Recently I was visited by a very good friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed. 'Nothing in particular,' she replied. I might have been incredulous had I not been accustomed to such responses, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little.
How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note? I who cannot see find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough, shaggy bark of a pine. In spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud, the first sign of awakening Nature after her winter's sleep. I feel the delightful, velvety texture of a flower, and discover its remarkable convolutions; and something of the miracle of Nature is revealed to me.
-Helen Keller, Three Days to See (1933)
NB: Helen Keller was deaf-blind.
I love to read sections in books about the USA that talk about Canada. In "Gates of Injustice: The Crisis in America's Prisons", in a short section about the tainted blood scandal in which "hundreds of Canadian hemophiliacs were infected with HI of hepatitis by contaminated blood collected in a U.S. prison" Alan Elsner writes:
"There can hardly be a better example of hw disease within the U.S. prison system spread, not just throughout our society, but in this case infected innocent victims in friendly foreign nations."
4 comments:
As opposed to those hostile foreign nations who should be given all of our blood diseases, you mean?
Nope, didn't confuse me at all--rather enlightening, actually, and thank you so much! I'm just wondering how an essay based on culture rather than academics will fly with the Office of Merit Awards...maybe I can merge the two. I hate application essays.
That's not exactly what I had in mind. I'm pretty sure Elsner would be have been just as appalled had the blood been shipped anywhere else (and it would still have demonstrated his point just as well).
But then the question arises, if he didn't mean friendly as opposed to hostile, why did he use that adjective.
Canadians greatly pride themselves in being (what we believe to be) friendly people - e.g. "You should sew a Canada flag patch onto your back pack if you travel abroad because people love Canadians and they'll be really nice to you if they know you're from Canada; even Americans do it, because we all know what the world thinks of them!" Nonetheless, I don't think Elsner was trying to flatter us; I can just imagine him writing that sentence without any adjective and thinking: "What adjective could I use to spruce things up here? We'll they're not important, they're not powerful, they're just... friendly!"
Now that's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but what I'm getting at is that, in the absence of any reason to include the adjective, I think referring to "friendly" foreign nations is a bit condescending, despite the fact that most Canadians would be quite happy to read that.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it and you had it right Rachel.
My apologies; I tend to forget that sarcasm doesn't come across as well online as it does in person (although in my case, it often doesn't translate well in either situation).
Yes, the use of the adjective "friendly" is a little strange if you stop and think about it for a second, but I don't think Elsner meant to act condescending. I know that when I think of Canada, "powerful" doesn't come to mind--and that's not necessarily a bad thing, because the connotations of that word aren't always positive. I think of our more socialized, more open, more Canadian, and yes, friendlier neighbors to the north. Dunno if I'm alone in that, but based on past conversations with friends, I don't think so.
I haven't read Gates of Injustice since last semester, but if I remember correctly, he used some words and phrases that were a little surprising sometimes.
I'll have to keep the flag patch trick in mind for future travels! I guess so long as you don't wear a French patch in the US, you'll be fine, otherwise you're bound to face rampant hostility (joking again).
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