Skies pink with bubbling royal clouds,
crisp bleak air fills her perished lungs.
Blond as a Barbie doll,
little does she know she has it all.
Full of numb misery,
she tries to keep busy.
Heat radiating, pulsing sweat,
unsure of what happens next.
Standing in full uniform, belonging to
the United States Government,
his heart longs for her.
Trying to escape,
she hides the promise ring,
deep in a dresser drawer meaning
everything.
She battles the emptiness of months
away from her sweetheart, yet never doubts
the inevitable of their life to come.
Surrounded by others identical to him,
marching in unity, becoming
immune to vicious demands,
He remembers why he's here:
a life without her would be no life at all.
To wake up with her in his arms,
to kiss, laugh, and explore could
never imprint him
with anyone else, but
her.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Life within the Mist of Art
Our
destiny is frequently met in the
very paths we take to avoid it.
~ Jean
de La Fontaine
All humans need and
desire contact with others. Relationships enhance the life experience
exponentially making a person’s life more fulfilling and fun; without them,
life is empty, lonely, and boring. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs,
social encounters are essential right after food and safety that keep humans
alive. Relationships are rewarding in many aspects, but they aren’t always
easy. The stories Eveline by James Joyce, Good Country People by Flannery O’Connor,
and the novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, all share
similar messages people should take into consideration with how they are
creating or building their own relationships with others. After reading and
analyzing these texts, I have discovered a common philosophical viewpoint:
trust issues and the fear of losing the image of an ideal life can affect our
relationships with others and increase the likelihood of loss.
It’s amazing how someone
taking a risk or giving into fear can affect a relationship by strengthening or
weakening it. For example, in James Joyce’s story, Eveline, the main
character is stuck living with her abusive father. After her mother and brother
have passed away, she is the only one living at home working: “She always gave
her entire wages– seven shillings – …but trouble was to get any money from her
father” (5). Her father never wants to risk losing Eveline, but more
importantly, he fears being alone. However, when a sailor named Frank comes
along, Eveline is approached with the opportunity to escape her hard life here.
He provides her with the chance to run off to Buenos Ayres[1]
in the hopes of creating a better life for herself… a better life than her
mother had had (4). The problem with this option is that once she leaves, she will
never be welcome to return. She fears she’d be the scandal of the town: “What
would they say of her in the Stores when they found out that she had run away
with a fellow?”(4). Nonetheless, she’s stuck with the risk of leaving the
security of home for what she thinks is her ideal image of life with Frank, or
staying where she is, living the miserable life her mother had lived. While she
considers her options in the story, she thinks to herself, “Home! She looked
around the room, reviewing all its familiar objects which she had dusted once a
week for so many years…Perhaps she would never see again those familiar objects
from which she had never dreamed of being divided” (4). Eveline wants to live
an adventurous life, yet she is scared to be separated from familiarity. It
seems that when one must make a decision, someone must always lose when an
arrangement needs to be made from two disparate options. In this story, Eveline
could either keep the relationship she has with her father, or taking the risk
of starting a new life with Frank.
Additionally, one who
desperately wants to be loved is vulnerable to prematurely trusting someone who
voices the words he/she longs to hear. When Eveline met Frank, he was the first
man to take interest in her. His words appealed to her desire to leave her
current life: “She was to go away with him by night-boat to be his wife and to
live with him in Buenos Ayres where he had a home waiting for her” (4). Before
Eveline laid out the consequences of leaving, she was all for this plan to take
her away from this distasteful life. Unfortunately, while waiting with Frank
near the boarding area for the ship, Eveline’s heart clenches and she is
reminded that she doesn’t know if she can trust leaving with the man who
persuaded her to get this far with his sweet words. The story states, "A
bell clanged upon her heart. She felt him seize her hand: "Come!" All
the seas of the world tumbled about her heart. He was drawing her into them: he
would drown her” (7). Reality hit her in the face for she didn’t really know
what was waiting for her at her potential destination. Up to this point, she
had the option of escaping the life she no longer wanted to live, yet something
held her back from boarding the ship to a new life with Frank. I can relate to
Eveline since I am also easily influenced by others’ ideas. Over time, I have
learned to step aside and weigh out the possibilities and my own priorities
before pursuing anything that could cause disturbance to my life.
In the same way, the
characters of Good Country People by Flannery O’Connor also fall into
the trap of trusting people who have a way with words. Hulga has been disabled
most of her life, and as a result has guarded herself by imprinting her mind
that she is useless, ugly, and alone. One day before dinner, a Bible salesman
tried persuading the Hopewells, Hulga’s family, into buying a Bible for the
parlor. When the salesman said “I got this heart condition. I may not live
long. When you know it’s something wrong with you and you might not live long,
well then, lady…” (194), Hulga was caught off guard and realized she wasn’t in
this alone… he had the same heart condition (194)! I think that Hulga, just
like everyone else who’s going through a difficult situation, felt grateful to
know that she wasn’t facing this battle alone; as a result, she did the
unimaginable by asking him to stay. To continue, the salesman stuck around
slowly using his words to manipulate her. He declared he loved her and
convinced her to show him where her wooden leg connects because it’s what makes
her different (199-200). When she agreed, O’Connor wrote, “It was like losing
her own life and finding it again, miraculously, in his” (200). All of this was
new. She had never experienced being admired by a boy before; thus, she
couldn’t help but feel closer to him because she wanted to believe his words
were true. It took a while, but Hulga overcame her trust issues about removing
her artificial leg after the Bible salesman made her feel comfortable, loved,
and safe. Once it was off and out of her reach, “She gave a little cry of alarm
but he pushed her down and began to kiss her again. Without the leg she felt
entirely dependent on him” (201). Sadly, the small amount of trust she
privileged him with backfired at her when he ran off with her leg leaving her
helpless in the barn alone. Good Country People demonstrates the risk we
take by trusting people we don’t know very well due to our own need to belong.
Good Country People furthermore, indicates
a type of relationship between a mother and daughter which causes destruction
to the one who is unable to compare to the ideal. Hulga purposely lived the way
she did because it was the closest she could get to her image of a perfect life
for the condition she was in. She had changed her name from Joy to Hulga, which
her mother had refused to call her. Mrs. Hopewell thought the name was the
ugliest name in all languages that made her think of the broad blank hull of a
battleship (191). Additionally, Mrs. Hopewell never took her daughter out in
public for she was embarrassed of what her daughter had turned into. She
mentions, “…if she would only keep herself up a little, she wouldn’t be so bad
looking” (192). Nonetheless, Mrs. Hopewell was ashamed to tell people that her
daughter was thirty-two years old with a Ph.D, not doing anything with her life
now. She conveys that a parent can brag about their child being a teacher or
engineer, but not a philosopher (192). She feared that her daughter would never
be good enough or outgoing enough to gossip and brag about with her employee,
Mrs. Freeman, especially since Mrs. Freeman had two idealistic daughters. It’s
my perception that Mrs. Hopewell feared she raised Hulga poorly and pretended
to be accepting of the way Hulga chose to live because of the disabilities she
acquired over time. Mrs. Hopewell would rather dream of Hulga being a superior
daughter instead of looking at everything Hulga’s accomplished and being proud
of her.
Conversely, people can
seclude themselves from others in order to decrease the likelihood of revealing
their true selves out of the fear of not being good enough for society. Within
the novel, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery, the two main
characters, Paloma and Renée, both hide away like hedgehogs. For instance,
Paloma thought she would stand out too much in the real world if anyone were to
find out what she was really capable of:
I am twelve years old, I live at 7, rue de Grenelle in an
apartment
for rich people…since I don’t really want to stand out, and since
intelligence is very
highly rated in my family…I try to scale back
my performance at school, but even so I always come first…I’ve
made up my mind: at the end of the school year, on the day I turn
thirteen, June sixteenth, I will commit suicide. (23-25)
To Paloma, the world and
the people in it are everything but her definition of perfect, so at one point
she wants to separate herself from it. Likewise, Renée kept to herself hidden
in her apartment reading copious amounts of novels and tending to her cat after
her husband had passed away. She had absolutely no desire to build new
relationships with others. She states, “I am a widow, I am short, ugly, and
plump… I live alone with my cat… Neither he nor I make any effort to take part
in the social doings of our respective species… I am not liked, but am
tolerated nonetheless…” (19) Renée is very ordinary. She goes about her days trying
not to be noticed for her fear of not being worthy enough for society. Absorbed
in her library, she hides away from worldwide discrimination, pretending she is
a character living a more appealing life. Like Renée, I, too, hid away like a
hedgehog before I learned who I was as an individual. It’s difficult to accept
ourselves for who we are when we are constantly compared to society’s
definition of “beautiful” and “flawless.”
Nevertheless, when reflecting
upon relationships, one might notice that the relationships shared with others
may have impacted their life more deeply than expected. In The Elegance of
the Hedgehog, Renée looks back to all the relationships she’s developed
with others during her last few months alive. During her fifty-four years of
life, she mentions that she was hardly touched by the tenderness of someone
like her deceased husband, Lucien. She made herself accustomed to a lonely life
turning to books and her cat to fulfill her desire for companionship. It wasn’t
until her last few months alive that she was noticed and accepted by others.
Renée’s best friend, Manuela, who had helped her get to where she was, would
always be important to her. And the daughter she never had, Paloma, who was her
kindred soul, had enlightened the last few months of Renée’s life (320). Paloma
pushed her out of her isolated apartment and into the company of Kakuro when
she needed him most. She reflects, “…And you, Kakuro, dear Kakuro, who made me
believe in the possibility of camellia… I hardly know you beyond the person you
were for me: a heavenly benefactor, a miraculous balm against all the
certainties of fate” (319). Kakuro provided Renée with a relationship she had
only ever imaged were real. She never expected someone to impact her life as
greatly, if not greater than Lucien or the Prince Charmings within her books.
All in all, trust issues
associated with the fear of losing either a false ‘ideal’ life or a life that,
although painful, is well-known and understood will inevitably impact our
relationships with others and increase the likelihood of loss and regret. Generally, fear challenges us while our dreams
and hopes inspire us to take risks we might otherwise disregard. Furthermore, I
believe that trust can be extremely difficult to achieve when one is naïve or
gullible which ultimately weakens the strength of a relationship and its
meaning. We are built with the desire within us to be wanted by others, even
though we fear being rejected or judged unfavorably. Relationships are
nevertheless hard to maintain especially with an individual who feels he/she
cannot measure up to the ideal participant. This being said, we are often
surprised on how greatly our lives are impacted by relationships. And yet, in
some cases we push others away in order to continue on with an ideal, or unrealistic,
image of life. I think at this point in time involvement with others benefits
us by forming us into better people which overall results with a better world. We
often take the simplest things for granted. Oscar Wilde once said, “Life
imitates art far more that art imitates Life”. Therefore, trying to achieve
perfection seems pointless for the true joys of life, in my opinion, lie amidst
things such as impactful relationships which could arguably be art.
Works Consulted:
Barbery, Muriel. The
Elegance of the Hedgehog. New York: Europa Editions, 2012. Print.
"Importance of Relationships." Indianetzone
Relationships. N.p.. Web. 18 Mar 2013.
<
http://lifestyle.indianetzone.com/relationship/1/importance_relationships.htm>.
"Jean de La
Fontaine." Art Directory. N.p.. Web. 18 Mar 2013.
<http://www.jean-delafontaine.com/>.
Joyce, James. “Eveline.” Literature and the Writing Process
Ninth Edition. Ed. Linda Coleman,
Robert Funk, Elizabeth
McMahan, Susan X Day. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc,
2011. 4-7. Print.
Maslow's
Hierarchy of Needs
O’Connor, Flannery. “Good Country People.” Literature and the
Writing Process Ninth Edition.
Ed. Linda Coleman,
Robert Funk, Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day. New Jersey:
Pearson Education, Inc,
2011. 189-204. Print.
"Oscar Wilde Biography." Bio. True Story. A E Television
Networks, LLC. Web. 18 Mar 2013.<
http://www.biography.com/people/oscar-wilde-9531078>.
Malicious Malibu
Alcohol is known to tear apart
relationships by not only causing damage to the person addicted, but to friends
and family close to the addict. Marill, a child of an alcoholic, shares the
pain alcohol caused while she was growing up. She writes, “As long as I can
remember my mum has been drinking.” “…she has taught me to never rely on
anybody. I hate coming home from school and seeing her lying unconscious on the
couch with food dribbled down her chest and an empty wine glass next to her.”
“We constantly don’t have enough food because she spends all the grocery money
on alcohol, and then blames my dad for not giving her enough.” “She constantly
puts him down, says he's a horrible person, and during the times when she gives
the slightest indication of accepting what she is, she blames my father, saying
that he pushes her to drink because he deprives her of money, and is abusive.”
“I just wish she would listen and let us help her ("Experience
Project").” Alcohol abuse dangerously leads to alcoholism which is defined
as a disease, and like most diseases it takes time and a willingness to
overcome.
Throughout the world, people
mainly drink for sociability (StraightDUI Staff). Many people would say that
alcohol allows one to forget about problems, relieve themselves from emotional
pain and allow one to feel happier. It's typical for people to ignore how the
early effects of alcohol persuade them to want more, especially because it
creates a level of euphoria (StraightDUI Staff). Those who are awkward around
others notice that after a few drinks, have the confidence to socialize. With
this in mind, people often turn to alcohol to relieve themselves from
depression, stress, and really anything that leads to discomfort. At first, alcohol appears to ease physical
and emotional pain; however, after drinking more one will only increase those
problems. Alcohol can only temporarily release people from their pain, yet many
fail to realize this. Nevertheless, numerous people become addicted to alcohol.
Addiction is caused after a person allows themselves to be controlled by the
substance versus controlling whatever substance they choose to consume. People
become addicted to the way alcohol makes them feel, and because of that, they
continue to drink becoming an addict. (StraightDUI Staff). There are many ways
for people to be social other than choosing a direction that can possibly lead
them to their death bed.
Washington
State, similar to the rest of the population of the world, has a great issue
with the abuse of drugs and alcohol. Although the government tries to control
these substances, people find ways to get around certain laws. Statistics for
Washington state point out that in 2003, "6.94% were dependent on or
abusing alcohol or illicit drugs..." Some may argue that laws upon alcohol
aren't enforced enough today, resulting in the corruption of good people.
Furthermore, our economy suffers from the problems alcohol causes. Due to the
lack of promoting ways to prevent one from experiencing desperation from
consuming too much alcohol, those in charge of the state's money seem to
overlook the larger cost of substance abuse. Statistics note, "Studies
have estimated that every dollar spent on prevention can save seven dollars in
costs due to substance abuse." People repeatedly refuse to recognize how
much of our taxes go towards issues that can be stopped with the right
procedures. It is also mentioned that "The total economic costs to society
from alcohol and drug abuse were estimated at $276 billion nationally in 2001. Untreated
addiction is more expensive than heart disease, diabetes, and cancer
combined." The abuse of alcohol as well as other drugs has impacted the
way society is nowadays, however, throughout history, alcohol has always been
somewhat of an issue. As a result, alcoholism is a harmful disease. People are
unable to distinguish how dangerous drinking can be. Through research,
statistics have proved that "Substance abuse is the number one preventable
cause of disabilities and deaths in the United States." With more
knowledge and restraint, we could be using millions of dollars towards
something more purposeful.
In an interview with Pippa Breakspear,
I was able to better understand the life changing effects alcohol has upon
people as well as the recovery process. Breakspear is a Chemical Dependency
Specialist and has the ability to connect with alcoholics since she is also in
the process of recovering. When asked what her major goal through counseling
was, she replied, “To support my clients, meet them where they are, treat them
with compassion and positive regard, that they feel respected and that they
matter.” A large step of the recovery process was for alcoholics to have
support in order to see the bigger better picture of life sober. Likewise, it’s
important that certain issues are addressed during the recovery process.
Breakspear mentions, “Once a person stops drinking/using, everything bubbles to
the surface. It's different for everyone, but some of the issues are trauma,
childhood or adult abuse, verbal, sexual, physical, grief and loss, low
self-esteem, relationship issues, you name it, they come up.” In many cases
people drown their feelings with the use of alcohol, ignoring obstacles that
impact their lives dramatically. Moreover, alcoholism is a disease that
governments and people view as a crime instead of searching for ways to treat
those who obtain it. Breakspear notified me of this point when she said, “In
the big picture, addiction is still being addressed and viewed by our culture
as a morality issue, as we continue to lock people up and punish them for
having a disease. We don't do that with diabetics or those with heart disease,
many of whose problems are also created by lifestyle choices. If we spent half
the money on long term treatment, therapy and case management as opposed to
building more prisons we would be dealing with this issue far more effectively;
but we're a long way from that.” This statement opened my eyes, allowing me to
understand how terrible alcoholism truly is. The recovery process for those to suffer from
alcohol abuse definitely is life changing; those who once were or still are
addicted, face the strenuous battle of fighting for a better life through
recovery.
Luckily, Washington’s issue with
alcoholism doesn’t even compare to the United Kingdom’s problem with alcohol.
For instance, “The UK is one of the top ten in the world for alcohol
consumption per head of population and alcohol abuse is clearly escalating (Partners
in Patient Care).”
Works Cited
"Bleh:
I Am the Child of An Alcoholic Story & Experience." Experience
Project.
Experience
Project Inc. 06 Feb 2012. Web. 14 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Am-The-Child-Of-An-Alco
holic/2047936>.
Breakspear,
Pippa. Chemical Dependency Specialist. Personal Interview. 14 Mar 2012.
Partners
in Patient Care. "Alcohol Abuse Facts and Statistics." Drug-Aware.
Drug-Aware Ltd.,
2002-2012. Web. 13 Mar 2012.
<http://www.drug-aware.com/alcohol-abuse-facts-
statistics.htm>.
StraightDUI
Staff . "Why Do People Turn To Alcohol?." Straight DUI. StraightDUI,
07
Mar 2012. Web. 14 Mar 2012.
Entrepreneurs Created Outside the Classroom
In my opinion, Tom’s
statements are true for the most part; however, I do not think that our
education model needs to change. Teachers can only teach a person so much, such
as the theories of organizing and managing a business. For instance, the
education system we currently have provides a solid foundation for people
before they throw themselves into the real business world, but does not teach
them how to react. When Tom said, “Our
education system is designed to turn out ‘good employees’ not ‘good
entrepreneurs’”, he was right. Employees are just the people who work for
another person or business to earn money, whereas, an entrepreneur usually
takes a risk in order to experience the challenges an entrepreneur faces on a
daily basis. The ability to run a business cannot be taught, they must be
experienced.
Entrepreneurs don’t need the whole college education to
succeed. A ‘good entrepreneur’ is a knowledgeable one; one who is not afraid to
try the impossible. For example, Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook from his
Harvard dormitory, quit school and became a full time entrepreneur after his
website exploded in popularity. This is just one example of many. Through my
eyes, entrepreneurs have to have motivation inside of them to accomplish a lot
during their life. Those who have a stable mindset, some knowledge, a plan, the
willingness to work hard, and a powerful vision will learn the ropes on their
own and succeed. It’s when an entrepreneur gets stuck, that they provide
themselves with a greater chance of failing. Therefore, an education can’t
teach people how to handle different challenges they face; it can only help
them figure out a process in which they can overcome the obstacles that take
place during their own experiences later in their lives. Our education system
can be altered to try and turn out ‘good entrepreneurs’ as well as ‘good
employees’, but it cannot teach people to become good entrepreneurs. Good
entrepreneurs are born, not created in a classroom.
n. d. Web. 10 Oct. 2011.
<http://blogs.reuters.com/small-business/2010/02/03/do-entrepreneurs-need-education/>.
A Horrific Path to Destruction
Where did the
dense, gorgeous forests go? Where do the wild animals reside? Why can’t I
remember the last time I saw a bald eagle? Of course it’s because money has
become more important than nature and beauty. In Bellingham, there are fast
food restaurants on almost every street polluting the world while making people
unhealthy just to make a dime or two. I remember when I could go on a bike ride
and play with my friends in a nearby local creek. Not anymore. The creek is
long gone now and, in fact, a McDonald’s fast food joint has been built on top
of the land. However, I only envy McDonalds a little for that… what I really
hate is how fattening their products are, how they get their ingredients and
how I can’t seem to escape the popular, cheap franchise.
I often wonder what the world would
be like if fast food hadn’t been such a hit when it was first revealed. For
instance, the world might be less polluted and people might live longer lives
than they currently do today. Fast food is coated in layers of grease and then
wrapped in copious amounts of non-biodegradable wrapping, which is often left
near or in oceans or forests. Furthermore, think of how beautiful our world
could be without as many daunting bright signs and appealing, but also
disgusting, aromas of unhealthy, cheap food - there could actually be high
percentages of wildlife and enchanting forests populating the world like there
once was years ago. I don’t speak for everyone, but personally, I would much
rather view the beauty of nature from my window than a series of greedy fast
food restaurants trying to make profit.
The first fast food restaurants are
said to have originated in the United States with A&W in 1916 and White
Castle in 1921. Today, American-founded fast food chains such as McDonald's and
KFC are multinational corporations with outlets across the globe, adjusting
their menus to the cultural foods of their locations. The founder’s goal was to
have a McDonald’s on every street corner in the world. Could you imagine?
Furthermore, the McDonalds' Speedee Service System and, much later, Ray Kroc's
McDonald's outlets and Hamburger University were built on principles, systems
and practices that White Castle had already established between 1923 and 1932.
After discovering that most of their profits came from hamburgers, the brothers
closed their restaurant and reopened it in 1948 as a walk-up stand offering a
simple menu of hamburgers, French fries, shakes, coffee, and Coca-Cola, served
in disposable paper wrapping. As a result, they figured out how to produce
hamburgers and fries constantly, without waiting for customer orders, and could
serve them immediately at about half the price at a typical diner. By 1954, The
McDonald brothers' stand was Prince Castle's biggest purchaser of milkshake
blending machines. Prince Castle salesman Ray Kroc traveled to California to
discover why the company had purchased almost a dozen of the units as opposed
to the normal one or two found in most restaurants of the time. Enticed by the
success of the McDonald's concept, Kroc signed a franchise agreement with the
brothers and began opening McDonald's restaurants in Illinois[1]
which then led to other states and after a few decades, globally.
With
this in mind, fast food became all of the rage
in the 1950's partly because of the new "car culture." Restaurants
where you could just drive in, pick up a meal, and then be on your way in just
a few minutes became extremely popular. At first, the portions were designed to
do just that; small hamburgers, fries and a 12-ounce Coke. Then all the big
chains such as McDonald's, Burger King, and
KFC’s competed to see who could have the biggest ‘Monster Burger' or
biggest bucket of chicken, [2]
without considering the impact it would have on future generations.
The
declining sales in the early 2000s, caused franchises to shut down for the first
time in McDonald’s history, additionally causing a major rethink of the way
McDonald’s operates, attempting to go ‘greener’ by reproducing the companies
standards in which all the stores will abide by. In contrast, the production of
the raw products which go into McDonald’s meals, from burger patties to sauces,
is subcontracted to different suppliers, making it impossible to assess the
company in terms of a single golden standard. Coca-Cola is almost, if not, as
common as McDonalds around the world. Both McDonalds large golden “M” and
Coca-Cola logos are widely known. Coke-Cola is actually a sole global supplier for
soft drinks.[3]
On
the other hand, the impact of the fast food explosion on foreign food markets
is both good and bad. The benefits are that the restaurants bring many jobs,
which means more money for the communities in which they run. This is good for
the economy and the people, yet the negative effects are more long standing.
People that eat this food will become unhealthy, introduced to genetically
modified foods, stuffed with fat and much too many calories. Fast food is
convenience food and normally when something is "faster" it isn't as
healthy. Even the "healthy" foods offered by most fast food
restaurants are filled with preservatives and pesticides, which defeats their
good properties (Schlosser, 2002)[4].
Similarly,
grain is fed to cattle in South American countries to produce the meat in
McDonald's hamburgers. Cattle consume 10 times the amount of grain and soy that
humans do: one calorie of beef demands ten calories of grain. Of the 145
million tons of grain fed to livestock, only 21 million tons of meat and
by-products are used. The waste is 124 million tons per year at a value of
20 billion US dollars! It has been calculated that this sum would feed,
clothe and house the world's entire population for one year. Humans don’t NEED
meat to survive; thus, we could save a lot of money, land, and animals by
changing our consumer status to vegetarians[5].
Moreover,
every year an area of rainforest the size of Britain is cut down or defoliated,
and burnt. Globally, one billion people depend on water flowing from these
forests, which soak up rain and release it gradually. The disaster in Ethiopia
and Sudan is at least partly due to uncontrolled deforestation. In Amazonia
torrential rains sweep down through the treeless valleys, eroding the land and
washing away the soil; the bare earth, baked by the tropical sun, becomes
useless for agriculture.[6]
Additionally,
around the Equator there is a lush green belt of incredibly beautiful tropical
forest, untouched by human development for one hundred million years,
supporting about half of all Earth's life-forms, including some 30,000 plant
species, and producing a major part of the planet's crucial supply of oxygen.
Furthermore, McDonald's and Burger King are two
of the many US corporations using lethal poisons to destroy vast areas of
Central American rainforest to create grazing pastures for cattle to be sent back
to the States as burgers and pet food, and to provide fat-food packaging
materials. In addition, not only are McDonald's and many other corporations
contributing to a major ecological catastrophe, they are also forcing the
tribal peoples in the rainforests off their ancestral territories where they
have lived peacefully, without damaging their environment, for thousands of
years! This is a typical example of the arrogance and viciousness of
multinational companies in their endless search for more and more profit. It's
no exaggeration to say that when someone bites into a Big Mac, they're helping
the McDonald's empire to wreck this planet and cover it with enormous non-proportional
people.
McDonald’s
doesn’t make it clear that the food is high in fat, sugar, animal products and
salt, and low in fiber, vitamins and minerals - which describes an average
McDonald's meal - is linked with cancers of the breast and bowel, and heart
disease. Every year in Britain, heart disease alone causes about 180,000 deaths.[7]
Focusing back on the rainforests, McDonalds only use parts of the rainforest
for 2 years at the maximum because the soil quality is so poor there that they
clear-cut another area once the soil cannot sustain the grass and grain that
the cows eat. So what's so wrong about that, won't the forest regrow? Nope.
The moisture in a rainforest is what makes it a RAIN forest, and since about
70% of all moisture comes from transpiration from the trees - No more trees
results in no more rainforest. It will never regrow, ever, even if it is
replanted. The other way has to do with just the grain being shipped from the
rainforest to the US or other countries to feed cows that will eventually end
up on your Big Mac. Put simply, for
every pound of beef you eat, 55 acres of rainforest were destroyed. In order to
keep up with the huge demand for McDonalds burgers all over the world they
require vast areas of land to raise cattle for their burgers. Every year, over 30 million acres of
rain forest are lost.[8] Of
course, it would be unfair to blame this loss solely on McDonald's, and I don't
intend to do that. There are plenty of other reasons why we are losing our rain
forest land at such an alarming rate, but my main focus is on McDonalds. In order to
produce 1 million tons of meat, 7 million tons of grain must be fed to
livestock.
This use of precious resources is not even for the
betterment of anyone’s health given the unhealthy nature of food from McDonalds
while the world's most beautiful forests are
being destroyed at an appalling rate. McDonald’s have at last been forced to admit
to using beef reared on ex-rainforest land, preventing the regeneration of
forests. Also, the use of farmland by
multinationals and their suppliers forces local people to move on to other
areas and cut down further trees. In fact, McDonald's is the world's largest
user of beef which isn’t too surprising since they’re EVERYWHERE. The methane
emitted by cattle reared for the beef industry is a major cause of the
"global warming" crisis. Every year McDonalds use thousands of tons
of unnecessary packaging, much of which ends up littering our streets or
polluting the land buried in landfill sites.
Nonetheless, while
millions of people are starving, vast areas of land in poor countries are used
for cattle ranching or to grow grain to feed animals to be eaten in the
West. McDonald's continually promote
meat products, encouraging a person to eat meat more often, which wastes more
and more food resources. They never advertise how expensive and destructive it
is to raise all the meat they do. [9]
Similarly, the
US fast food industry has been implementing its fat and greasy foods all over
the Earth in order to make billions. The overseas fast food industry is booming
and there seems to be no end in sight. McDonalds may soon be on every street
corner… This provides people with jobs, but what is it doing to effect
different cultures and what is it doing to the health of those people
(Schlosser, 2002)?
According
to Schlosser, McWorld is a "homogenized international culture", a
term coined by sociologist Benjamin J. Barber (2002). Fast food companies like
McDonald's are spreading their unhealthy, fattening foods across the globe,
opening many new restaurants on a daily basis. The novelty of these restaurants
in different countries is what brings in the innocent and corrupts their
culture and their arteries (Schlosser, 2002).
”WHAT's
wrong with McDonald's is also wrong with all the junk-food chains like Wimpy,
Kentucky Fried Chicken, Wendy, etc. All of them hide their ruthless
exploitation of resources, animals and people behind a facade of colourful
gimmicks and 'family fun. The food itself is much the same everywhere - only
the packaging is different. The rise of these firms means less choice, not
more. They are one of the worst examples of industries motivated only by
profit, and geared to continual expansion.
This
materialist mentality is affecting all areas of our lives, with giant
conglomerates dominating the marketplace, allowing little or no room for people
to create genuine choices. But alternatives do exist, and many are gathering
support every day from people rejecting big business in favour of small-scale
self-organization and co-operation.
The
point is not to change McDonald's into some sort of vegetarian organization,
but to change the whole system itself. Anything less would still be a rip-off. [10]”
For instance, McDonald's
spends a fortune on advertisements, trying to cultivate an image of being a
"caring" and "green" company that is also a fun place to
eat. Children are lured in with the
promise of "free" toys and other gimmicks. But behind the smiling
face of Ronald McDonald lies the reality -McDonald's only interest is money,
making profits from whoever and whatever they can without putting the world and
their customer’s wellbeing first.
Chances
are that you have had a McDonald’s meal in the past or if not, you certainly
know a lot of people who have. It’s the biggest fast food chain in the world,
with 32,000 outlets in 117 countries. The clown-fronted burger outfit employs a
staggering 1.7 million people, and in the first three months of 2011 alone it
made $1.2 billion in profits on the back of revenues of $6.1 billion! [11]All
that money could be put towards saving the planet they’re greatly responsible
for polluting or could be put towards making people’s lives happier, not
unhealthier. The company has come in for huge amounts of criticism over the
past 20 years, for the impact it has on the diets of people worldwide, its labor
practices and the impact its business has had on the environment, yet they
still stand strong. Chickens are raised cramped together in giant barns, never
experiencing a good life grazing land but instead thrown grain to battle for
against the other chickens. [12]
All
of this should be taken with a pile of salt and grease however. It’s not
surprising that a multibillion-dollar corporation, which has been hurt in the
past by concerns over its practices, will do its utmost to sell itself as a
reformed character. And it's suspicious that any web search of the company
brings up a hit list of sites almost exclusively maintained by the
company.
McDonald's
has even coined a phrase, 'Global Realization', for their need to conquer the
fast food markets overseas; they want to be number one. America may currently
be the fattest nation, but who's next with fast food continuously booming (Schlosser,
2002)?[13]
And the fact that the restaurants serve just the American foods they serve here
as well as adjusting their menu to making cultural foods just as appealing and
greasy.
During
the eighties, people started to question if eating all of this greasy fast food
from the time you were two was actually very good for you. Obesity and diabetes
was at an all-time high and heat disease was the number one killer. Heart disease and then liver
cancer did Dave Thomas of Wendy's in, and coronary problems contributed to Ray
Kroc's, founder of McDonald's, death. Go figure. Think there could have been a
connection with what they had been eating?
Even if people like eating McDonalds’’ food, most people
recognise that processed burgers and synthetic chips, served up in paper and
plastic containers, is considered junk-food. McDonald's prefer the name
"fast-food" not because it is manufactured and served up as quickly
as possible but because it has to be eaten quickly too. McDonald's
like to promote their food as "healthy", but the reality it is high
in fat, sugar and salt, and low in vitamins. A diet of this type is linked with
a greater risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other diseases. Their
food also contains many chemical additives, some of which may cause ill health,
and hyperactivity in children. Don't forget too that meat is the cause of the
majority of food poisoning incidents and that rainforests are destroyed only to
raise cattle for a maximum of two years!
Would it be better to
stop this madness, or is the money worth more than the people are? Only the
fast food industries and the nation’s leaders can answer that question. Well,
and the people can choose to pass on fast food and eat healthy too (Schlosser,
2002).[14]
Is eating a delicious, greasy Big Mac worth assisting McDonalds corrupt this
planet? Do you really want to pass a McDonald’s fast food restaurant every
block? Think about your actions and their implications before digging into your
next happy meal.
Sources:
Schlosser,
E. (2002). Fast Food Nation. Harper Perennial.
[4]
Schlosser, E. (2002). Fast Food Nation. Harper Perennial.
http://voices.yahoo.com/is-fast-food-taking-over-world-5594412.html
[5] http://www.mccruelty.com/
[6] http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2006/04/mcdonalds_destroys_rainforests.asp
and www.ciwf.org.uk
http://www.mcspotlight.org/case/pretrial/factsheet.html
[7] http://www.mcspotlight.org/case/pretrial/factsheet.html
[8] http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2006/04/mcdonalds_destroys_rainforests.asp
and www.ciwf.org.uk
[9] http://www.mccruelty.com/
[11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_food_restaurant
[12] http://www.ciwf.org.uk/what_we_do/factory_farming/food_sense.aspx
and http://www.mccruelty.com/
[13] Schlosser,
E. (2002). Fast Food Nation. Harper Perennial.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)