Artist Statement

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Our Globe

about Disease

it's everywhere.

Mural Proposal

Our class team was going to create an environmentally-themed mural near the entrance of the school. Each group came up with an idea and pitched it to the class, following the proposal guidelines.

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SuperSheri to the Rescue!

I say:

I agree with Ishmael when he says we need to let other creatures survive and grow and evolve. Stop deforestation to let plants live. Conserve water to let sea animals live. Stop pollution to let air animals live. Stop urban development to let land animals live. But I also agree with Ishmael when he says, "As long as the people of your culture are convinced that the world belongs to them and that their divinely-appointed destiny is to conquer and rule it, then they are of course going to go on acting the way they've been acting for the past ten thousand years." (Quinn 249). No one will genuinely and sincerely do something if they don't believe in the cause. They have to want to do it, or at least see the reason why they should do it. You can't force people to do something properly otherwise. I've seen this firsthand when I'm working in a group and someone doesn't want to do a task he's been assigned. "You can't change these things with laws. You must change people's minds." (249). In changing someone's mind, we need to improve the Taker's impression of the Leaver lifestyle. And in doing that, we need to inspire them to become Leavers. "People need something positive to work for." "...people need more than to be scolded, more than to be made to feel stupid and guilty. They need more tha na vision of doom. they need a vision of the world and of themselves that inspires them." (244). So yes, stop pollution. Stop deforestation. Stop wasting water and stop constructing over natural land. But don't see it as "stopping", see it as "starting". Starting, inventing, a new way of civilized life that lets other creatures live.

How to Save the World

Ishmael says:

"...The story of Genesis must be reversed. First, Cain must stop murdering Abel." (Quinn 248). Meaning, the Takers must stop exterminating the Leavers, as they show "there is no one right way to live." To Takers, the Leaver life is horrible. They constantly struggle to survive, trying to live off the land (and, essentially, the gods) instead of growing their own food. Ishamael says this is nonsense, conditioning given by Mother Culture. "Far from scrabbling endlessly and desperately for food, hunter-gatherers are among the best-fed people on earth, and they manage this with only two or three hourse a day of what you would call work-which makes them among the most leisured people on earth as well." (220). The Leaver life is just as good, if not better, than the Taker lifestyle. Ishamael also says that we "must spit out the fruit of that forbidden tree. You must absolutely and forever relinquish the idea that you know who should live and who should die on this planet." (248). We must stop thinking that the world belongs to man. Humans do not have the same knowledge of the gods, therefore, we must stop trying to conquer and rule the world. Takers must follow the Leavers, taking their story's premise of man belongs to the world. "The creatures who act as though they belong to the world follow the peace-keeping law, and because they follow that law, they give the creatures around them a chance to grow toward whatever it's possible for them to become." (246). Ishamael says that to save the world, Takers must start living like Leavers. They must let other creatures live, by ceasing to destroy them.

QQC #4

Quote: "'...Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, but God takes perfect care of them. Don't you think he'll do the same for you?' In our culture the overwhelming answer to that question is, 'Hell no!'"

Question: Why do we still look towards God if we don't trust that He'll provide for us?

Comment: Earlier in the book, it was stated that humans look towards the gods because they know how we ought to live. Matters such as abortion, drugs, crime...we all reference our prophets when arguing them, because otherwise, we wouldn't know which side to take. We depend so much on our prophets in how we should live, and yet, we don't trust that they'll let us live in the first place. We're scared that if we depend on them for food, that if we don't grow our own and leave everything up to nature, we'll die. What exactly do we think is God's role in our lives, then? We follow Him and His teachings, believing He knows how we should live. He gives us a moral code to follow; that if we don't, we're considered "evil". The Takers know good and evil because of Him...we base our knowledge on God's tree...we get it from Him! God has so much influence on our lives, but we don't trust that He'll take care of us if we give our lives to Him. I find it slightly hypocritical. The Takers "take" their lives into their own hands, so the gods can't control them; and yet, we choose to follow them because we don't know what to do with our lives.

QQC #3

Quote: "The gambler who puts his last hundred on odd and watches the ball hop decisively into slot 18 will tell you he knew it was a losing bet the instance the chip left his hand. He knew it, felt it. But of course if it had taken one more hop and landed in 19, he would cheerfully admit that such presentiments often prove to be wrong." (Quinn 189)

Question: Do we always have to be right?

Comment: I think we do. From personal experience, I say we lie when we're wrong. Here's an example I've encountered many times: someone telling a story (real or fictional) gets a fact wrong, and someone else corrects them. The storyteller usually either says the inaccuracy was intentional (they meant to do it, therefore they didn't make a mistake), or make up an excuse for their failings to lessen the severity. It doesn't matter what the fact was or if it was significant; if you got it wrong, no matter how little it mattered, you'll try to fix it. In addition to always wanting to be right, we like others to be wrong. The phrase "I told you so!" is so commonplace when someone admits a mistake that was predicted. We were right, they were wrong, and we feel good about it. People of all ages experience this; from little kids to older adults, we like pointing out others flaws while highlighting our achievements. I guess it's because we feel that we're better than the one who failed. We're strong when we catch mistakes, weak when we make them. Making mistakes is a sign of weakness, which could explain why admitting them is seen as such an act of strength.