The Value of Life

In my life, I have often been told that life is a gift.  It is something you shouldn't waste, but a thing to make the best of.  I have been told that all life has value, from the smallest to the largest of animals.  However, something I always wondered was how we determined the value of life.  Often, humans think that our lives are more important or more worth saving than those of other animals.  This is shown in the book, Life of Pi by Yann Martel.  This book has caused me to look deeper into the value of life and helped me understand society a little better.

In the book, Pi's father takes Pi and his brother to the tiger's cage to teach them a lesson.  He makes them watch Mahisha the tiger tear apart a defenseless goat in order to show a his sons how dangerous tigers and other animals can be and teach them not to try and go near dangerous animals.  Later, Pi's father tells his wife, "Gita, my bird, it's for their own sake.  What if Piscine had stuck his hand through the bars of the cage one day to touch the pretty orange fur?  Better a goat than him, no?"  This line stood prominent to me because he is implying that his son's life is more valuable than a goat.  And for this, I agree and disagree.  I agree that it would be more heart-wrenching for Pi to die than for a goat. So many care about him and he affects so many lives, while the goat may not.  However, who are we to say that the goat's life is inferior?  If life is a gift to all, then shouldn't we treat it equally for all?

Overall, this makes me think that we judge the value of an organism's life not by cherishing the gift, but by determining the impact the plant or animals has on our own lives.  The connection or love for something may be the difference between saving or diminishing it.  For example, would you choose to save the pretty purple flower or the ugly thorny one?  And for humans, would you choose the hated murderer or the kind earth-loving child?  In conclusion, I think that many weigh the lives of creatures based on our personal connection or feeling towards them.  This is why Pi's father would obviously choose him over a goat.

The Gray Area

     Most people want their food not too hot and not too cold.  In class we discussed whether we'd want people to never acknowledge that correct pronunciation of our names or to know the correct way, but not to say it.  And in my book, Two Truths and a Lie by Sara Shepard, the main character Emma doesn't know if she'd rather have a family who is always pestering her about her whereabouts, or a family that doesn't care at all.  These things make me think about how maybe a perfect life lies in what some refer to as the "gray area."

     I think about this because of the many needs that people all around the world have.  For example, those who have overprotective parents may wish for them to be more carefree, while those with unsupportive, uncaring families may wish for overprotective parents.  These types of things make me envision a ball bouncing back and forth between the two sides.  But maybe, the person who lives their life in the gray area where the parents are lenient but still care a lot about their child will wish for nothing more from their family.  This gray area in the middle just seems like a safe haven for life.  There is nothing too much or too little.  Another example of this is in my book, is how the main character Emma first lived in the life of poverty and foster care.  Back then, all she wished for was money and a family.  But now that she has that, she seems to be overwhelmed with trying to deal with the stuck up rich friends of hers and the family that loves her, but often points out her flaws.  In conclusion, I have realized a pattern with having too much or too little.  I think that everyone, including those who appear to have everything, can find something wrong with what they have.  That is why, I think that the gray area, or the place in between having too much or too little would most likely be the area where complaint is at its minimum.  It's a place where the person doesn't really have everything, and yet, they do. 

Real or Fake?

     In the book What Happened to Goodbye, by Sarah Dessen, Mclean has always been a girl who says she likes change.  After her parents got divorced and she went to live with her dad and ended up moving four times in two years!  And each time, she would create a new nickname and personality for herself.  It was only when she just recently moved and wasn't able to make a nickname that she realized she had to start living her life as herself, but found it to be very difficult.  This makes me think about being real or fake and how it affects your life.

     As I said, Mclean had always changed who she was when she moved to a new place.  For example, last time, she named herself Beth and decided to be that kind of person that everyone knew.  She joined every club, became friends with the popular cheerleaders and jocks, and appeared in almost every page of the yearbook.  She said that by changing herself, there was no confusion in her life and it was just easier for her to create a life for herself.  But in this new place she moved to, she didn't get a chance to figure out who she was going to be and found it very difficult.  For example, she didn't know who she'd be friends with, such as the jocks or the geeks.  Instead, friends found her by inviting her to sit with her or being the boy next door.  She also met Dave who introduced her to being herself and taking all of her life's problems in (such as how her mother divorced her dad to marry one of her idols) instead of creating a fresh start as if the past had never happened.  Mclean faced a lot of confusion from her feelings about Dave to telling her mother how she really felt.  And in the end, she realized it was okay, as she put it, "to have the world moving beneath me, a hand gripping mine, knowing if I fell, at least I wouldn't do it alone."  Overall, this makes me think that although it was harder for Mclean to live a "real" life, that doing so is better than putting on a fake smile and saying words you might never have wanted to say.  This is because life is supposed to be hard.  And sometimes, the best part of it is letting the world take its course and finding yourself.  Although being fake might be easier, as exemplified by Mclean, it may make you feel alone because no one knows the real you.  Just be yourself and if you fall, at least you might not do it alone.