I learned a lot from "The Idea of a Local Economy." My personal favorite part of the essay is when Berry talks about the type of person you need to be in order to shop in a total economy. I thought their description was blunt and kind of funny at the same time. First time reading the essay I was very confused but after reading it a couple times I was able to catch on to what Berry was saying and the point trying to be made. I'm not a big economy person so I don't necessarily agree or disagree with what Barry wrote but one quote that stuck out to me was "The problems of pollution, species extinction, loss of wilderness, loss of farmland, loss of topsoil may still be ignored or scoffed at, but they are not denied." This particularly stuck out to me because it is so true, and goes along with what Mike was saying in class when talking about the new group he would like to make on campus. A lot of these problems are major problems in our country and people know they are deep down but still ignore them like they aren't there and I don't really know why. If we lose a species of an animal it messes with the whole food chain and then causes more species to die off. The loss of farmland affects our society because if farmers don't have land to grow then they can't grow crops and that puts a damper on our food chain and how we as humans eat and cook. So if I grabbed anything out of this essay I would have to say that paragraph and the paragraph following really hit me.
To me an issue that isn't discussed enough in our culture would be the use of chemotherapy on cancer patients. Growing up with a mom that had cancer my whole life up until the age of 12 I seen first hand what it does to a person. The patient suffers a lot undergoing chemotherapy and in the bigger scheme of things for no good reason. There is no guarantee that the chemotherapy will get rid of the patient's cancer, it just gives you a longer time to live. The point of chemotherapy is to kill the cancer cells, but chemotherapy kills cells at such a rapid pace that it also kills the patient undergoing its healthy cells too, which to me hurts the patient more than helps them. Also it causes many side effects that come with chemotherapy like not being able to eat and nausea for just a few examples. So in the end it really is a choice of preference and belief, but to me there has to be better ways out there to help cancer patients.
I liked how you pointed out that if we lose a species of animal we throw of the food chain, to the point of throwing off the ecological system. Valid and thoughtful. It is scary how if we ignore something it doesn't just go away but grows and blossoms into a terrible sight.
ReplyDeleteThe chemotherapy is brutal, my grandmother had breast cancer and went through it. She would drive herself to chemo and back because she didn't have enough strength to walk from her drive to her house after the treatment. Just so that she didn't inconvenience someone to have to wait on her timing. Her drive way was right beside the house, a mere seven feet from her door, and she didn't want to be considered weak.
What chemotherapy can do to someone body is awful, I can kind of relate my best friend growing ups, brother has had two different brain tumors and leukemia and has been though a ton of it chemotherapy, seeing what it did to him at the time was so sad, I've always thought there had to be some better way to cure him and everyone else in that situation.
ReplyDeleteI also liked how you connected losing a species of animal to the entire ecological system. Like Charlie said, it is so scary that we chose to completely ignore this. Humans are changing so many natural occurrences through industrialization and tearing down the forests and ruining the land, it's truly sad. Chemotherapy is an excruciating process. My Grandmother and Grandfather both went through years of chemotherapy and it took a massive toll on their body. I wish their was a better way, I hate seeing people suffer like that.
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate to your views on chemotherapy, the effects that it has to its recipients is absolutely terrible. My great aunt is going through it right now, and its tearing her down mentally and physically. It can only make me hope more for a better and more bearable alternative to chemotherapy, and the sooner the better!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on Chemotherapy. It is such an awful thing to see someone go through. Both of my great grandparents went through it and they seemed to be in pain. Hopefully in time there is a better way to heal those that have cancer.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on Chemotherapy. It is such an awful thing to see someone go through. Both of my great grandparents went through it and they seemed to be in pain. Hopefully in time there is a better way to heal those that have cancer.
ReplyDeleteI think that the topic of chemotherapy is under discussed because people are afraid to admit that it might cause more pain the cancer itself. I completely agree with you, watching it right in front of you will really show you how damaging it is. Not only does it physically drain everything out of the patient, but the mental status will be damaged as well as the families having to watch this transformation of their loved one undergoing chemo.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree on your viewpoint on chemotherapy. Also, there has been a small breakthrough in England where a child went through a completely untested procedure to get rid of his cancer cells, and the baby became completely cured. They are still looking into this, but I hope that really soon, we can give better options to people with cancer.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I am sorry for your mother. I personally have seen the affects of chemotherapy aswell, both on my grandfather and my sister. Luckily my sister was able to overcome breast cancer and after that I have grown my facial hair out every november for cancer awareness. It's devastating to see how chemotherapy actually destroys the human body when its treatment is meant to heal someone. Hopefully more technology will be developed in the future so that chemotherapy is not even an option.
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