| Model Essays in EN 202 |
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Race to the Future Pam O’Harra The loud blast of a nuclear explosion, the destruction of our rain forests, and the simple, but yet very harmful items like insecticides, household cleaning supplies and complex medications, are all making a society destined for trouble. Some of these items we use every day, despite all the warnings on the bottles of the cleaners and side effects of the medications. The nuclear products and loss of the rain forest might not be happening in our back yard, but destruction like this can travel a long way, and it’s just a matter of time before we see the effects in our cities and towns. Have you ever wondered or asked why more and more diseases keep arising? Have you ever given thought to the fact that we may bring it on ourselves through greater technology? It may take a tragic experience in one’s family to ask the questions how did this happen, why did it happen, and who caused this to happen? Diseases keep arising, and so do more advanced technology and riskier experiments. I feel technology is important, but I also feel it should have limitations. We should try to be more aware of what is going on around us and try not to put ourselves and our children in any life threatening situations. I have had a personal experience just like that in my family. One cloudy summer day in July of 1988, we were told the shocking news that my cousin, Jamie, had been diagnosed with cancer. Jamie was a wife, a mother of two, and very outgoing. The saddest part of it all, was that she was only 31 years old. This deadly disease made the next and last year of her life very painful and frightening. We all remember vividly her lying in a hospital bed, holding on to a teddy bear and weeping because she was afraid of dying. The pain she was experiencing was fierce. She had a lot of sleepless nights and horror filled days. We all knew it was just a matter of time, and there was a sense of helplessness among family members. Almost one year to the day, Jamie died and had to leave her wonderful life and two beautiful children, ages 5 and 3 behind. We all still feel like it just happened yesterday. I have strong beliefs as to why it happened. Jamie had worked for ten years in a pacemaker factory that used high doses of radiation in their products. I myself think her death was attributed to environmental factors. It was shortly after her death that the plant closed down. They found that many people that were working there for any length of time, were, in fact becoming very ill. Some were just sick repeatedly, and a few were dying. Of course the owners of the plant were closing the place down for other reasons and would not take the blame for any mishaps. Not accepting blame for others misfortunes is very common in our society. Duff put it very nicely when he wrote, "Shame rarely lands on the shoulders of those who commit the transgressions: the corporate polluters, wife-beaters or keepers of apartheid, and all of us who disregard the life of another. We, of the postindustrial cultures of the West, are so convinced of our separateness, so numb to our own original pain, so bound to inflict upon others what we cannot feel (in the name of practicality, progress, even love) that we are incapable of accepting the shame and responsibility of our actions" (Duff, 1999, p.257). When are we going to start taking the blame for the mishaps and destruction that we ourselves as human beings are causing? When are we going to stop thinking up new experiments that are damaging to our environment and ourselves? We need to slow down a little and see what the long term effects are on a new item, instead of saying ten years down the line, yes this causes cancer, and this product causes lung disease and so on. Kat Duff believes "that illness occurs because those who commit crimes, such as corporate polluters, are numb to the pain they cause. They rationalize their crimes in the name of progress or practicality" (Feltner, 1999, p.283). Progress can be good, but I don’t think enough time is spent on the long-term effects that this advanced technology can bring us. So many times we think that what we are doing in our society is good for all and find out after several years down the line that illnesses and deaths could have been prevented. It may take more government money to research more in depth or maybe it might just take more time from those who are testing these products to find out exactly how detrimental these things are to our health. As human beings in this day and age, we are all pressed for time and money, but when it comes to prevention of illnesses that don’t need to happen in the first place, money and time shouldn’t be spared. Everywhere in the world, we have bacteria and sickness. All of this bacteria and sickness is just waiting to be released one way or another, and I feel we are opening the door. Preston explains about illness, "the viruses are on earth, hidden away in the rain forest, are being exposed by humans who are eating away and destroying the biosphere" (Feltner, 1999, p.284). I can’t say that all of it is our fault, but we sure do contribute a lot to the problems we all face every day. So, what do we need to do about it? First, we have to start questioning why our family members, who should be healthy, are suddenly contracting diseases such as cancer. We need to determine if what they were doing in their lives had anything to do with science or experimentation. Then start asking the people at the top why more precautions hadn’t been taken or why something this dangerous was even brought around us in the first place. There is a place for everyone in this society when it comes to taking action against things that are bad for us. We all have a voice and we need to start using it so we don’t slowly destroy the human population. References Duff, K., (1999). Towards an ecology of illness. In D.J. Hickey (Ed.), Figures of thought for college writers (pp.252-260). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. (Reprinted from Taos Review, 5, (Summer 1991), pp.30-43). Feltner, C., (1999). Illness as a result of destruction. In D.J. Hickey (Ed.), Figures of thought for college writers (pp.282-285). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.
Kretschman: Child Abuse | Gilkey: Religion |
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