What does Cat think about this?

Just outside of the Natural Science Museum yesterday, I saw monuments of the great smilodon fatais (Saber-toothed cat), where it stood it was carved in a large stone that was around 7 feet in height to demonstrate how big the cat really was. Of course, the statue wasn't an exact replica of the saber-toothed cat. The real cat was actually 1.5 times bigger than the statue itself. At that point, it really amazed me because I already thought it was big. Just to the right of it were dino tracks collected from the bed of Paluxy Creek, which is about 5 miles northwest of Glen Rose, Somervell County, TX. What the tracks had were consecutive foot prints of a sauropod dinosaur and three-toed theropod dinosaur. Once I saw the tracks, I many things spontaneously popped into my mind. Questions like, if the foot prints where that big, how big would they actually be? Or maybe the question of was the sauropod running away from the theropod and why? This sparked curiosity in me and left me wanting to know more. Not only were these objects displayed, information about them were displayed in detail as well.

When I went into the first floor, I encountered a fragment of a Tyrannosaurus' fossil. Found in Brewster Country, Texas, it was really a sight to see and it also startled my spirit animal inside of me. The spirit of the cat within me was started at once and didn't want to go deeper into the process any further. Once the eyes of my spirit animal saw that remnants of the dead were all around us, all it wanted to do was get out because to him and to most other creatures, seeing bones usually means a bad thing. It meant that something horrible has happened. He felt the vibe and wanted to leave. At that point, my animal wasn't thinking as logic as I thought it would. I knew that us homo sapiens didn't cause the death of these dinosaurs, but my spirit cat thought otherwise. He thought that us homo sapiens did this for experimental purposes. I had to calm my spirit down. I had to connect with him and tell him that that wasn't the case. After I have done that, we explored deeper into the museum.

On the third floor, we encountered the great Texas Coastal Birds.  Displayed were some of the many coastal birds ranging from the distinct call of the Royal Tern the more infamous White Pelican. In the glass casing was the birds standing elegantly, but stuffed for display. Once again my power spirit was doubting the fact that us homo sapiens were't the bad guys. All around us, all he saw was homo sapiens going in and out, examining the coastal birds. He saw no one else, which lead him to think that us homo sapiens are liars. He actually thought that I lied to him. For a second, he didn't trust me. He was in a state of confusion. He didn't know why us homo sapiens would do this to other animals. To him, this was the cruelest act of all. "Why can't we just let them rest in peace?" he says.

Last, but not least was in the 4th floor, where research about how the Drosophila flies offer clues about how behavior evolves. Displayed was research on their stages of courtship between a Drosophila suzukii (male) and the Drosophila cyrtolom (female). This didn't spark anything within my spirit animal yet, but once he saw that actual Droosphila flies were pinned down and magnifying glasses were used to let us homo sapiens examine them, rage erupted from my spirit. Now he won't listen to anything I say. I was uncontrollable at this point. Now the spirit inside of me has concluded that us homo sapiens are the scientists that cause pain to animals. "Experimenting on animals is wrong," my spirit blurts out.

Based on our adventure, I learned that the relationship between animals and homo sapiens are far from being close to each other. What us homo sapiens think is a advancement and betterment to society, in the eyes of animals, they see of as the criminals that cause suffering and torture to their kind. In the eyes of my spirit animal, he believe that us homo sapiens are too curious and thinks we should just let things be; let natural selection and evolution take it's toll. Due to this adventure and due to the feelings I felt from my spirit cat, I believe that in the future, the relationship between animals and humans will only worsen if we don't put an end to our research.



Citations:

Images taken by author.

Emotion, Compassion, The Ethics of Care

Everyone has experienced the feeling of sympathy. If not, I don't believe your a human being then. When one feels sympathetic to another living human or creature, it is because they are "affected by... a feeling similar or corresponding to that of the other" person or living organism (402). This is not an emotion one can just spontaneously learn. This is a feature and aspect of life where one needs to experience that specific hardship themselves. If you haven't experienced the specific hardship, then you wouldn't know what it would feel like if you were in their shoes. Thus, since you've never experienced it, you wouldn't truly know that it feels for example, horrible. How do I know this? It is because I've experienced this myself. For an example, when one loses a really close loved one such as a family member or maybe that close friend you've had since your childhood years, one learns to feels a mixture of emotions that just wants to erupt out of your system and make you bawl until your eyes dry out. I lost my grandparents. I lost both of them in the same year. I still remember it very vividly. It really hurt. My emotions were unstable to say for at least a good week. It was the first time I've lost someone I truly loved, which brings me to my next point. When someone says their parents passed away, one would automatically say sorry. Sorry to me, can be said with or without emotion, but it is when one has experienced the same pain is when the sorry is really meant. That is when the sorry has true feeling because the speaker truly knows how the bearer feels.

Everything we do has to do with how we feel at the moment because "our emotional faculty guides out moment-to-moment decisions... [that can] enable or disable thought itself" (407). At the time my grandparents died, I was at the age of 12, just barely getting out of my 6th grade year in middle school. I have to say, the above statement is true because I know from personal experience. At that time, I was at a state of depression. My emotions were so strong, that it fended off my intuitive side of the brain. I was no longer logical. I didn't focus to my school work nor did I have a good appetite for anything. Basically, my emotions disabled me to live life to it's fullest. It was not until I got over my grandparents did I resume a normal lifestyle. Emotions are strong. Even will power won't be able to stand against it.

Citations:

The Anthology

http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/uploadedImages/Home/Articles/Social_Issues/Articles/Depression.jpg

http://fpvillages.com/images/Sympathy2-main_Full.jpg

The Suida-Manning Collection: Jacob Asking for Laban

The picture above illistates the famous Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione who’s the master of the Baroque in Genoa. The story you can attain from the oil canvas basically sets the story in Genoa, Italy where it shows Jacob asking some towns people in a small town Haran of the whereabouts of his uncle Laban.

            To me, the colors used above emphasized on dark colors, which to me, it represents negatively and disasters since that is what dark colors are usually associated with. Seeing that Giovanni personal horse is the only thing of bright color, where it was marked with vibrant white and golden hairs, I believe that emphasized on the elegance and great importance that the horse was to the owner. It shows the significance that the horse actually meant something to Benedetto and that it wasn’t just any horse.

            Due to the facial expression of one of the towns people as one seems to be amazed at the gold hairs on the horses tail and how the other man just seems to be dumbfounded by Benedetto’s questioning of where his uncle presently is, we can conclude that Haran is a place of poverty because even a horse could amaze the towns people. In addition to this, the clothes work by the towns people seem to be old, raggedy and somewhat torn.           

            You can tell that Giovanni is in a rush to find his uncle because the objects on the groud, such as vases and the knitted baskets seem to be knocked around as well as the animals present. One in particular is the calf in the oil canvas. The calf seems to be diving, trying to move out of the way. It is as if the calf’s motive was to dodge so that it won’t get hit.Since the calf and other animals seem to be flabbergasted on the event of almost being run overm we can tell that the calves, along with the other animals in the picture seem to be of less importance to humans. Instead of stopping to see and actually care about is the calf was okay, Benedetto bypasses such a task as he persists on asking the towns person on about where his uncle is.

            It seems the relationship the horse and him seem to be of greater importance than the regular town animals since he or she is kept well groomed. For example, the golden talk is neatly tried up. It can also be said that humans and animals have a commensalistic relationship because it seems as though humans just use the animals; for example, Benedetto using the horse to travel and get around.

Making a Difference in Poverty

In 2005, an estimated 18 million people died from poverty related causes. Fully one third of all human deaths could have been prevented by clean water, nourishing food, and access to basic medical care [7]. CORDIS, an international humanitarian organization, estimates that “the three major… diseases, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis” are the main causes of deaths in third world countries [1]. Making up an estimated up about “80%” of all fatal illnesses, they are the main causes of death amongst the poor [5]. I will put an end to the diseases and sicknesses of poverty in developing countries. To make such an astronomic task possible, I will reach out to others for the assistance and involvement in maintaining sanitation in society, and pursue to emphasize the need of adequate health care that should be provided with their working conditions.

[8]

As mentioned before, sanitation is one of the detrimental causes leading to diseases of poverty. It is alleged that “Unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation cause an estimated 80 percent of all diseases in the developing world” because water is essential to every living beings diet as to the little girl on the picture above [8]. I for one am motivated to put an end to such a ridiculous cause. “Water-related illnesses, most of which are preventable, are among the leading causes of death and disease… [and] roughly 40 percent of the world’s population – lack access to adequate sanitation services” because they just do not have the necessary monetary means [8]. There should be no reason for us to leave litter behind, whether it be that cheeseburger wrapper you just got from McDonald’s or a precipitate that accumulates over time, such as run off from the high doses of pesticides we drench our crops with to appease our perfection-demanding consumers. I want to see individuals involved with their society’s well being as a daily occurrence, not just as a secondary priority. I want to see everybody cast away his or her own generated litter the correct way, and one day see the percentage of recyclable goods thrown into a landfill drop from 80 to 0 percent. In order to make such a miraculous task achievable we should break it into smaller, more manageable steps. I will advocate the impact of how important sanitation is and will take this to the next level by getting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) involved. Before we head to the big stuff, I believe that if I can convince everyone to pick up at least a bag of trash every day, pollution earth will soon disappear completely. Lets assume that each bag of trash will account for a thousandth of a percent. If I were to pick up a single bag of trash everyday for a year, I will be able to decrease the pollution on earth, and thus increase the overall health of a region by approximately 0.36% annually. One person can barely make a staggering difference, but its when the general population gets involved does the wheel really start turning. In the picture below, an inmate at a Tennessee state penitentiary, and Gary Vowell, the local sheriff, work together to keep the planet a little cleaner. Together, we can make this happen. A trash bag a day will keep the pollution away as I would say. With the help of 3 people, we can decrease the effective percentage of unwanted litter by a full percent, so if the whole community joined in, we should have no problem achieving our desired standards in the next 10 years.

[10]

                                                                 

[2]

Health care for one is immensely related to the diseases of poverty. I know there is no way I can single handedly put this problem away and battle it off with the various tiers of judicial estates that are associated, but I know I can start small like joining the Peace Corps. With the help of the Peace Corps, avocation will be taken to the next step because I have a whole family of people that I can depend on for help, which will let me answer the question given by the image to the right. Yes, there is a cure for health care; we all have to work together. If a one advocator for better healthcare will make a difference, then a whole group of individuals trying to attain the same obtainable cause will make an immense impact. Even though the fight will be tough, I absolutely will not stop until every individual in developing countries is receiving the satisfactory health care they deserve. I wanted to make this happen in the next 5 years, but I know this will be impossible because of the monetary factor in the developing country’s governments. To make such a task possible, I, once again will advocate help from others. Something as simple as organizing a charity fund will allow the already developed countries like America to give a helping hand to the developing countries in need. “2% of people … hold 90% of the world’s wealth” and these people are usually in developed countries [4]. If these organized charities work out and say we collect a bare minimum of at least a thousand dollars a day from all over the world, by 3 years, around a million dollars will be accumulated, and by 30 years, it will be 10 million. In developing countries, such as Somalia, this sum is substantial and will impact many lives. It will cost the government an estimate of “$2.4 trillion” per year for health care, according to New York Times Magazine [3]. Even though this amount will only account for a hundredth thousandth of a percent every 30 years, my goal before my life ends is to try to the best of my ability and work above the standards to help attain enough to decrease the number of unvaccinated people by 1 percent. That’s just one person advocating for the cause. Once I get more people to lend a helping hand by donating small amounts of time or effort, such has making a website or holding a bake sale, a feat might be accomplished within my lifetime.

 Since “the pharmaceutical industry has invested almost nothing in research and development for these diseases,” I will make an impact by becoming a pharmacist within the next 6 years in the Pharm. D Program provided at The University of Texas at Austin [9]. Even though I know the science and math classes required for such a program will sometimes require motivation, I will be persistent at what I do because of how I was raised. Once I start a task, I always finish it, no matter what. Additionally, I want to become a pharmacist and am already motivated to do so for the betterment of my family’s future. Reading and writing are vital to my goals, because they are important mediums that send messages to other individuals, affecting them strongly by pathos or ethos, or simply straight up logic by logos. As part of my journey in life, I will have to learn many skills. My UGS writing course with Professor Bump will help me learn how to persuade readers in the timeless and elegant way that only the written word seems to hold.

Word count without quotations: 1,107

Word count with quotations: 1,210

Endnotes

[1] CORDIS. "Confronting the Major Communicable Diseases Linked to Poverty." February 03, 2010. http://cordis.europa.eu/lifescihealth/diseases/home.htm#top (accessed October 13, 2010).

[2] Denoto, Matt. "To Your Health." June 16, 2009. http://thegoldenspiral.org/tag/green-revolution/ (accessed October 15, 2010).

[3] Leonhardt, David. "How Much Does Health Care Cost You?." July 21, 2009. http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/how-much-does-health-care-cost-you/ (accessed October 14, 2010).

[4] Mind Body N Soul. "Two Percent Own Half the Worlds Wealth." http://www.mindbodynsoul.com/Mind-Power/two-percent-own-half-the-worlds-wealth.html (accessed October 14, 2010).

[5] Nicholas Eberstadt, The Poverty of "The Poverty Rate" (Washington, DC: The AEI Press, 2008), 78.

[6] Pattison, Neal. "2002 Drug Industry Profits: Hefty Pharmaceutical Company Margins Dwarf Other Industries." 2003.http://citizen.org/documents/Pharma_report.pdf (accessed October 13, 2010).

[7] Pogge, Thomas. "World Poverty and Human Rights." March 30, 2005. http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/resources/journal/19_1/symposium/5109/html (accessed October 14, 2010).

[8] Sparks, Charissa. "Reducing Poverty Through Water and Sanitation." October 3, 2010. http://mediaglobal.org/article/2010-10-03/reducing_poverty_through_water_and_sanitation (accessed October 15, 2010).

[9] Stevens, Philip. "Diseases of Poverty and the 10/90 Gap." November, 2004. http://www.who.int/intellectualproperty/submissions/InternationalPolicyNetwork.pdf (accessed October 13, 2010).

[10] Tift's Sheriffs. "Operation Clean Sweep A Clean Success." August 20, 2006. http://www.tiftsheriff.net/News/news2006.htm (accessed October 15, 2010).

My Personal View On Vivisection

I never knew what Vivisection was until I read this section of the anthology. For those of you who don't know, my personal definition would be the act of "experimentation [on animals]...for those who hope to find remedies for human ill[nesses]" (373). Who in their right mind would do such an awful thing? Animals are living things too. They have hearts that beat in unison like us. They have sense. They have families. They have feelings too. What makes it right for us to inflict suffering on animals, basically living things that are no different from us? We breathe the same air. We roam the same lands. Heck, the world would be different today if it weren't for animals. Every living animal has made an impact in history. We shouldn't be testing on live animals.

We all know that "the practice of vivisection will never be extended so as to include human subjects," which leads me to thinking even deeper into the crevices of this subject (382). I literally laid on my bed and pondered about this subject as I was diving into my afternoon nap. To me, that moment in time is the best time to think because your in calamity and solitude. Science shouldn't be the cause of suffering to others just for the sake of the advancement of our human race. That's just not right. Just because we're the elites of  hierarchy doesn't mean it gives us the right to impose such cruel acts. "Let us...do justice...[in] science" instead rather than hurt others in the process (385). In biology, this would be considered a parasitic relationship. One benefits while the other suffers. We don't need to do this for survival. I know for a fact that we could resort to other experiments such as in vitro ones, where cells in tests tubes are used in tests rather than a living animal.

When I think of us humans inflicting pain and "killing... animals in... inhumane manners... [for] experimental aims," I feel uncomfortable (388). I feel as though God has given us animals not for that reason. I feel God has given us animals for the reason of working to together, the reason of living together in peace and harmony. I can understand dissecting an already dead animal, but in vivisection, it is the "dissecting [of] a live animal" (388). How would you feel if I tied you up and cut open your chest plate just to see if your heart looks like? It is simple stuff like that, which makes me conjure up reasons to defend against the act of vivisection. What happen to God deciding who lives longer than others? "Nature...[is] no longer the wrath of...[the] lord" because we ourselves are making unnecessary changes ourselves (388). I believe vivisection should be put to an end. Julie C. felt a "mixture of guild, melancholy, and regret" when she brought mice into the euthanasia room (396). This is basically the feelings that all of us should feel if you kill a living thing, otherwise, your not human.



Citations:
The Anthology

Pictures:
http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/lba0001l.jpg
http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr111/SeaShepherds/Harp%20Seals/inhumane.jpg