Megan Nisbet-Synder: Good, Wild, Sacred

April 8, 2008

Our discussion on April 1, 2008 made me think a lot about humans and the way we treat other humans and animals. The discussion was about our reading of Gary Snyder’s chapter called Good, Wild, Sacred, which is about how disrespectful we are to nature and animals. We use them as a means to our end, instead of an end in themselves. We use nature and animals for what we think is good for us, but what about what is good for them? We have gone too far with our ventures, and we are taking everything for granted. What if they go away and don’t come back one day? Where will we be then?
I thought about this discussion, and I realized that this treatment towards animals and nature is also analogous to how humans treat other humans. When we want something bad, we don’t worry about someone else feelings, or what they want—we want the thing now, and will ignore others or step over others to get it. This is especially true on Black Friday when parents wake up at 3:30 in the morning to go to the store and stand in line for hours to get the latest toy for their children for Christmas. This isn’t the problem, but the problem is the things that sometimes result from these lines. Fights break out, sometimes physical, and the police must sometimes come to break it up. People attempt to bribe others, or pay hundreds just to make sure they get the toy. This happens because people just see others as a means to their end. They want the toy for their children, and they don’t see the people around them as people, but as things in the way of what they want. They don’t realize that they all have the same goal—to make their children happy—they just want to get the toy. This is cliché, but they all need to stop and look around, and realize we’re all people who deserved to be treated like people.
While I have never been a part of these crazy Black Friday parents (and have actually avoided ever shopping on Black Friday), I personally witnessed this kind of behavior the other day when I went to McDonalds to eat. A man was throwing a fit about his order being wrong, and though the woman in the back was already re-making his food, he kept going with his attention rant and ended up degrading her personally by saying that he wouldn’t be here yelling at her if she had gone to college and gotten an education. This made me so angry! Who was he to judge this woman whom he had never met and knew nothing about? It is a perfect example of how badly humans treat other humans—simply as a means to their end. He was hungry, and she was just the thing making his food. He completely ignored the fact that she is a person with feelings, just like himself, and, despite her small mistake, he wouldn’t be eating anything if it weren’t for her. So take a step back from the world for a second, and think about all the people you encounter in a day and how you treat them. Not so good sometimes, huh? Learn to appreciate them as a You, instead of an It (Martin Buber).