.cosmocafedc.com/images/salad_bar2-1_orty.jpg

5. DEEP BREATH, http://www.listenforjoy.com/art/large/deep-breath.jpg

6. WALL, http://www.ioca.org/galleryalbums/erie17jun03/25looking_up_lock_wall.jpg

7. NOW, http://www.secrets101.com/Sculptor-Users-Guide/herenow.gif

Humanities

Well, to start off, going into this DB I had no real idea of what animal humanities, let alone regular humanities were. However, thanks to a few quick key strokes and click of the mouse, I now know that the humanities are concerned with an education in the human condition, via subjects like language, literature, history, philosophy, and religion.

A HELPFUL CHART FOR UNDERSTANDING WHAT "HUMANITIES" ENCOMPASSES. AS A SIDE NOTE, IT RESEMBLES THE PLAN 2 CURRICULUM. 

So, by way of a simple word switch-a-roo, animal humanities must relate to the animal condition, and, to be honest, the present animal condition is not doing so hot.

            As we all have learned this school year, many animals (and nearly all that humans interact with) are locked up, domesticated, seen as entertainment, or slaughtered.

EVEN MANS BEST FRIENDS SUFFER.

Yet, people continue to consume meat at a very fast pace. Even in the far East, whose religions are much more environmentally conscience, there is meat consumption. This apparent disregard for other forms of life stems from various causes.

            One of these causes is religion and spirituality. “The emphasis in Judaism and Christianity on the transcendence of god above nature and the dominion of humans over nature has led to a devaluing of the natural world and a subsequent destruction of its resources for utilitarian ends."[1] Those influenced by the western religions aren’t really taught that animals should always be treated humanely. There are numerous occasions in the Bible where an animal is slaughtered or sacrificed.

THIS PICTURE DEPICTS THE BIBLICAL TALE OF THE JEWS APPLYING SHEEPS BLOOD ON THEIR DOOR DURING PASSOVER SO THAT THE ANGEL OF DEATH DID NOT MAKE A VISIT.

I guess the thought is that we were created in God’s image, so we must be the superior species, we must be the powerful ones, and thus these animals must be here for our own benefit. However, what gets lost in today’s society is that, while something may not be in God’s image, it is still a fruit of his labor, and consequently deserves to be treated respectfully. This leads to a loss of “responsibility of the higher for the lower.”[2] Janists have not forgotten this idea though. In fact, they are the exact opposite of the meat consuming world. They “[abstain] from causing suffering to any living thing, on the one hand, and…[render] service to others for eradicating their suffering, on the other hand.”[3] Another reason that humans claim to be the dominant species is our higher intelligence. Yet, interestingly enough, “a full grown horse or dog is beyond comparison a more rational, as well as a more conversational animal than an infant of a day or a week or even a month old.”[4] In fact, a new scientific study (which I found out from yahoo.com) has discovered that a humanly nursed chimp is actually more mentally developed than a human infant of the same age. And, of course, our superior intellect is no reason to eat a baby, so it can’t really be used to defend meat consumption.

            Another reason for the overwhelming obsession with meat is the fact that the majority of people don’t see how it is created. While our affinity for meat started thousands of years ago—“to the ancients it was very obviously something that contains blood, and blood very early on had a powerful mystical significance”[5]—it is currently a liking that has turned into twisted obsession. The truth of the matter is that if everyone had to kill their own animals that they raised and fed and bonded with, or simply witnessed someone else doing it, even if they “would kill [them] in a way that won’t hurt…do it carefully”[6], they would most likely happen upon the same revelation as Rick in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Rick realizes that he can’t kill the android Rachael, especially since they have gotten close.

WHILE ANIMALS WILL PROBABLY NEVER BE TREATED AS EQUALS, THEY SHOULD WITHOUT A DOUBT BE GIVEN BETTER TREATMENT.

Now that he views a single android as an equal, “[he] won’t be able to retire any more androids,”[7] for, in his mind, that would be the same as killing a human being.

---

[1] Lawrence Sullivan, “Janism and Ecology,” X94

[2] Lawrence Sullivan, “Janism and Ecology,” X96

[3] Lawrence Sullivan, “Janism and Ecology,” X97

[4] Greg Garrard, “Ecocriticism” X98

[5] “Heretic’s Feast,” X110

[6] Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 200

[7] Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 201

PHOTOS:

1. HUMANITIES GRAPH

http://www.lib.purdue.edu/hsse/facultyandstaff/bibliographers/tutorials/philosophy/philosophy_humanities.jpg

2. DOG IN CAGE http://www.lakotasong.com/peppy/peppytitle.jpg

3. BLOOD ON DOOR http://www.ordination.org/MCAC%20Backup/passover9.jpg

4. PROTESTER http://media.canada.com/idl/cahr/20060717/168663-64491.jpg

Comfortably Numb

This past winter break was pretty uneventful for me. For the majority of the time I was home, my old friends were usually away somewhere with their families and my parents were at work. So, needless to say, I was pretty bored. I ended spending quite a bit of time in front of a screen while sitting on some form of comfortable furniture (pathetic, I know). Doing nothing else but watching TV and playing video games was great for a few days; however, my mood soon went from relaxed to borderline depressed. My life, in those few weeks, had no purpose. Could those days I spent on the couch even be considered living, or was I merely “something that only pretends to be alive”[1]? 

 DURING MY TIME ON THE COUCH, I DON'T KNOW IF I WOULD EVEN CONSIDER MYSELF MORE THAN A PRIMITIVE HUMAN. I WAS ESSENTIALLY A VEGETABLE. A BORED, LAZY VEGETABLE. 

That time has led me to wonder whether or not we, as a civilized species, are more evolved than our predecessors—and I believe the answer, at least in an emotional sense, is no.

            The world as we know it in 2009 is very technologically advanced. Information on anything known to man is only a click away, entertainment can be found anywhere there are pixels, communication knows no boundaries, food is prepared for us, and air-conditioned shelter is hardly ever more than a few feet away. These advances have made human life easier, but not necessarily better. As our struggle for life’s necessities becomes more and more nonexistent, so goes our emotional interaction with the world. It is causing us “to be less than a full man”[2]—androids, perhaps. 

 WHILE WE HAVE EVOLVED IN THE SENSE OF INTELLIGENCE, WE HAVE DE-EVOLVED IN THE SENSE OF PURPOSE.

With these guarantees of human requirements and an increasing number of comforts, civilization is causing “a human laziness.”[3] We no longer “use [our] body and senses to the fullest”[4] because we no longer have to. Finding food, water, shelter, and companionship is no longer an issue, so our senses—our feelings and interactions with the world around us—have been dulled.

            Along with the deterioration of our feelings, our evolved way of life has de-evolved our sense of meaning. People now have to search for purpose, for a reason to wake up in the morning. There are days when you can wake up, do nothing, and there are no consequences. No one suffers, no one benefits, no one is impacted, no one cares. So, instead, we have created this framework of going to school and getting jobs, not completely to make money or help others, but to fill the void left by the fight for survival. Yet, these creations of ours seem to only complicate life and distract us from “birth, love, death; the sheer fact of being alive.”[5] 

OUR THIRST FOR PURPOSE CAN CONSUME US, THUS TAKING THE FOCUS OFF OF LIFE'S TRUE STORYLINE.

Rather than “[living] vastly in the present”[6], we often concern ourselves with the anticipation of the future or reminesce about the past because of the strength of these feelings.

            We may have developed physically and mentally, but there is not doubt that our lives are becoming comfortably numb.

           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkJNyQfAprY 

PINK FLOYD'S "COMFORTABLY NUMB": A SONG THAT DESCRIBES WHAT IT IS LIKE TO LIVE IN TODAY'S SOCIETY.

            Also, FYI, “Snakes move without limbs, and are like free penises.”[7]

 I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself.

 

---

[1] Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 141

[2] Gary Snyder, “Poetry and the Primitive: Notes on Poetry as an Ecological Survival Technique,” X52

[3] Gary Snyder, “Poetry and the Primitive: Notes on Poetry as an Ecological Survival Technique,” X52

[4] Gary Snyder, “Poetry and the Primitive: Notes on Poetry as an Ecological Survival Technique,” X51

[5] Gary Snyder, “Poetry and the Primitive: Notes on Poetry as an Ecological Survival Technique,” X49

[6] Gary Snyder, “Poetry and the Primitive: Notes on Poetry as an Ecological Survival Technique,” X49

[7] Gary Snyder, “Poetry and the Primitive: Notes on Poetry as an Ecological Survival Technique,” X50

PHOTOS:

[1] fatty watching tv, http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/04_02/fattv2404_468x312.jpg

[2] evolution?, http://technabob.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/insert_coin_evolution.jpg

[3] busy person, http://www.eduverse.org/images/busy_person.jpg

Boys Don't Cry

I am pretty positive about that I am an emotionally intelligent person. I cried the first time I saw The Notebook and I thought Legally Blonde was pretty entertaining. Yeah. There. I said it. What’re you going to do about it?

           I'VE GOT TO ADMIT, THIS MOVIE TUGGED SOME STRINGS.

So, I don’t think that I necessarily have a problem with being stoic or insensitive to the world around me. However, I believe our society actually encourages and puts pressure on its males to be emotionally retarded, if you will. It’s pretty simple: if you have something between your legs, you aren’t supposed to cry, you aren’t supposed to want to talk, you aren’t supposed to be concerned with too much outside of fixing things, mowing the lawn, drinking beer, having sex, and frantically yelling at the game on TV as if you were the head coach. If you don’t feel this way, then you get called the equivalent of not having something between your legs. As males, we are not meant to “harmonize head and heart,”[1], but rather heart and reproductive organ.

FROM A YOUNG AGE, THE IDEA OF NOT SHOWING EMOTION IS BRANDED ONTO MALES.

 A great example of a stereotypical male and his expected absence of compassion, that is “the feeling or emotion, when a person is moved by the suffering or distress of another, and by the desire to relieve it,”[2] is given in Philip Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. In the novel, the chickenhead Isidore must tell Mrs. Pilsen that her cat has died. Yet, Isidore tries to console the grieving Mrs. Pilsen by informing her that she can get an “exact electric duplicate of [her] cat…in which every detail of the old animal is faithfully repeated,”[3] and that such an opportunity exists is “fortunate.”[4] While she eventually takes Isidore’s offer, the Mrs. Pilsen was not consoled by Isidore’s way of communication. 

 MEN HAVE A REPUTATION FOR BEING INSENSITIVE AND NOT UNDERSTANDING.

That moment, in her time of grief, the last thing this woman probably wanted to talk about was getting a new robotic cat for her husband. Isidore’s misplaced words is just another example of men are generalized as being insensitive to women who “in general, feel both positive and negative emotions more strongly than do men.”[5] I think that because of our culture’s expectations of men to have such a limited emotional range, the story of Gary, the “intelligent, thoughtful, and a successful surgeon”[6] who was “emotionally flat, completely unresponsive to any and all shows of feeling.”[7] In his situation, I don’t think his enormous intelligence has somehow suppressed his emotional side (I don’t think any side of the brain is dominating the other), but he is emotionally limited by the standards of his sex.

            I believe this emphasis on being an uncompassionate male can contribute to the deterioration of one’s ethics. For any one male, what starts off as “boys don’t cry” can, with a few wrong turns, become “boys don’t feel”, which can, under the worst circumstances, morph into “boys don’t have compassion, empathy, or sympathy.” When one is told this from a very young age, the belief is like a disease that can’t be cured. Perhaps this is why there are ten times as many male murderers—people like David Lee Powell—as female.

PERHAPS POWELL WAS AFFECTED BY OUR SOCIETIES MALE STIGMA.

[1] Daniel Goleman, “Emotional Intelligence,” X61

[2] definition of compassion,X41

[3] Philip Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, 80

[4] Philip Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, 80

[5] Daniel Goleman, “Emotional Intelligence,” X62

[6] Daniel Goleman, “Emotional Intelligence,” X64

[7] Daniel Goleman, “Emotional Intelligence,” X64

PHOTOS:

1. The Notebook, http://www.reellifewisdom.com/files/images/notebook%203.jpg

2. Don't Cry, http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/showcase/submitted/images/gallery/118496133228393352770_1.jpg

3. Cartoon, http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/amc0711l.jpg

4. Powell, http://z.about.com/d/crime/1/0/r/k/powelld.jpg