All Around the World

In English class, we are rapidly finishing up the novel The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (if you haven't read it, catch a summary here). The Poisonwood Bible begins in 1959, a year that may seem way different to readers today in 2010. Since I was only born in 1993, 1959, a year without computers or cell phones, is almost unimaginable for me. (Catch a flashback to 1959 here) The Price family, the main characters in the novel, are even harder for modern day readers to relate to because they are spending a year in the Congo, a country with cultural and political systems that Americans can barely fathom (get the lowdown on the Congo). However, one thing that does seem relatable between 1959 Congolese and 2010 Americans is the issue of societal division.

As I've discussed in previous blogs, societal divisions are extremely prevalent in American society today (read You Could Be Next In Line at the Soup Kitchen). However, it didn't really stike me that societal divisions are also just as prevalent on a global scale until reading The Poisonwood Bible. A major passage that I thought really illustrated this was towards the end of the novel when Adah, one of the daughters who is now grown up, responds to her nephew's question, "But, Aunt Adah, how can there be so many kinds of things a person doesn't really need?" Adah's response (below) is what really hit home for me the idea that class divisions occur everywhere.

"I can think of no honorable answer. Why must some of us deliberate between brands of toothpaste, while others deliberate between damp dirt and bone dust to quite the fire of an empty stomach linging? There is nothing about the United States I can really explain to this child of another world."

Her nephew, Pascal, has lived in Congo all his little life and has never seen the luxuries of the United States. Now, he is roaming the aisles of large stores, debating between Crest and Colgate toothpaste. Sure, we are told all our lives that we are blessed to live in America. My question is how can we ever fully appreciate that luck until we see the other side? Pascal probably never imagined that while he was struggling to fall asleep with an empty stomach, somebody in America was debating about whether they wanted to serve processed or organic corn.

In the end, what I've realized is class divisions occur not only on a local and national level, but also on an international level. We need to reach out and help not only our local neighbors, but also our neighbors starving overseas or our neighbors who are being evacuated from their homes because of a civil war in their country. The Poisonwood Bible has shown the shock that Americans can feel if exposed to a different culture for a substantial period of time and this puts everything, even drug stores and toothpaste choices, in perspective. As readers may remember, a main aspect of my blog is "so what now?" What can we do now to help create international justice in basic human rights and access to resources? One attempt at international justice that I very much admire is the United Nations Millennium Goals. Although often criticized for not being efficient enough, I believe these goals are a good first stab at decreasing the large gap between our worlds' richest and poorest people and countries. If you have any other organizations or causes that are attempting to level international access to resources, comment and let me know!

-Emily

You Could Be Next In Line at the Soup Kitchen

Opportunities to help people are abundant. If you've got a passion for something, there is an organization you can give to to support your cause. Or, if an organization to support your cause really doesn't exist, you can start your own foundation! Worried about hunger? Donate to the Chicago Food Depository, which can feed millions in the Chicagoland area for cheap. Passionate about cancer? Walk in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer and help raise millions of dollars. My point is, people get involved and contribute to their community in a thousand different ways. However, is this really all out of good will? Do we give freely without wanting anything in return? Whether it be a tax deductible donation or to simply feeling good about ourselves, doing a service project isn't always just about helping people.



In The Poisonwood Bible (read a summary here), the Price family is on a one year mission to the Congo in effort to spread Christianity. However, the help and assistance isn't well received by the Congolese people who do not wish to convert or adopt western ways. Nathan Price, the father and minister, however, insists that the family stays, despite being isolated and rejected from society. Why is it that Nathan wanted to stay? In my opinion, I think that Nathan cares more about not looking like a failure and being able to claim personal success (such as baptizing many Congolese people) than actually changing and helping the lives of the Congolese. Nathan's pride gets in the way of actually accomplishing a worthwhile mission. He believes he is superior to the Congolese due to his skin color and wealth, and hence he and his mission are valuable to the Congolese, even if they don't realize it.



Pride is a major issue not only in The Poisonwood Bible with Nathan and some of the other characters, but often in society and community service as well. My question is, can service further solidify class and class stereotypes? Does a person feel they are superior because they can help others and don't need the help themselves? Often when people do a community service project they say "I got so much out of it." Why is this? Because you feel like you are helping people? When people give to Amvets Clothing do you secretly think to yourself that you are happy to be on the giving side, not on the receiving side? This week, my mom had eye surgery. Ever since, we have been having meals delivered right to our door at 6 p.m. every night. Normally, we are on the side of always cooking meals for those in need. To be honest, it's quite weird receiving all this help with meals and people driving us around because my mom can't drive. This is no way shifts our place in society, such as we don't go down in class because we are receiving help, but I can see that if this continued for an extended period of time, a family might feel they are inferior because they are always receiving help, always the "charity" of another family. The truth is, that could be anyone's family. No one is better just because they are serving the food, not waiting in line for it.



Community service, when done right, can obviously be very beneficial to a society and help improve the general social welfare. However, I believe it is important to be sensitive to the different societal attitudes that service, such as mission trips or feeding the hungary, can promote. Just because you are on the receiving end of aid doesn't make you inferior, just like the Congolese weren't inferior to Nathan just because they were poorer or weren't Baptist, and just because your situation, financial or non-financial, allows you to give instead of receive this year, doesn't make you better. It just makes you human, and often just plain lucky. You could be next. Next year, it could be you on the receiving line of the soup kitchen. Giving and taking is all part of the cycle. Let's just not let it define us and our place in society.

-Emily

Who Are You?

Lately in English class, we've been talking a lot about identity and what helps us create our identity in society. Isn't it amazing that there are billions of people in the world and everyone is different? Everyone has their own personality and viewpoints and out of billions of people, no one is exactly the same as you.

Last night, I had a family dinner, including all my aunts, uncles and cousins. All together, we are pretty large. There are 22 of us in total and everyone has a pretty big mouth. At the end of dinner, the topic of politics came up. Within a minute, an argument had already started. Here we are, 5 of us who are all genetically related (1 grandfather, 3 uncles, and 1 niece), and we have an extreme liberal, 2 liberals, a moderate, and a conservative.

How is this possible? We all have similar genetic codes and have been raised in similar environments! How did we get to have such political views? More importantly, how did we get to have such radically different identities? Part of it is genetics, I'm sure. But what are the other things? Lately, I've been wondering if we create our own identities by placing everything into a story format. This is an idea we have also talked a lot about in class. In our lives, we place someone as the protagonist and the antagonist. We identify something as the conflict and something as the resolution. Are we assigning roles and creating our identities too quickly, without giving other people or circumstances a chance?

I believe some things that create your identity are outside of your control. One of these factors would be class, the main focus of my blog. If all your life you have been labeled as "poor" or "in poverty" that might affect the way you see yourself and your life. You might believe you are at a disadvantage or have access to fewer resources. In the end, this could hurt you because you could deprive yourself of resources just because of the way society has labeled you. Or, the other side of the spectrum, are the people who have always been labeled as "upper class", as therefore believe they have the "right" to certain things. The way you are labeled by society, whether it is "in poverty, middle class, or upper class" affects how you see yourself and your identity. Be wary of the social and class labels society puts on you, they can affect you for the better, or for the worse.