Blog 8

Yesterday, I was reading the book The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan, a girl who died a few days after her graduation from Yale. The book is a collection of her essays and short stories she wrote throughout her life up until her tragic death. I was reading one of her essays entitled, “Why We Care About Whales” which is about her dealings with trying to save many pilot whales that were stranded on the shore. The essay is about many of perceptions and thoughts she had on the matter but the sentence that really struck me was, “I worry sometimes that humans are afraid of helping humans. There’s less risk associated with animals, less fear of failure, fear of getting too involved” (Keegan 153). Take this sentence and apply it to all the animal welfare programs and “Save the Dolphins” campaigns.

Tonight, I started a news video on CNN's website. The commercial that came on before it was about SeaWorld trying to get the word out about how they are actually helping not harming the animals. The documentary, Blackfish, serves as their counter argument by voicing that SeaWorld imprisons animals that deserve to be living in the wild, not some tiny aquarium where they can barely move. Now, I don’t want to say I have all the answers on this subject because I am not as educated to talk about it as others are, but I will say that I think Marina’s above sentence is directly correlated to the irony I experienced seeing that commercial before a real news story. It was a story not focused on the animal, as in the commercial, but an actual human.

This brings me to wonder why people are so concerned with saving, protecting, and preserving animal lives, when we can’t protect the very sanctity of a human life. Why do people think that there is less risk in helping animals? Do they not have feelings in the ways that humans have souls? Do they not judge us for going above and beyond in helping them? Obviously, I know the difference between animals and humans. But why are do people choose to help whales instead of the homeless person on the sidewalk (Keegan 154)? I wonder if the world is picking and choosing what issues to really pay attention to and take part in. Are we really helping or are we the ones creating even more problems? I guess I can be seen as a hypocrite here for talking about the commercial instead of the actual news video, but I believe I had more to say on my chosen issue than the one of the news story.

Keegan, Marina, and Anne Fadiman. The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories. New York, NY: Scribner, 2015. Print.